“Paris, Texas” (パリ、テキサス), Original Japanese First-Release B1 Half-Size “Special Long” Movie Poster 1985, Ultra Rare, c. 36.5 × 103 cm / 14.4 × 40.6 in S150

This is an original, ultra-rare Japanese first-release theatrical poster, printed in 1985 for the first Japanese cinema release of Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (パリ、テキサス), which opened in Japan on 7 September 1985.

Although the film was completed and won the Palme d’Or in 1984, this poster belongs to its original 1985 Japanese theatrical campaign. The prominent references to “Cannes 1984” identify the year of the film’s festival triumph rather than the date on which this Japanese poster was issued.

Measuring approximately 36.5 × 103 cm, this poster uses the full height of a Japanese B1 sheet while measuring approximately half its standard width. It is therefore be described as a B1 half-size or special-long single-sheet poster—a highly unusual format quite distinct from a conventional B2, B1, speed poster or two-section STB tatekan.

Its extraordinary proportions would have made it particularly suited to a narrow cinema wall, entrance panel, column or specialised vertical display case. Far fewer examples of this format were produced when compared to the conventional B2 size.

This is one of the rarest Japanese theatrical formats produced for the film.

Film background

Paris, Texas is Wim Wenders’ haunting meditation on memory, absence, fatherhood, guilt and the possibility of redemption, structured around one of cinema’s most memorable journeys across the American Southwest.

Harry Dean Stanton gives the defining leading performance of his career as Travis Henderson, a silent, weather-beaten man who emerges from the Texas desert after disappearing without explanation for four years. Reunited with his brother Walt, Travis is brought back to Los Angeles, where he slowly rebuilds a relationship with his young son, Hunter.

Father and son eventually set out across Texas in search of Travis’s estranged wife, Jane, portrayed by Nastassja Kinski. Their journey culminates in the film’s celebrated peep-show sequence, in which Travis and Jane speak through a one-way mirror—physically separated even as the truth of their shared past is finally expressed.

The film’s title refers not to Paris, France, but to Paris, Texas, the place connected in Travis’s mind with his parents, his own beginnings and the dream of reconstructing a family that has already been lost.

Written by Sam Shepard, with adaptation by L. M. Kit Carson, the film combines Wenders’ European perspective with the landscapes and mythology of the American road movie. Its emotional power is intensified by Robby Müller’s luminous cinematography and Ry Cooder’s sparse, mournful slide-guitar score. The principal cast also includes Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément and Hunter Carson.

At the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, Paris, Texas won the Palme d’Or, together with the FIPRESCI Prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Its Cannes success is placed at the centre of this Japanese poster’s design and was clearly the principal prestige element through which the film was introduced to Japanese audiences.

The poster also bears the emblem of the celebrated BOW series, operated by the Japanese distributor France Eiga-sha. Meaning “Best Films of the World,” the BOW series was established to introduce important international cinema to Japanese audiences and became closely associated with the growth of Japan’s art-house and mini-theatre culture. Paris, Texas was one of the defining titles presented under that banner.

Poster design

Printed as an exceptionally elongated B1 half-size special-long poster, this striking Japanese first-release design features:

A vast, glossy black field, used not merely as a background but as a dominant compositional element. The generous negative space gives the poster an unusually restrained, modernist appearance and allows the red, cream and gold typography to command immediate attention.

Across the top is the English title “PARIS, TEXAS”, set in monumental cream-coloured letters inside a brilliant red rectangular panel. A fine turquoise-blue border surrounds the title block, introducing a subtle additional colour that recalls the blue skies and heightened colour palette of Robby Müller’s cinematography.

Beneath the English title, a bronze-gold laurel wreath surrounds the words:

PALME D’OR
FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL
DU FILM
CANNES 1984

The laurel is positioned prominently near the top of the poster, transforming the film’s Cannes victory into its central endorsement. Rather than relying upon reviews or star billing, the Japanese campaign presents the Palme d’Or as the definitive declaration of the film’s cultural importance.

The Japanese title パリ、テキサス descends through the centre in immense white katakana characters, contained within an uninterrupted vertical red column. This extraordinary typographic device occupies almost the complete height of the poster and gives the design the visual force of a Japanese shop sign, cinema banner or roadside marker.

The contrast between the white characters, vivid red column and deep black background is exceptionally effective. The title can be read immediately from a distance, while the narrow format intensifies its dramatic downward movement.

Along the far left margin appears:

ヴィム・ヴェンダース監督作品

This translates directly as “A film directed by Wim Wenders.” The director’s name is given unusual prominence, positioning the film as an auteur work and reflecting Wenders’ growing reputation among Japanese art-house audiences.

