A leading figure of the 1970s German New Wave, Wim Wenders’ films are infused with a love of American music and culture. Whilst shooting Hammett for Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios in the early 1980s, Wenders developed a project with Sam Shepherd loosely based on the playwright’s Motel Chronicles.

With an unfinished script about two brothers, one of whom has lost his memory, Wenders went on a 5 week shoot with a week out to finish the script. The result - which won the Palme d’Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival - is one of the most iconic films of the 1980s.

Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller’s use of colour is sublime and the performances - particularly Harry Dean Stanton and Nastassja Kinski - are luminescent. This stunning 4K restoration, supervised by Wenders, re-presents the full haunting emotional majesty of what it was like to experience the original 35mm release forty years on.

A new 4K restoration c/o Curzon. The original 35mm negative was scanned in 4K at L’Immagine Ritrovata in Bologna, with financial support by the CNC. Restoring and color-correction took place at Basis Berlin Postproduktion, with the support of Chanel and the German Film Heritage Funding Program (FFE).

With thanks to Goethe-Institut.

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