Melinda Camber Porter (1953-2008)

Share
Facebook Google plus Twitter
Join Our Mailing List
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Fine Art
  • Journalism
  • Literature
  • Film & Photography
  • Criticism
  • Books
  • News
  • Contact
BACK

Wim Wenders, German director

  • Journalism
    • Phillipe Adrien, French stage director
    • Michelangelo Antoniono, Italian film director
    • Jean Anouilh, French dramatist
    • Michael Apted, English director
    • Jean-Paul Aron, French writer
    • David Bailey, English photographer
    • Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor
    • Saul Bellow, American writer
    • Jacqueline Bissett, English actress
    • Walerian Borowczyk, Polish film director
    • Breyten Breytenbach, South African writer
    • Peter Brook, English director
    • Marcel Carné, French film director
    • Kit Carson, American actor
    • Angela Carter, English writer
    • Liliane Cavani, Italian film director
    • Benjamin Cheever, American writer
    • Patrice Chéreau, French director
    • Cyril Connolly, English critic
    • Robert Crunden, American professor
    • Costa-Gavras, Green-French director
    • Régis Debray, French philosopher
    • Joan Didion, American writer
    • Marguerite Duras, French writer
    • Jean Eustache, French filmmaker
    • Albert Finney, English actor
    • Guy Gallo, American writer
    • Françoise Giroud, French writer
    • Valéry Giscard, French politician
    • Jean-Luc Godard, French director
    • Peggy Guggenheim, American socialite
    • Kathryn Harrison, American writer
    • Michael Hastings, British writer
    • John Huston, American film director
    • Eugène Ionesco, French playwright
    • Edmond Jabès, French writer
    • Akira Kurosawa, Japanese filmmaker
    • Bernard-Henri Lévy, French writer
    • Roy Lichtenstein, American artist
    • Michael Lonsdale, French actor
    • Louis Malle, French director
    • André Malraux, French writer
    • Peter Matthiessen, American writer
    • James Michener, American author
    • Eugenio Montale, Italian writer
    • Yves Montand, French actor
    • Joyce Carol Oates, American writer
    • Marcel Ophüls, French filmmaker
    • Octavio Paz, Mexican poet
    • Tom Phillips, English artist
    • Chaim Potok, American writer
    • Ishmael Reed, American writer
    • Alain Resnais, French director
    • Jean-François Revel, French writer
    • Alain Robbe-Grillet, French writer
    • Éric Rohmer, French director
    • Françoise Sagan, French writer
    • Michael Schmidt, British writer
    • Martin Scorsese, American director
    • Delphine Seyrig, French actress
    • George Steiner, American writer
    • Bertrand Tavernier, French director
    • André Téchiné, French writer
    • Olivier Todd, French writer
    • François Truffaut, French director
    • Roger Vadim, French director
    • Wim Wenders, German director
    • Monique Wittig, French writer
    • Susannah York, English actress
    • Through Parisian Eyes

Wim Wenders (1945 - ) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer.

Preview the book, Melinda Camber Porter in Conversation with Wim Wenders, here

The conversation between Wim Wenders and Melinda Camber Porter (1953-2008) took place on location in December 1983, while Mr. Wenders was shooting his first American film, Paris Texas. With this publication, we have an opportunity to listen to Wim Wenders discuss his approach to filmmaking, in conversation with Melinda Camber Porter, during the development and filmmaking process of Paris Texas. America was a place of European immigrants, German immigrants, and a vast land stretching to California. Men and women were becoming disillusioned and seeking that something just out of reach.

Wenders on what men expect of women:

Melinda Camber Porter asked Wim Wenders: “When you say men have certain expectations of women, what exactly do you mean? Wim Wenders explains, “We still have to find out what we mean by that, because ‘the character’ hasn’t really understood that yet [in shooting the film, Paris Texas]. The character is getting ready to confront the issue. I do not work so a film is laid out and people can spell it out. I work much more on intuition … Sometimes film making is very much based on very subconscious choices or intuitions.”

Wenders on his movies as self discovery:

The interview is divided into three parts, each covering a variety of topics such as thte movie making process, fluidity and discovery, the nuances of implementing Wenders' personal vision, the difference bewteen theater and filmm, and the contrast between Europe and America as perceived by Wenders. Photographs of hte empty landscape, scenes from the film, and photographs of Melinda taken by Wim are all included. Though it focuses on just one film, this title provides insights into the foundational aspects of his creativity, and the reader come away with an increased understaning of all his works.

Wenders on filmmaking as intuition:

 

"When I think of a movie, I don't initially think much of actors. I think I work much more from a certain flow of images or a certain connection of ideas and images. And then the actors come in and they're always a big disturbance in this beautiful unity of ideas that existed before. And usually it turns out that they just disturb this order enough to make it interesting. So, usually in the course of a movie I get very interested in the actors. Usually they help me to forget the ideas that I had before. And if they don't, something is wrong. If I find myself sticking to preconceived ideas, then it's because the actors just didn't interest me enough."

Wenders on how the Europeans installed abuses in America:

 

Melinda Camber Porter was collaborating with Wim Wenders on a documentary feature about his body of work, Wim Wenders - Visions on Film, when she passed away. The film remains imcomplete.

"This is an exceptional book on Wim Wenders. Frankly, I was not prepared for this extraordinary volume. The depth of Melinda Camber Porter's interview with Wim Wenders is breathtakingly apparent. Speaking from experience, I am in the position to truly appreciate work of this nature and Melinda Camber Porter's remarkable achievement."

- Michael Edelson, Professor Emeritus, Film and Photography, Stony Brook University

© 2015 - Melinda Camber Porter   |   Website by Hamptons Web Design