He didn't protect me. That was my first film, my first director.
Across five decades, a child's silence became a public reckoning. Nastassja Kinski, filmed topless at thirteen in Wim Wenders' 1975 debut Wrong Move, spent years appealing for the scene's removal — and last week, Wenders withdrew the film entirely, offering an unreserved apology and pledging dialogue with Kinski and cultural institutions before any future distribution. The case asks something older than cinema: who bears responsibility for what was permitted in the name of art, and how do institutions reckon with the past when the past still lives in someone's body?
- A 13-year-old girl was filmed topless in a sexualized scene, and for decades the film continued to circulate while she publicly described the experience as 'tearing me apart.'
- Kinski's appeal finally broke into public view through a German newspaper interview, creating pressure that private requests over many years had failed to generate.
- Wenders responded with an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from all streaming, broadcast, and distribution channels — an unusually sweeping act of accountability in the film world.
- His apology, while unreserved, arrived only after public pressure, prompting her lawyer to call the move 'long overdue' and raising questions about what protection looks like when it comes too late.
- The case now sits in an unresolved space: Wenders has called for open dialogue with Kinski and film institutions to determine whether the film returns, in what form, and under what conditions.
Nastassja Kinski was thirteen years old when Wim Wenders filmed her topless for his 1975 debut feature Wrong Move. She spent decades asking him to remove the scene. Last month, she told a German newspaper plainly: 'That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn't protect me.'
This month, Wenders announced he would withdraw the film from all circulation. In a statement posted to Instagram, he said she 'should have been better protected back then' and apologized 'unreservedly, no ifs and buts,' committing to pull the film from streaming services, broadcasters, and distribution partners immediately. Her lawyer called the move 'long overdue,' while noting the regret that public pressure was required to force it.
The withdrawal is not final. Wenders said he would seek dialogue with film institutions and Kinski herself before the film could return — if it returns at all. When he accepted a lifetime achievement award at the German Film Awards that same week, he told younger filmmakers he was still wrestling with whether to permanently cut the scene, asking for their guidance.
Kinski's early career carried a pattern. She appeared topless again in two subsequent films before she turned twenty. In 1997 she reflected on those years: 'If I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. And inside it was just tearing me apart.' She later found international recognition in Wenders' own Paris, Texas, but the early harm remained.
The case now reaches beyond two people. Wenders' statement called for 'appropriate ways of dealing with controversial film works' and new frameworks for how cinema institutions handle historical works that document the exploitation of children — a question, he acknowledged, that no single voice can answer alone.
Nastassja Kinski was thirteen years old when Wim Wenders filmed her topless for a scene in Wrong Move, his 1975 debut feature. She has spent decades asking him to remove it. Last month, she told a German newspaper what that experience meant: "That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn't protect me."
On Wednesday, Wenders announced he would withdraw the film entirely from circulation. The decision came after Kinski's public appeal and the conversations that followed. In a statement posted to Instagram, the Oscar-nominated German director said the actress "should have been better protected back then" and offered an apology "unreservedly, no ifs and buts." He committed to pulling the film from streaming services, television broadcasters, and all distribution partners, effective immediately.
The withdrawal is not permanent. Wenders said he would seek dialogue with film institutions and cultural groups to find what he called "a mutually agreed solution" that includes Kinski's voice. Only after that conversation concludes will the film become available again, if at all. Her lawyer told the AFP news agency the move was "long overdue," though he also expressed regret that it took public pressure to force the issue.
Wrong Move won Wenders best director at the German Film Awards. The film contains a sexualized scene between Kinski and a male co-star in his early thirties. When Wenders received a lifetime achievement award at the same ceremony on Friday, he told younger filmmakers in the audience that he was still wrestling with whether to permanently cut the scene from the film, asking for their guidance on the question.
Kinski's early career was marked by nudity. She appeared topless again in To the Devil a Daughter in 1976 and Stay As You Are in 1978. Speaking about those roles in 1997, nearly two decades later, she described the toll: "If I had had somebody to protect me or if I had felt more secure about myself, I would not have accepted certain things. Nudity things. And inside it was just tearing me apart." She went on to international recognition in Wenders' 1984 film Paris, Texas and his 1993 work Faraway, So Close, but those early decisions haunted her.
The withdrawal of Wrong Move raises a question that extends beyond one director and one actress: how should film institutions handle works from the twentieth century that document the exploitation of children? Wenders' statement acknowledged this directly, calling for "appropriate ways of dealing with controversial film works" and "new learning processes and inclusive perspectives regarding cinema." The answer, he suggested, cannot come from one person or one institution alone. It requires the kind of open dialogue he now says he is committed to pursuing with Kinski at the center of it.
Notable Quotes
That was my first film, he was my first director and he didn't protect me.— Nastassja Kinski, to Sueddeutsche Zeitung
The actress should have been better protected back then. For that, I apologise to you, Nastassja, unreservedly, no ifs and buts.— Wim Wenders, statement on Instagram
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did it take fifty years and public pressure for Wenders to act on this?
Because for decades, Kinski was asking privately and no one was listening. The film had a reputation, it won awards, it was part of cinema history. Those things have weight. It took her speaking publicly, in a major newspaper, for the conversation to shift from private plea to public reckoning.
What does "withdrawing" a film actually mean in 2026?
It means it disappears from Netflix, from television schedules, from the places where people watch films. It's not burned or erased—the print exists. But it's no longer being sold or shown. It's a kind of quarantine while they figure out what comes next.
And what comes next? Will the film ever be shown again?
Wenders says only after dialogue with institutions and Kinski herself. He's still undecided about whether to cut the scene or withdraw it permanently. He's asking for help deciding, which is honest but also puts the burden back on others.
Does Kinski get final say?
Her lawyer says the decision is welcome but overdue—which suggests she has a seat at the table now, but she had to fight for it. That's the bitter part of this story.
What about the other films she made young, the ones with nudity?
They're still out there. This is about Wrong Move specifically, but it opens a question about all of them. If one film gets withdrawn, what about the others? The institutions haven't answered that yet.
Is Wenders a villain here?
He's a man who made a choice fifty years ago that he now says was wrong, and he's apologizing for it. But the apology came only when forced. That's not quite redemption. It's accountability, which is different.