Pina is a film for Pina Bausch. Shot in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, this feature-length dance film portrays the exhilarating and inimitable art of this great German choreographer who died in the summer of 2009. Inviting the viewer on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension right onto the stage of the legendary ensemble, the film also accompanies the dancers beyond the theatre, into the city and the surrounding industrial landscape of Wuppertal – the place that was the home and centre of Pina Bausch's creative life for more than 35 years.
Pina Bausch (1940–2009) succeeded through her choreographies in combining classical dance with theatrical and artistic elements, performance arts, pantomime and song into a new art form that captured the spirit of the times: dance theatre. She became one of the great pioneers and innovators of dance in the second half of the 20th Century. With the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch that she founded and directed she became a cult figure of the international dance scene that she helped to define due to the radical parameters of her artistic approach.
Wim Wenders dedicated his film Pina to her, a highly emotional homage to his great artist friend. The innovative and lavish 3D film won both the German Federal Award and the European Film Award 2011 as best documentary, and was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Documentary Feature in 2012. Donata Wenders accompanied the shooting as photographer and continued traveling with the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch for a couple of years afterwards.