Pina

by Wim Wenders

Germany - 2011

Saturday, June 8th • 4PM
At Bophana Center

Feature Film - 106mn

Color

German, French, English, Spanish, Croatian, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Korean - English subtitles

CinematographyHélène Louvart

MusicThom Hanreich

CastPina Bausch, Dominique Mercy, Regina Advento

FormatHD – Dolby

GenreDocumentary

First ReleaseFebruary 24, 2011

AwardsOscar 2012 - Nomination for the Best film in foreign language

SynopsisIn modern dance since the 1970s, few choreographers have had more influence in the medium than the late Pina Bausch. This film explores the life and work of this artist of movement while we see her company perform her most notable creations where basic things like water, dirt and even gravity take on otherworldly qualities in their dancing.

AboutErnst Wilhelm “Wim” Wenders is a German film director, playwright, author, photographer and film producer. The film presents extracts from some of the most noted dance pieces by Pina Bausch in the Tanztheater (“dance theater”) style of which Bausch was a leading exponent. The extracts are from four pieces: Le sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring), Café Müller, Kontakthof, and Vollmond. These are complemented with interviews and further dance choreographies, which were shot in and around Wuppertal, Germany; the film includes scenes showing the Wuppertal Schwebebahn, an elevated railway, and some dance sequences take place inside its carriages. During the preparation of the documentary, Pina Bausch died unexpectedly. Wenders cancelled the film production, but the other dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal convinced him to make the film anyway.

Selective filmography of Wim Wenders
(born in 1945)

1970 – Summer in the city

1974 – Alice in the cities

1982 – The state of things

1984 – Paris, Texas

1987 – Wings of the desire

1993 – Faraway, so close!

1999 – Buena Vista Social Club

2000 – The million dollar Hotel