The NeverEnding Story

A boy. A stolen book. A world on the brink of disappearing. When bullied Bastian retreats into a mysterious story, he discovers the line between reader and hero is thinner than he ever imagined.

It’s tough out there for a bookish kid. For Bastian, the streets are filled with bullies, and the best place to hide is in a dusty bookshop. There he happens across a mysterious book called The NeverEnding Story that he steals on impulse. Hidden in the school attic, he reads of a young warrior named Atreyu, whose quest to save a childlike empress is all that stands between the land of Fantasia and a mysterious, creeping destruction. Fuelled by Bastian’s imagination, The NeverEnding Story reflects the power of storytelling and its ability in bringing to life strange characters, unknown worlds and powerful emotions.

Curator’s note
Based on the first half of the 1979 novel The NeverEnding Story by Michael Ende, Wolfgang Petersen’s beloved fantasy classic is a testament to an era when family films weren’t afraid to get a little weird. Composer Giorgio Moroder had another hit with the film’s title song, performed by pop singer Limahl. The song along with the orchestral score were absent from the German version of the film. Instead Moroder rescored most of the film for its release outside of Germany, bringing his signature techno-pop sensibility and cementing the film's legacy as an enduring cult classic.