Werner Herzog
“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.”
Lucia has returned to the island where all the houses are white. Fifteen years have passed since the day she was taken away. Her father is waiting for her.
On 3 June 1991, a deadly cloud of hot gas and rock spewed out of Japan’s Mount Unzen. Among the 43 people consumed by it were scientist-filmmakers Maurice and Katia Krafft. They left behind over 200 hours of footage from their decades of work, which Herzog draws on for this stunning eulogy. From 1977’s La Soufrière through to 2016’s Into the Inferno, Herzog has long been fascinated by these violent natural events and his deeply personal voiceover is a fitting memorial to two people who gave their lives in the pursuit of both science and the pure cinematic image.
Werner Herzog sets his sights on yet another mysterious landscape — the human brain — for clues as to why a hunk of tissue can produce profound thoughts and feelings while considering the philosophical, ethical, and social implications of fast-advancing neural technology.
An adolescent on a remote place narrates his story marked by a past in the Sahara being a camel, Pringles fries, the desire for fat women’s bodies, strange drawings, colonizers and reggaeton.
Meteor : Sohrab Shahid Saless by Mahmoud Behraznia is a documentary with a different perspective on Sohrab Shahid Saless, a leading Iranian filmmaker. Someone whose viewpoint at cinema and the special type of aesthetics he used in his films has been a path-breaker for many Iranian filmmakers. The film provides the viewer with new information about the life and work of Sohrab Shahid Saless in Germany.
Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer undertake a globe-trotting exploration of meteors that fell to Earth, both ancient and recent.
A mysterious story about a painting of mountain climbers, or perhaps, explorers from another world.
Unleashed from the video vaults of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #2: LATER IN L.A. is a brand new compilation of the most electrifying found footage mayhem that you’ll see this week. For our second tape, we’ve returned to the hallowed halls of “behind the scenes” horror for another hour-long joyride of F-U-N. Thank you for your incredible support during these difficult times. And remember: “Do what your spirit tells you.”
In 1974 Werner Herzog walked from Munich to Paris, an act of faith to prevent the death of his mentor Lotte Eisner. In 2020, a young filmmaker walks following Herzog´s footprints in an act of love to one of the best filmmakers of our time. A journey through villages, nature, loneliness and cold, looking for the meaning of filmmaking. Including fragments of the book "Of Walking in Ice" by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog narrated by himself exclusively for the film.
An examination of the artistic and historical roots of today's tattoo explosion.
When Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave him his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life, uncovering stories of lost tribes, wanderers and dreamers.
Love is a business at Family Romance, a company that rents human stand-ins for any occasion. Founder Yuichi Ishii helps make his clients’ dreams come true. But when the mother of 12-year-old Mahiro hires Ishii to impersonate her missing father, the line between acting and reality threatens to blur.
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.
Nominated for two Chicago/Midwest Emmy awards including Outstanding Historical Documentary and Outstanding Off-Camera Directing, "90 Years of the Music Box Theatre" depicts filmmakers Werner Herzog, Lana Wachowski, Michael Shannon, Joe Swanberg, and more as they celebrate a 90-year-old cinema institution in Chicago, IL.
A man recounts the story of a local legend as he travels to the jungle to make peace with his life.
A celebration of the life and career of one of America's most influential and celebrated filmmakers and comedians, Buster Keaton, whose singular style and fertile output during the silent era created his legacy as a true cinematic visionary.
The great successes and tragedies in the life and work of Hans Kammerlander, the renowned mountaineer.
A short film which debuted in a secret location in London to coincide with the release of the NikeCraft x Tom Sachs Mars Yard Overshoe
In 2010 David Crowley, an Iraq veteran, aspiring filmmaker and charismatic up-and-coming voice in fringe politics, began production on his film Gray State. Set in a dystopian near-future where civil liberties are trampled by an unrestrained federal government, the film’s crowd funded trailer was enthusiastically received by the burgeoning online community of libertarians, Tea Party activists and members of the nascent alt-right. In January of 2015, Crowley was found dead with his family in their suburban Minnesota home. Their shocking deaths quickly become a cause célèbre for conspiracy theorists who speculate that Crowley was assassinated by a shadowy government concerned about a film and filmmaker that was getting too close to the truth about their aims.
Chronicles the making of director Werner Herzog’s 2009 feature, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, providing profound insight into the director and his craft. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done was inspired by the true story of an actor who committed in reality the crime he was supposed to enact on stage: murdering his mother. With longtime friend Herbert Golder behind the lens, Herzog reveals the privacy and deep solitude that defines the director and his art.
Once a successful Syrian actor, Jihad Abdo is now struggling as a refugee while trying to reinvent his life and rebuild his career.
