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In Conversation with Wim Wenders and Donata Wenders - the Honorary Doctorate by Sabine Mirlesse
Identifier
028235
Type of Spiritual Experience
None
Background
A description of the experience
In Conversation with Wim Wenders and Donata Wenders by Sabine Mirlesse
SM: Wim you were saying you received an honorary doctorate… how did that happen?
WW: That started in Aix-en-Provence, in the mid-nineties, where I shot with Michelangelo Antonioni part of a film called Beyond the Clouds. We worked in a church there that was run by these apostolic monks for two weeks, and it turned out that they knew all our movies by heart, and that they could quote entire passages from Wings of Desire, also from Antonioni’s films. When they realized that Donata and I were spiritual people, they asked me if they could suggest me for an honorary degree in theology at their catholic faculty in Fribourg, Switzerland. I said yes, give it a try. I didn’t really believe that it could be done. The Vatican had to agree to it, it was serious business.
SM: The Pope has to agree to it personally?
WW: I think so… The Vatican has to agree – they can’t just give someone an honorary doctor of theology without an accord from high above. So I didn’t really think they could see this through…
SM: A kind of challenge.
WW: But they finally got it! And these monks, they were so happy! We had a ceremony in Fribourg, and they were literally dancing in the aisles. I had a sneaking suspicion they had became monks so they could watch movies quietly. I mean they knew each and every film! They knew all of mine, and all of Michelangelo’s. In this fraternity they would talk about movies a lot. And the film section in their library was impressive. They had others tasks and jobs, of course, working in psychology, working in charity, in their parish, but at night they watched a lot movies and talked about them.