Anselm

Anselm is a documentary portrait of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, an artist whose work draws on literature, poetry, philosophy, science, mythology and religion, and returns repeatedly to questions of human existence and the recurring patterns of history. Directed by Wim Wenders, the film moves between Kiefer's origins in Germany and the studio life he has built in France, tracing the places and stages of a career spanning more than five decades. Past and present are layered together so that the boundary between cinema and painting becomes less distinct, with the artist's own biography, his sources of inspiration and his working process placed at the centre of the film.

Wenders wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Karsten Brünig. Kiefer appears as himself, while Daniel Kiefer and Anton Wenders play him at younger stages and the writer Ingeborg Bachmann is seen in archive material. Shot over roughly two years in 3D and 6K resolution, the film runs 93 minutes and was released in October 2023. It is Wenders's twentieth film in chronological order, following Perfect Days the same year. It took about 2 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.2/10 from around 2,400 votes, while on TMDB it has 6.6/10 from a much smaller number of votes.