Faraway, so Close!

3 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall Wenders made a follow up to “Wings of Desire”. Berlin had become a different city and it appeared to him that he could tell this change best with the same characters. And so Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is now married to Marion (Solveig Dommartin), runs the pizzeria “Da Angelo” and the two have a child. The solitarily remaining angel Cassiel (Otto Sander) is more and more dissatisfied with his destiny as a mere observer of human life and finally decides to take the great leap. As Karl Engel he soon gets into a dubious milieu and finds himself as the assistant of the German American Baker (Horst Buchholz), who makes his money with shady arms deals and sends porno films east in exchange for weapons. Furthermore Cassiel alias Karl Engel meets “Emit Flesti” (Willem Dafoe), a Mephisto like character, who seems to embody “time itself”. And then there is Raphaela (Nastassja Kinski), his guarding angel companion who worriedly observes his development. Cassiel’s adventure turns into a “thriller” when he decides to put a stop to Baker’s game. With the help of Marion’s Circus friends he brakes into the weapons stash underneath the old Tempelhof airport and lets the Kalashnikov crates float into the Spree river. Peter Falk and detective Phillip Winter (Rüdiger Vogler) are also in on it again. Heinz Rühmann can be seen in his last role. Mikhail Gorbachev and Lou Reed appear as guests. He never gathered a more improbable cast says Wenders.

Format

1992-1993, Germany Length: 146 min Format: 35mm black and white and Color; 1:1,66; Stereo
Original Language: German, English


Festivals & Awards

1993 • Cannes Film Festival (Grand Prix du Jury) 1993 • Bayerischer Filmpreis (Best Director)


Cast and crew

Production: 
Road Movies Filmproduktion GmbH (Berlin), Tobis Filmkunst (Berlin) Director: Wim Wenders Producer: Wim Wenders, Ulrich Felsberg Screenplay: 
Wim Wenders, Ulrich Zieger, Richard Reitinger Director of Photography: Jürgen Jürges Editor: Peter Przygodda Sound: Gunther Kortwich Cast:
 Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Bruno Ganz, Horst Buchholz, Nastassja Kinski, Heinz Rühmann, Solveig Dommartin, Rüdiger Vogler, Willem Dafoe

Guest Appearences: Mikhail Gorbachev, Lou Reed Casting: Renate Landkammer Score Music:
 Laurent Petitgand Songs: 
Laurie Anderson, Jane Siberry, 
Simon Bonney, Lou Reed, U2, Herbert Grönemeyer , Johnny Cash, Nick Cave, The House of Love, Guy Chadwick, J. D. Foster
 Storyboard: Angelika Margull Script: Katrin Mehlhop Dialogues: Ulrich Zieger Sound Editor: Barbara von Weitershausen Line Producer: Michael Schwarz Production Manager: Karsten Brünig, Ralph Remstedt Production Coordination: Claudia Bade, Catherine Coste Assistant Director: Scott Kirby, Caroline Veyssière, Anton Rey Second Camera: Judith Kaufmann Assistant Editor:  Anne Schnee, Lenie Savietto Dramatic Consultant: Daniel Ganz, Lothar Trolle Dialogue Synchro Editor: Eva Claudius, Darrell Hanzalik, Claudia Fröhlich, Veronika Manchot Assistant Camera/Steadicam: Jörg Widmer, Donata Schmidt, Mario Voss, Martin Radwan, Benjamin Dernbecher, Ralf Leistl, Hagen Bogdanski Dolly Grip: Claus Gerling, Peter Kosel Light: Jürgen Bosse, Ronald Schwarz, Jost Engelmayer, Marco Teuchert, Stefan Breitel Video Supervision: Dieter Klucke Video Technician: „Bibo“ Peter Tabbert Video Assistant: Wolfgang Dinslage Video Installation: Fritz Hannemann Special Effects: Ulrich Nefzer, Michael Luppino Visual Effects: Frank Schlegel, Morten McAdams Set Designer: Martin Schreiber, Angelika Schubert Set Decorator: Michael Fechner, Andreas Schürmeyer, Pedro Kothe, Candy Birkemeyer Set Construction: Gonda Hinrichs, Karsten Mailänder, David Doran Construction: Albrecht Konrad Construction Manager: Andreas Olshausen Wardrobe: Esther Walz, Gabriele Binder Make-up: Hasso von Hugo, Christine Atar, Valeska Schitthelm, Axel Zornow, Friederike Rössler, Faieza Ali, Andrea Schirmer, Marianne Birck, Ingrid Weiss Armorer: Karl Nefzer, Gerd Feuchter Assistant Sound Editor: Angela Busskamp Sound Assistant: Andreas Walther, Hanno Hackfort Sound Effects: Matthias Lempert Sound Engineer: Klaus Bölitz, Marco Birkner Foley Artist: Hans-Walter Kramski, Bernd Schmidl Foley Synchro Editor: Evelyn Schmidt Re-recording Mixer: Michael Kranz Music Re-recording Mixer: Gareth Jones Music Execution: David Darling (Solo Cello), Irene Maas (Sopran) Acrobats: Hubert Von Seidlein, Christoph Kunzmann, Leigh Took Still Photographer: Andreas Neubauer Title Design: Peter Bartoschek, Waltraud Bartoschek Personal Assistant to Wim Wenders: Dagmar Forelle Production Assistant: Uwe Kossmann, Jolanda Darbyshire Assistant Production Manager: Detlef Wittenberg Production Accounting: Steffi Hiller Pay Office: Paul Meyer-Gerlt Legal advice: Steven A. Reich Primary Distribution: Tobis Filmkunst GmbH & Co .Verleih KG (Berlin) Shooting:14.07.1992 – 03.10.1992 in Berlin and at the Niederfinow ship lift Premiere (FR): 18.05.1993, Cannes, International Filmfestival First Release (DE): 09.09.1993 World Sales: HanWay Films


Blu-ray & DVD

BLU RAY (DE)
Arthaus/Studiocanal
Language/Sound: German (5.1 DTS-HD MA)
Subtitles: German
Image Format: 1,85:1 1080/24p Full HD

2 DVD Edition (DE)
Arthaus/Studiocanal
Language/Sound: 
German (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: German
Image Format: 1,78:1

DVD (DE)
Arthaus/Studiocanal
Language/Sound: German (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles: German
Image Format: 1,78:1

BLU RAY (IT)
RHV
Language/Sound: German (Dolby Digital 2.1), Italian (Dolby Digital 3.0)
Subtitles: Italian
Image Format: 1.85:1, 1080p/24p Full HD

DVD (US)
Columbia Tri-Star
Language/Sound: German (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
Image Format: 1,78:1


Book to the film

Faraway, so close !
Wim Wenders
Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt am Main 1993

Out of print


Press Sheet (PDF)

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