“This gorgeous, complex story of a self-possessed nine-year-old adrift on the road with an unlikely writer/journalist companion is one of Wim Wenders’ best. Infused with bits of captivating music—Sibylle Baier, Chuck Berry, Canned Heat—and exquisitely shot in black and white by Robby Müller, ALICE IN THE CITIES is a haunting road movie for anyone who appreciates the small, elegant details of life.” —Tara Y, production
The first of the road films that would come to define the career of Wim Wenders, the magnificent ALICE IN THE CITIES is an emotionally generous and luminously shot odyssey. A German journalist (Rüdiger Vogler) is driving across the United States to research an article; it’s a disappointing trip, in which he is unable to truly connect with what he sees. Things change, however, when he has no choice but to take a young girl named Alice (Yella Rottländer) with him on his return trip to Germany, after her mother (Lisa Kreuzer)—whom he has just met—leaves the child in his care. Though they initially find themselves at odds, the pair begin to form an unlikely friendship.
Directed by Wim Wenders • 1974 • West Germany
Starring Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer, Elisabeth Kreuzer
The first of the road films that would come to define the career of Wim Wenders, the magnificent ALICE IN THE CITIES is an emotionally generous and luminously shot odyssey. A German journal...
This audio commentary, recorded in 2005, features director Wim Wenders and actors Rüdiger Vogler and Yella Rottländer. It is presented in German with English subtitles.
This 2016 program features interviews with actors Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer, and Lisa Kreuzer.
This short documentary from 2015 discusses the ongoing work by the Wim Wenders Foundation to restore the filmmaker’s early output.
Directed by Wim Wenders • 1968 • West Germany
Wim Wenders’ second short film—and his first surviving work—is a fractured, experimental take on a crime thriller in which a single shot is repeated five times with five different color filters, a structure described by the director as having “a lot ...
The following short film was directed by Wim Wenders in 1968.
The following is sixteen minutes of outtakes and on-set footage from the shooting of ALICE IN THE CITIES. The material is silent but is presented here with music from CAN’s score for the film.