This film is currently unavailable
A Trick of the Light
The origins of German cinema are given life in one of Wim Wenders’ most charming and playful films, focusing on pioneering inventors, the Skladanowsky brothers.
Director: Wim Wenders, Sebastian Andrae, German Kral, Barbara Rohm, Alina Theodorescu, Sorin Dragoi, Björn Kurt, Florian Gallenberger, Markus Hansen and Britta Sauer
Overview
Working with a group of Munich-based film students, acclaimed director Wim Wenders celebrates a century of cinema by reappraising the importance of the Skladanowsky Brothers, one of the pioneers of early cinema. Part docudrama, part experimental re-enactment, this is Wenders at his most playful and imaginative.
Fictional recreations of the brothers’ development of the ‘bioskop’, a primitive version of the film projector, are framed by an interview with Max Skladanowsky’s surviving daughter, Lucie, whose reminiscences bring a forgotten world back to life. Ultimately, A Trick of Light is a meditation on the nature of film and its ability to capture the world around us, made by a director acutely aware of the medium’s limitations within a rapidly changing world.
Related
The Extraordinary Miss Flower The Extraordinary Miss Flower
Drama-documentary 2024 73 mins Director: Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
Hugely creative biographical film full of charm and intrigue, uncovering the remarkable story of Geraldine Flower and a suitcase of love letters.
2073 2073
Documentary 2024 83 mins Director: Asif Kapadia
Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.
A Night of Knowing Nothing A Night of Knowing Nothing
Drama-documentary 2021 99 mins Director: Payal Kapadia
All We Imagine as Light director Payal Kapadia’s bold and distinctive feature debut explores the political climate of contemporary India.
Exposé (aka House on Straw Hill) Exposé (aka House on Straw Hill)
Thriller 1976 84 mins Director: James Kenelm Clarke
A novelist’s rural retreat descends into an orgy of violent mayhem, in one of the most notorious shockers in British cinema.
Suspiria Suspiria
Horror 1977 101 mins Director: Dario Argento
Dario Argento’s phantasmagoric gothic nightmare blends operatic violence, disorienting dream logic and hyper-real visuals to create a horror classic.
Wings of Desire Wings of Desire
Fantasy 1987 128 mins Director: Wim Wenders
In director Wim Wenders' (Paris, Texas) most metaphysical work, a guardian angel desires nothing more than to be human.
Paris, Texas Paris, Texas
Drama 1984 145 mins Director: Wim Wenders
The late, great Harry Dean Stanton's finest role came as the near-mute Travis, on a journey across America to reunite his family, in Wim Wenders' moving tale of loss and redemption.
The House of Mirth The House of Mirth
Drama 2001 140 mins Director: Terence Davies
Terence Davies and Gillian Anderson take us to the epitome of heartbreak in a visually intoxicating adaptation of Edith Wharton’s era-defining novel.
Ashes and Diamonds Ashes and Diamonds
War 1958 99 mins Director: Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda’s best-known, visually remarkable film starring Zbigniew Cybulski.
A Generation A Generation
War 1955 85 mins Director: Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Wajda’s feature directorial debut is a portrait of Polish underground fighters during the Second World War.
Swallow Swallow
Drama 2019 95 mins Director: Carlo Mirabella-Davis
When newly-wed housewife Hunter becomes pregnant, her cravings threaten to destroy her perfect life in Carlo Mirabella-Davis's psychological thriller.
Kanal Kanal
War 1956 93 mins Director: Andrzej Wajda
Wajda’s harrowing portrait of resistance fighters forced to flee the German army via Warsaw’s sewage system is one of his finest achievements.
Odyssey Odyssey
Thriller 2025 111 mins Director: Gerard Johnson
Gerard Johnson (Hyena, Muscle) delivers a frenzied London thriller about an estate agent under intense pressure and out of her depth.