PINA, a feature-length dance film that was shot in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal, shows the exhilarating and inimitable art of the great German choreographer who died in the summer of 2009, inviting the viewer on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: right onto the stage of the legendary ensemble and together with the dancers beyond the theater, into the city and the surrounding industrial landscape of Wuppertal, the place that was the home and center of Pina Bausch's creative life for more than 35 years.
The new film concept includes, in addition to excerpts from the four productions of "Café Müller", "Le Sacre du printemps", "Vollmond" and "Kontakthof", carefully selected archive footage of Pina Bausch at work, with many imaginative, short solo performances by the dancers of the ensemble. To achieve this, Wim Wenders used Pina Bausch's own method of "questioning" with which the choreographer developed her new productions. She posed questions and her dancers answered not in words, but with improvised dance and body language.
PINA won both the German Federal Award and the European Film Award 2011 as best documentary, and was nominated for an Oscar® in the category Best Documentary Feature in 2012. The book about this film, "Pina. The Film and the Dancers" by Donata and Wim Wenders will be available at bookshops this month.
TEAM
Director.- Wim Wenders.
Choreography.- Pina Bausch.
Producer.- Gian-Piero Ringel.
Stereographer.- Alain Derobe.
DoP.- Hélène Louvart, Jörg Widmer.
Editing.- Toni Froschhammer.
3D Supervisor.- François Garnier.
Artistic consultant.- Peter Pabst, Dominik Mercy, Robert Sturm.
3D Producer.- Erwin M. Schmidt.
Executive Producer.- Jeremy Thomas.
Commissioning Editor.- Wolfgang Bergmann, Dieter Schneider, Gabriele Heuser.
Coproduction.- Claudie Ossard, Chris Bolzli. Eurowide (Paris) in collaboration with Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, ZDF, ZDF theaterkanal and ARTE.
International Sales.- Hanway Films.
Wim Wenders is one of the most important figures of the German cinema in the 1970s. He has established the production companies "Road Movies" and "Neue Road Movies" with which he is currently carrying out projects such as "Cathedrals of Culture", "Every Thing Will Be Fine" or "If Buildings Could Talk...".
Below is the trailer and an interview to Wim Wenders at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010.
