Wim Wenders in his own words

"For me, 'angels' were above all a metaphor for the better person that we carry within us and who we so often would like to be, the child within us." The Catholic-raised Wenders, who later became Protestant, featured guardian angels in two films, depicting them as messengers sent by God to Earth (Berlin): as "fallen angels" in 1987's "Wings of Desire" and in its 1993 sequel, "Faraway, So Close."

"At the time, filming while traveling seemed like the most natural thing in the world to me. Just don't stop anywhere or even arrive! It's not for nothing that films are called 'moving pictures'." Of his vast oeuvre, it is the road movie that is most synonymous with Wim Wenders. He also rarely has a firm script, instead allowing the film to unfold in chronological order, like a travel itinerary.

"As I can't transport people to those places in the world that I found and liked, photography gives me a chance to take the places to them." Wenders' love affair with photography began when his father gifted him an 8 mm "Leicina" camera at the age of 12. He would later take numerous Polaroids and pictures while filming, capturing vast, desolate landscapes that have come to define his works.

"For me, music and film belong together, because music also means seeing with your ears. I cannot imagine a movie of mine in which music does not play a leading role." His 1999 documentary film, "Buena Vista Social Club" (pictured) on musicians of "son cubano" — a traditional Cuban music style — saw the Grammy-winning music album sell millions worldwide.

"A movie in America is also always a movie about America." Wenders, seen here with his shot of a rundown post office, first got to know America via music and films. His films and photographs often featured 'typical Americana': Coca-Cola, motel signs on deserted highways, neon signs and billboards. He later became more critical of the "American Dream, which was a movie invention to begin with."

"I was hit in the heart like never before in a movie theater. I sat there with my eyes and my mouth wide open. I cried most of the time too, but didn't even notice it." Wenders first saw Ozu's films in 1972 at a cinema in New York, which significantly impacted the German filmmaker. He's long been a fan of Japan, once saying: "I was already homesick for Japan before I had ever been there."

"What always amazed me about Yohji Yamamoto was how much history he can convey in a jacket or a shirt. It's never just the cut, the shape or the fabric, one can feel completely at home in the clothes he designed." Wenders — seen here walking the runway for Yohji Yamammoto in 2024 — did a film on the Japanese designer in 1989. The two hit it off and refer to each other as "brothers."

"The dream is of a little boy who grew up Catholic, but not knowing any of the saints, except one — St. Francis of Assisi. This saint spoke to birds; he called the sun and moon 'sister' and 'brother.' I loved him more than anything. He was a true hero of mine." Wenders told The New Yorker this helped him steer the 2018 documentary on the late Catholic pontiff, "Pope Francis: A Man of His Word."