In the late 1980s the amount of German films was down to four or five percent of the market, and the remaining 95 percent were American. It is now 20 to 30 percent German productions.

The project was founded by Martin Scorsese and aimed at finding and reconstructing world cinema films that have been long neglected. During this time Wenders became fascinated with cinema and saw up to five movies a day at the local movie theater. Wenders is a member of the advisory board of World Cinema Foundation.

Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (German pronunciation: [vɪm vɛndəɐs]; born 14 August 1945) is a German film director playwright author photographer and film producer.