"Movies practically invented the American Dream and can do the same for Europe," the German director of such movies as 'Paris, Texas' and 'Wings of Desire' told participants.
"There are deficits in Europe’s image. The EU is seen as an indistinct economic conglomerate that is technical and technocratic, which explains Euroscepticism. Administration has become its image," Wenders said.
"To know who you are, you have to know what you look like," the director said, arguing that the EU could improve its image by concentrating more on the emotional side of Europe.
Europe 'shy' about its cultural assets
"We filmmakers see cinema as a key way of improving and addressing the emotional deficit in people's perceptions of Europe," he declared, lamenting that Europe is "so shy about its greatest asset: culture".
"People are in awe of our economic power, but they respect our cultural power. If only we Europeans could harness this asset properly, but we don't," the director said.
Highlighting the power of film as a means of communication, Wenders said movies not only reflect the picture of society and project values, but also shape them. "There is no more popular or more efficient way of transmitting messages. Images are the weapons of the future," he said.
"This traffic will come to a grinding halt if we don't act now. Otherwise we won't create the Europe we're dreaming of. There'll only be the administration left, and people will soon get sick and tired of that," Wenders warned.
Scepticism widespread
Other participants were less optimistic that a 'European Dream' could still be created.
"People who don't know their history are condemned to repeat their history. We're seeing nationalist forces rise again in Europe, showing that we have failed to create a sense of common belonging," argued French centre-right MEP Jean-Marie Cavada (European People's Party), chair of the European Parliament's media intergroup.
"Perhaps it's too late for us bureaucrats to address this," Cavada cautioned. "We haven’t done our job well enough at EU level. We need a fund for the creation of quality content. Look at the garbage that dominates our TV screens," he lamented.
Calling for young people to be educated about the richness of European cinema, Wenders complained that "film is not explored enough in schools".
"We're living in the audiovisual era. We all have TVs and computers, but the audiovisual world plays a very minor role in schools. Why?" Wenders asked.
Bridging the digital divide
Meanwhile, a representative of the Belgian EU Presidency said cinema heritage and the challenges posed by digitisation would be discussed at a November meeting of EU culture ministers.
"We want national cinema strategies to focus on heritage," the presidency official said, adding: "It is essential that member states support the transition to digital, or you’re going to end up with a divide where many screens aren’t up to scratch."
Wenders warned that "the digital revolution is much bigger than we thought. It isn’t just changing distribution, it’s changing the content of what we distribute, and the question is whether Europe can survive this".
"We need to make sure that we’re not limiting the access of European films to our own cinemas," the director cautioned. "Many arthouse cinemas are struggling to digitise and making digital films is expensive for small filmmakers."
The key to a successful future for the European film industry lies in education, Wenders believes. "The gigantic US film industry communicates primarily to kids and adolescents. Our film industry doesn’t do this, and it’s a huge shame," he said.
EU culture ministers are next due to meet on 18-19 November.
