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From the dusty desolation of Paris, Texas to the sizzling stages of Buena Vista Social Club, the TIFF Bell Lightbox is taking us On The Road with Wim Wenders. Their latest retrospective will showcase everything from beautiful restorations of his early work, which helped change the face of German cinema, to his latest experimentations in documentary.

Here, Brad Deane, Senior Manager of Film Programmes at TIFF, takes us through a pivotal scene in perhaps Wenders’ best known work, 1987’s Wings of Desire. The story of a Berlin-based angel who yearns to join the human world, it serves not just as an introduction to the ideas and obsessions that mark Wenders’ career, but the playful humanity and genius construction that made him such a pivotal figure in German cinema.