One of the best known directors of the New German Cinema, Wim Wenders grew up glued to the American Forces Network, fascinated not only by the music but by all things American. Raised a Catholic, he briefly entertained ambitions for the priesthood but abandoned them by the age of 18 as rock 'n' roll had become a more powerful influence. (His movies to this day reflect a continued steady love affair with American pop music, and he counts rock artists like U2's Bono, Nick Cave, Lou Reed and Ry Cooder as personal friends and collaborators.) Wenders, whose father was a surgeon, would become