The American friend

29.05.2018 | Eine Stadt sieht einen Film

Wim Wenders and Dennis Hopper during the filming of "The American Friend"

A journey back in time to Hamburg in the 70s: on Sunday, 3 June, 15 cinemas in the Hanseatic city will be showing Wim Wenders' classic "The American Friend", in which Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz play the leading roles. Director legend Wenders and his team will also be on hand at several screenings to reveal exciting details about the film.

For the third time, Hamburg's arthouse cinemas are joining forces for the joint event "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film" - once again with a real Hamburg classic! From 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wim WendersThe American friend can be seen in 15 cinemas - including film talks and a supporting programme: video installations and photo exhibitions are just as much a part of the programme as readings from the novel, short films, film studies introductions - and as a highlight, the "Walk with Wim", a tour of the film location in St. Pauli (which is unfortunately already fully booked). In addition to Wenders, actor Lou Castel, Sound Designers Martin Müller and production designers Heidi Lüdi and Toni Lüdi will be guests in seven cinemas on 3 June (Overview of the screenings). So if you haven't seen the film yet or finally want to see it on the big screen again - 3 June is YOUR day!

Dennis Hopper as Ripley in Wim Wenders' film adaptation of the novel

And if one or two visitors want to get into the right mood in advance, be sure to take a look atwww.filmtourismus.de over. Hamburg blogger Andrea David went in search of the film locations in the Hanseatic city. She skilfully juxtaposes film stills with actual location photos so that the two merge into one image. A small selection of her photos can be found here:

About the film

Wim Wender made The American Friend based on the novel "Ripley's Game" by US author Patricia Highsmiths. The German-French crime thriller screened in competition at the 1977 Cannes International Film Festival and won the German Critics' Award and German Film Award in Gold. Lead actor Dennis Hopper travelled directly to Hamburg after the filming of Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now to take on the role of the shady Tom Ripley, who persuades the terminally ill frame maker Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz) to carry out two contract killings. In addition to Hamburg, the film was also shot in Paris, New York, Munich and on the North Sea.

Credits: Wim Wenders Foundation/Andrea David