European Film Academy to honour Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders, a giant of German cinema known for films such as "Paris, Texas" and "Wings of Desire," will be honoured by the European Film Academy for his "outstanding body of work," reported dpa.

Wenders, 79, is to receive the honour at the European Film Awards ceremony on December 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland, the academy said on Tuesday.

Wenders was born in Dusseldorf in 1945 and currently lives in Berlin. He has made dozens of feature films and documentaries since his debut work "Summer in the City" in 1970.

He won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes festival in 1984 for the road film "Paris, Texas" and achieved another success three years later with the Berlin love story "Wings of Desire." His 1999 Cuban street music documentary "Buena Vista Social Club" was also well received by critics and audiences.

He has been nominated for an Oscar several times, including for last year's "Perfect Days." The fictional work about a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo was up for the Best International Feature Film award, but Wenders left empty handed.

Wenders is one of the founding members of the European Film Academy and was its president from 1996 to 2020.

“With this award, we celebrate Wim Wenders’ outstanding body of work which keeps exploring and experimenting with a curious eye and an open mind,” Matthijs Wouter Knol, chief executive and director of the European Film Academy, said in a statement.