The State of Things

Friday, September 11 - Thursday, September 17, 2015

Intro by filmmaker Kelly Reichardt (Wendy & Lucy) Mon Sep 14 at 7:00pm show!

New 4k restoration — World premiere!

DCP projection

THE STATE OF THINGS is a highly personal film about filmmaking in Europe and America. It is about a film crew stranded at the westernmost tip of Europe. The director, Friedrich Munro (Patrick Bauchau), his cameraman (Sam Fuller), scriptwriter, and actors have been abandoned by their producer. After shooting their last feet of film (they are working on the remake of a low-budget sci-fi thriller), there is nothing left to do but wait. Friedrich finally sets out for Los Angeles to search for the missing producer (Allen Garfield). Friedrich finally finds him on Sunset Boulevard, in his RV, where he is hiding out from the mafiosi or loan sharks who are after him. The two have to pay with their lives for their black-and-white film adventure the following morning. Friedrich continues to “put up a fight” by “shooting back” with his Super 8 camera until the moment of his death. Wenders’s parable on filmmaking has also been interpreted as his way of addressing the difficulties that he faced during the production of Hammett, his first film in the United States.

Part of the retrospective “Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road”

• Country West Germany
• Language In English and French with English subtitles
• Rating NR
• Year 1982
• Running Time 121 minutes
• Director Wim Wenders

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.