Room 666 (1982)

“There was a general gloom at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. The feeling that the end of cinema was inevitable was roaming everywhere. A ‘black hole’ was opening in film history, so to speak. So I thought I would do a survey among my colleagues about the future of cinema. I invited them all to the only available room in the whole town. Room 666 at the Hotel Martinez. There was a single camera in the room, and the question was on the table. My colleagues only had to turn on the tape recorder and the camera when they were ready to give their solitary answers. Godard, Fassbinder, Spielberg, Antonioni, Herzog, and other filmmakers gave a response to the question: ‘Is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?’

Some answered the question very extensively; others were unsettled by the situation and remained silent. We then cut those out…” — Wim Wenders

1985 Berlin International Film Festival (Forum)

2023 Festival Lumière Lyon (premiere of the restored version)