Kings of the Road

As Wim Wenders observed in 1991: “Only what is big can survive. Small and modest things disappear, just like small and modest images”. And he seems to have been aware of this for quite a while. Made in the mid-1970s, Kings of the Road is an attempt to preserve what will soon disappear: small cinemas and their humble owners. Shot in wide format on black-and-white 35 mm film – a choice, which in itself an artistic statement – the film tells the story of a projection-equipment repair mechanic travelling along the border between West Germany and East Germany. Always on the road, with each visit to a different forgotten town, he slowly bids farewell to the analogue era. Together with a psychologist whom he meets by happenstance, they talk to disoriented people who at some point have stopped keeping up with what is going on around them. Kings of the Road is a great combination: by telling the story of a life in motion, it allows us to pause for a moment.

Patrycja Mucha

4K restoration from 2014.