Wim Wenders, the prolific German filmmaker with a glittering CV, has been discussing how the impact Polaroid photos have impacted his creativity.

Not long ago Far Out introduced Wenders’ prolific Polaroid diary, a collection of images taken from his work on set, his travels and more. Now, we’ve unearthed a short film which explores more detail on the filmmakers reliance on the image output. “Every movie starts with a certain idea,” says Wenders in the short film. “And the Polaroid was just a collection of constant ideas,” he adds.

“My very first Polaroid camera was a very simple one. Mid-sixties. I was 20, and I used Polaroid cameras exclusively until I was about 35 or so. Most of them I gave away, because when you took Polaroids, people were always greedy and wanted them because it was an object, it was a singular thing.”

Having found the inspiration to create films such as Alice in the Cities, The American Friend, Paris, Texas, and Wings of Desire, Wenders is well known for cinematography and specifically his frequent collaborations with the famed Robby Müller who also enjoyed the use of Polaroid.

[MORE] – The extraordinary Polaroid diary of German filmmaker Wim Wenders

When talking about his Polaroids, Wenders adds that his work was a “very insightful into the process of my first six, seven movies, all the movies I did through the seventies.”

He adds: “Polaroids were never so exact about the framing. You didn’t really care about that. It was about the immediacy of it. It’s almost a subconscious act, and then it became something real. That makes it such a window into your soul as well.”

Below, enjoyed the short film focus on Wenders:

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