This month, Image Journal’s Artist of the Month isfilmmaker Wim Wenders.

As one who was formerly selected, I can promise Mr. Wenders that his fame will now skyrocket, and he’ll never have to worry about paying bills again!

All kidding aside… Wenders is one of my heroes. He’s been on Image‘s advisory board for years, and is a good friend to publisher Greg Wolfe. He directed my all-time favorite film, Wings of Desire, and has recently been collaborating with writer/director Scott Derrickson (Land of Plenty), whose new film The Day the Earth Stood Still opens soon. You never know what you’ll find in a Wenders film. He’s an explorer, so you never know if his new movie will be a transcendant wonder or a curious meandering through uncharted territory… or both. I’ll bet many were surprised, watching The End of Violence, when the camera drifted from an alley through a window into a room where Sam Phillips was performing the song “Animals on Wheels” for an audience. Moments of spontanaeity and revelation are common in Wenders work.

I had the pleasure of interviewing him about that film. (That interview is included in my book Through a Screen Darkly, and I devoted almost a whole chapter to his “prodigal father” film Don’t Come Knocking, which I enjoyed very much, but which inspired some outlandish condemnation from a popular Christian media personality.) I also wrote a profile of Wenders for Christianity Today Movies.

You can now read Wenders’ answer to Image‘s question “Why do you believe in God?” here.

It’s good to see him in the spotlight again, and I can’t wait to see his next projects. (He’s working on a horror movie!)

Speaking of Image… I’m going to begin writing about movies twice a month for their site, and my first installment will be published tomorrow here! The focus? One of my favorite films of the decade so far.

Oh, one more thing. If you go to Image‘s site, you’ll see an ad for The Glen Workshop over on the right side of the frame. You’ll see a picture there of a woman in a red shirt. That’s my wife Anne, working on a poem with mentor Scott Cairns!

Privacy Preference Center