André Singer
“Nothing is typical for Werner, only the atypical is typical for him.” This is just one of many attempts to characterize Werner Herzog. Documentary filmmaker Thomas von Steinaecker spoke to actors, directors, directors of photography and producers who have worked with Herzog over his long career—including directors Chloé Zhao, Joshua Oppenheimer and Wim Wenders, singer Patti Smith and actors Nicole Kidman, Christian Bale and Robert Pattinson. We also hear from Herzog himself, with extraordinary anecdotes about film locations and shoots, his admiration for Lotte Eisner, and his eternal search for beauty. The interviews are carefully punctuated by archive footage of Herzog never seen before, iconic excerpts from his feature films and documentaries, and his cameos in cartoon series such as The Simpsons. Together they create a kaleidoscopic image of a radical visionary and dreamer, and of his very own “Werner World.”
In 2014, following a tip-off, a group of journalists exposed a troubled history for indigenous Sámi women, men and children. It revealed generations of negligence, abuse and suffering, supported by a mass of evidence and previously unseen archival footage. As the case goes to court, the community remains defiant against a judicial system whose attitudes highlight fissures in the purported equal treatment of all citizens. The community’s battle aims to break a vicious cycle of racism and to achieve meaningful lasting change for future generations.
Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer undertake a globe-trotting exploration of meteors that fell to Earth, both ancient and recent.
Israel and Palestine: time to call time on the conflict? This Doc Feature is an extraordinary, balanced and heart-wrenching examination of the Isreali-Palestinian conflict - never before presented. Ancient and recent history, geopolitical issues, psychology and a deeply personal journey challenge what we think we know.
Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.
After decades of rising house prices, many of the North London Hasidic Jewish community are relocating 50 miles east to the more affordable Canvey Island, Essex: a Brexit stronghold voted 'the most English place in Britain'. This film follows the reactions of the island’s Anglican and agnostic residents as they get to grips with their new neighbours. It has the potential to be a culture clash, but leaders on both sides of the sea wall are determined that good neighbourly relations will prevail. The film follows Chris Fenwick, island native and manager of rock band Dr Feelgood, as he organises a party for both communities with social integration at the top of the menu. With Anglican priest David Tudor and key Hasidic elders on side, can Chris join the new Canvey Island community together in peace and integration?
Werner Herzog and volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer embark upon a global journey exploring some of the world's most mythical volcanoes in Indonesia, Ethiopia, Iceland and North Korea. Speaking with scientists and indigenous peoples alike, they seek to understand the complex and deeply rooted relationship between mankind and one of nature's greatest wonders.
When Allied forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45, their terrible discoveries were recorded by army and newsreel cameramen, revealing for the first time the full horror of what had happened. Making use of British, Soviet and American footage, the Ministry of Information’s Sidney Bernstein (later founder of Granada Television) aimed to create a documentary that would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. He commissioned a wealth of British talent, including editor Stewart McAllister, writer and future cabinet minister Richard Crossman – and, as treatment advisor, his friend Alfred Hitchcock. Yet, despite initial support from the British and US Governments, the film was shelved, and only now, 70 years on, has it been restored and completed by Imperial War Museums under its original title "German Concentration Camps Factual Survey".
An examination of the claims made for Uri Geller's career in espionage.
In a place where killers are celebrated as heroes, these filmmakers challenge unrepentant death-squad leaders to dramatize their role in genocide. The result is a surreal, cinematic journey, not only into the memories and imaginations of mass murderers, but also into a frighteningly banal regime of corruption and impunity.
Part of a series of opera shorts by different directors. Herzog combines O Soave Fanciulla ("Oh you vision of beauty" from Puccini's La Boheme) with images of harsh life in Africa. The varied body of work was produced to celebrate six years of Sky Arts' season sponsorship of ENO and both organisations' commitment to widening the appeal of opera. Set to recordings by ENO Orchestra conducted by ENO Music Director Edward Gardner, they feature singers Peter Auty, Geraint Dodd, Mary Plazas and Mark Stone.
An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.
Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.
Retracing the footsteps of the beloved Paddington Bear, Stephen Fry travels to the Cloud Forests of Peru in search of the rare Spectacled Bear.
Each mummy is an encyclopedia: A tooth can tell you when they were sick, a hair, what they ate, an x-ray can tell you how they died and CAT-Scans are what we use for the details. Sometimes they reveal that the embalmers weren't always very careful... But in some degree they've all cheated time, so secrets are what they would whisper... if they could whisper.
A film that describes the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, the deep trust between the director and the actor, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.
In 1966, Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, captured, and, down to 85 pounds, escaped. Barefoot, surviving monsoons, leeches, and machete-wielding villagers, he was rescued. Now, near 60, living on Mt. Tamalpais, Dengler tells his story: a German lad surviving Allied bombings in World War II, postwar poverty, apprenticed to a smith, beaten regularly. At 18, he emigrates and peels potatoes in the U.S. Air Force. He leaves for California and college, then enlistment in the Navy to learn to fly. A quiet man of sorrows tells his story: war, capture, harrowing conditions, escape, and miraculous rescue. Where did he find the strength; how does he now live with his memories?
The creator of Pakistan has long been a controversial figure. The film tries to unravel his personality with interviews and footage never before aired.
Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard’s Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande—based on fieldwork conducted in Sudan in the 1920s and 1930s—is one of the classic texts of social anthropology. Fifty years later anthropologist John Ryle and film-maker André Singer—among the last of Evans-Pritchard’s students—revisited Zandeland, in Western Equatoria province of Southern Sudan, for Granada Television’s Disappearing World series. They recorded the continuities in Zande culture and the changes since Evans-Pritchard’s time.
