Film director Wim Wenders was born on August 14, 1945, in Düsseldorf, Germany. He studied medicine, philosophy, and sculpture as a student, before moving on to film studies at the University of Munich in 1967. While there, he shot short films and worked as a film critic for the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel. His graduation project included his first feature-length film, Summer in the City. He subsequently produced a trilogy of road movies, including Alice in the City, Detour, and The Wanderings, which garnered acclaim both in Germany and abroad. He was approached by director Francis Ford Coppola to move to Hollywood, but struggled to adapt. Despite this, he completed his first film, The Way Things Are, in 1981, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 1984, he won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and the BAFTA Award for Best Director for Paris, Texas. He also won the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for "Wings of Desire" in 1987.

His documentaries have received critical acclaim, and in his 1989 film "Video Notes: A History of Fashion," which follows fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto, he filmed the year from Paris in the fall of 1987 to the presentation of his collection in the fall of 1988. He also ventured into 3D for "Pina," a 2011 film about choreographer Pina Pausch. It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 84th Academy Awards.