Balancing this on the far right is:

1984年カンヌ国際映画祭グランプリ

This announces the film as the “Grand Prix winner at the 1984 Cannes International Film Festival.” The central laurel more precisely identifies that supreme honour as the Palme d’Or.

Three carefully selected photographic insets provide a concise visual narrative without disturbing the poster’s emphatic typographic structure.

At the upper left, Harry Dean Stanton appears as Travis in his unmistakable red baseball cap, standing against the pale rock and brilliant sky of the Texas desert. The small image immediately evokes the film’s opening sequence and its unforgettable image of a solitary man emerging from an immense landscape.

At the right, Nastassja Kinski appears as Jane, looking back over her shoulder in the softly textured pink garment associated with the film’s climactic scenes. Her image introduces intimacy, memory and emotional mystery into an otherwise highly formal graphic composition.

At the lower left, Travis and Hunter are shown together inside their vehicle, the child resting against his father during their journey. The image quietly expresses the restored bond between father and son that forms the emotional centre of the film.

Beside Jane’s portrait appears the Japanese campaign line:

カンヌを、全世界を
感動の涙につつんだ
愛の傑作、ついに登場！

This may be translated approximately as:

“The masterpiece of love that enveloped Cannes—and the entire world—in tears of emotion finally arrives!”

The copy is characteristic of Japanese theatrical advertising of the period: emotionally direct, visually forceful and designed to communicate the film’s international acclaim while presenting it as an intensely moving human drama.

At the lower left, the blue BOW emblem is accompanied by the words:

傑作を世界からはこぶ「バウ・シリーズ」
フランス映画社提供

This translates approximately as:

“The BOW Series—bringing masterpieces from around the world. Presented by France Eiga-sha.”

Additional fine-print credits record the film’s Cannes honours and identify Sam Shepard’s screenplay, Robby Müller’s cinematography and Ry Cooder’s music, together with the Road Movies Filmproduktion and Argos Films production companies.

The principal cast is printed vertically along the lower-right edge, including Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, Hunter Carson and Bernhard Wicki.

At the extreme lower left is the printed design credit:

DESIGN M. OGASAWARA

The Japanese first-release poster campaign is attributed to Masakatsu Ogasawara, whose exceptionally disciplined arrangement of type, negative space, awards typography and small photographic details gives this poster a visual identity entirely separate from the better-known photographic designs issued elsewhere.

Unlike a conventional montage, Ogasawara’s design does not attempt to summarise every character or dramatic incident. Instead, it reduces the film to a small number of carefully controlled elements: blackness, a red road-like column, three memories preserved as photographs, the Palme d’Or laurel and the title descending towards the bottom of the sheet.

The design is particularly successful in this format because it was clearly conceived around the poster’s extraordinary proportions. The Japanese title is not simply placed inside a narrow sheet—it becomes the sheet’s central architectural structure.

At over one metre tall but only approximately 36.5 cm wide, the poster possesses the height and visual authority of a B1 while retaining an unusually slender silhouette. When displayed, it has the presence of a cinema banner or vertical sign and is dramatically different from the standard Japanese B2 poster most collectors will recognise.

This unusual single-sheet, B1 half-size special-long format is exceptionally rare. Its non-standard dimensions, limited specialised use and vulnerable glossy black surface make surviving examples difficult to locate, particularly examples that have remained unfolded and retain strong, unfaded colour.

This poster is in excellent condition. It is unfolded and appears never to have been mounted or displayed. The glossy black field retains exceptionally deep saturation, while the red title panels, cream lettering, blue border and bronze-gold Cannes laurel remain bright and unfaded.

There are minor intermittent crescent-shaped handling creases, shallow surface impressions and light edge rippling, principally concentrated within the far-left black margin and visible most clearly under strong directional light. There are also a few tiny superficial edge marks consistent with the handling and storage of a tall, glossy sheet of this age.

These minor imperfections are largely restricted to the outer black field and do not materially affect the central Japanese title, Cannes laurel or photographic imagery. There are no significant tears, areas of paper loss, pinholes, tape stains or restoration. The unprinted cream-coloured reverse remains exceptionally clean overall.

Once framed, this poster will display extremely impressively, with the minor edge handling considerably less apparent than in the close-up photographs taken under direct light.

Please refer to the detailed photographs of both the front and back, as this is the exact poster that is for sale.

This is the first example of this ultra-rare B1 half-size special-long format that we have had in our gallery.

It is over 40 years old.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.