Nick's Film – Lightning over Water

In 1979 a taxi drops Wim Wenders off at the New York loft of Nicholas Ray, who is dying. The two director friends want to make a film together in which Ray and his approaching death play the leading role. But the reality of that death proves hard to direct.

Ray gives a lecture to students about his film The Lusty Men, friends and family visit his home, he and Wenders play backgammon. Meanwhile, as Wenders notes, the camera captures something that the naked eye cannot or prefers not to register: death. Partly shot on 35mm and partly on video, the images reinforce the feeling that we are seeing a life in the process of letting go, like wallpaper peeling off a wall and leaving phantom traces.

As Ray’s face becomes increasingly sunken, Wenders questions his own role. Does he still have control over the film? Are he and Ray still making this film together, or have they become filmmaker and subject? And what does that mean for their friendship?

The screenings of Nick’s Film – Lightning over Water are supported by the Brook Foundation.