Overview

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. 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. 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. Paris, Texas directed by Wim Wenders and written by Sam Shepard with adaptation by L.M. Kit Carson, and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, and Hunter Carson among others. Melinda Camber Porter passed away from ovarian cancer in 2008 and she left behind a significant body of work in art, journalism, and literature. With her background as a journalist for The Times of London, her interviews had a unique way of getting to the heart of the creative process used by the many widely acclaimed cultural figures, filmmakers, and writers whom she spoke with. The Melinda Camber Porter Archive of Creative Works comprises two series of books. Volume 1 are books of journalism. Volume 2 are books of art and literature. (ISSN: 2379-2450 (Print); ISSN: 2379-3198 (E-book); and ISSN: 2379-321X (Audiobook). Melinda Camber Porter in Conversation with Wim Wenders, Paris, Texas 1983, Blake Press, 124p, illus., index, bibl.

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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 with numerous awards and books on film and photography

Author Information

In the fall of 2012 this desire began to be fulfilled. The establishment of the Wim Wenders Foundation in Dusseldorf created a legally binding framework to bring together the cinematic, photographic, artistic and literary lifework of Wim Wenders in his native country and to make it permanently accessible to the general public worldwide. The non-profit foundation model ensures that the whole body of work remains beyond the reach of any form of private self-interest. People around the globe have seen my films, many have been influenced by them, and some of these films have become classics or cult films. In this sense they no longer belong to me anyways, but instead to a collective memory of cinema-goers of every age and many nationalities. It has been my desire for many years that in the future my work might belong only to itself, and thus to everyone. There is now a realistic and unique opportunity for this dream to come true. Wim Wenders All proceeds will be used to finance the purpose of the foundation: the promotion of the arts and culture through the preservation, restoration, research and distribution of Wenders' work on the one hand and through the support of young talents in the area of innovative cinematic narration on the other. In the fall of 2012 this desire began to be fulfilled. The establishment of the Wim Wenders Foundation in Dusseldorf created a legally binding framework to bring together the cinematic, photographic, artistic and literary lifework of Wim Wenders in his native country and to make it permanently accessible to the general public worldwide. The non-profit foundation model ensures that the whole body of work remains beyond the reach of any form of private self-interest. People around the globe have seen my films, many have been influenced by them, and some of these films have become classics or cult films. In this sense they no longer belong to me anyways, but instead to a collective memory of cinema-goers of every age and many nationalities. It has been my desire for many years that in the future my work might belong only to itself, and thus to everyone. There is now a realistic and unique opportunity for this dream to come true. Wim Wenders All proceeds will be used to finance the purpose of the foundation: the promotion of the arts and culture through the preservation, restoration, research and distribution of Wenders' work on the one hand and through the support of young talents in the area of innovative cinematic narration on the other. Melinda Camber Porter (1953 - 2008) was born in London and graduated from Oxford University with a First Class Honors degree in Modern Languages. She began her writing career in Paris as a cultural correspondent for The Times of London. French culture is the subject of her book Through Parisian Eyes (published by Oxford University Press), which the Boston Globe describes as a particularly readable and brilliantly and uniquely compiled collection. She interviewed many leading cultural figures including four Nobel Prize winners such as Saul Bellow and Gunter Grass, and others; Joyce Carol Oates, Joan Diddion, Frances Sagan, Michael Apted, Martin Scorsese, and Wim Wenders. Camber Porter's left over 50 audio recordings of these interviews. Her novel Badlands, a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, was set on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Publishers Weekly stated a novel of startling, dreamlike lyricism. A film documenting the creation of the paintings featured in this solo exhibition, entitled The Art of Love, showed regularly on Public Television stations nationally and a collection of her poetry and paintings, also entitled The Art of Love, served as companion to the show. Camber Porter's paintings have also served as the primary inspiration and as backdrops for several of her theatrical works. She created the backdrops, book, and lyrics for the musical Night Angel, with music by Carmen Moore and was originally performed at Lincoln Center in New York City. She created the book, lyrics, and backdrops for the rock-opera-in-progress, Journey to Benares, with music, direction and choreography by Elizabeth Swados, and was performed at the Asia Society and Museum in New York City in November 2003. Melinda Camber Porter leaves a prolific and creative legacy with thousands of paintings; over two hundred hours of audio and film interviews with global creative figures in the arts, film and literature; and her tens of thousands of pages of writings: novels, plays, essays, journalism and volumes of poetry. Her creative and spiritual works will be enjoyed for generations.

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