For the past forty years, Igor Pasternak has pursued a lighter-than-air vision: to build gigantic airships that haul cargo to otherwise inaccessible parts of the planet. In high school, in Ukraine, Pasternak formed an airship club; at Lviv National University, where he studied civil engineering, he established an airship-design bureau. Eventually, he settled in southern California and started Aeros, which builds blimps for surveillance and other purposes. His prototype cargo airship, the two-hundred-and-sixty-foot-long Dragon Dream, was destroyed in 2013 when its hangar collapsed on it. Unfazed, Pasternak now aims to produce a fleet of “Aeroscraft” cargo airships, the largest of which will be more than nine hundred feet long and able to carry five hundred tons. Pasternak spoke recently with the director and producer Gabe Polsky. Polsky’s documentary, “Red Army,” played at the 2014 Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals, and was released in theatres in 2015.
Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.
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.
A scientist blames the head of a large company for an ecological disaster in South America. But when a volcano begins to show signs of erupting, they must unite to avoid a disaster.
In the town of Dillford, humans, vampires and zombies were all living in peace - until the alien apocalypse arrived. Now three teenagers-one human, one vampire, and one zombie-have to team up to figure out how to get rid of the visitors.
A chronicle of Gertrude Bell's life, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, and political attaché for the British Empire at the dawn of the twentieth century.
In an idyllic suburban neighborhood, Jerry runs his big business lemonade stand and has the market cornered, until ten-year-old Addie opens her own stand across the street. Competition equals war, and both sides use (and abuse) a government regulator to try and win. In the end, one special customer will decide their fate.
Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.
Life Itself recounts the surprising and entertaining life of renowned film critic and social commentator Roger Ebert. The film details his early days as a freewheeling bachelor and Pulitzer Prize winner, his famously contentious partnership with Gene Siskel, his life-altering marriage, and his brave and transcendent battle with cancer.
Werner Herzog talks about making 'On Death Row' and life as a director.
A family that survives the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.
Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private join forces with undercover organization The North Wind to stop the villainous Dr. Octavius Brine from destroying the world as we know it.
Stories of serious traffic accidents caused by texting and driving are told by the perpetrators and surviving victims.
Werner Herzog talking about his appreciation for Les Blank.
Scientists Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss travel the globe promoting a scientific worldview and the rational questioning of religious belief.
Follow-up to the TV trilogy "Heimat", this time for cinemas, set again in the fictional village Schabbach in the Hunsrück region of Rhineland-Palatinate.
Cast and crew speak on adapting One Shot as the first Jack Reacher film, casting Tom Cruise, earning Lee Child's blessing, additional character qualities and the performances that shape them, Lee Child's cameo in the film, and shooting the film's climax.
Directors Errol Morris and Werner Herzog describe and discuss the film The Act of Killing (2012).
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.
When a gunman takes five lives with six shots, all evidence points to the suspect in custody. On interrogation, the suspect offers up a single note: "Get Jack Reacher!" So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against an unexpected enemy, with a skill for violence and a secret to keep.
In Cave of Forgotten Dreams, celebrated German film director Werner Herzog gained exclusive access to film the 32,000 year old Chauvet caves, which contain the earliest known pictorial creations of humankind. In this follow-up film, Ode to the Dawn of Man, Herzog shows us an insight into the construction of the film’s score with footage and interviews with composer Ernst Reijseger and pianist Harmen Fraanje. Ode to the Dawn of Man draws us into the creation of the truly epic music used in Herzog’s awe-inspiring documentary and the magic created by all those involved including the musicians, composer and Herzog himself. –iTunes
In intimate conversations with those involved, including 28-year-old death row inmate Michael Perry (who was scheduled to die eight days after his interview with Herzog), legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog achieves what he describes as "a gaze into the abyss of the human soul." As he's so often done before, Herzog's investigation unveils layers of humanity, making an enlightening trip out of ominous territory.
The Making of 'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'.
Famed film director Werner Herzog recounts the time he rescued Joaquin Phoenix from lighting a deadly cigarette.
In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.
Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France, capturing the oldest known pictorial creations of humankind in their astonishing natural setting.
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.
Terrence McDonagh is a New Orleans Police sergeant, who recieves a medal and a promotion to lieutenant for heroism during Hurricane Katrina. Due to his heroic act, McDonagh injures his back and becomes addicted to prescription pain medication. He then finds himself involved with a drug dealer who is suspected of murdering a family of African immigrants.
A plastic bag, thrown out in the trash, attempts to find his way back to his owner and along the way discovers the world.
Brad has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place.
What is the future of cinema? In 1982, in Cannes, Wim Wenders invited many movie makers to answer this question. 26 years later, the question remains, but Wenders is now on the other side of the camera.
In Paris, a young American who works as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe, who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin and her daughter, Shirley Temple.
With extraordinary access, BLAST exposes a world of risky, hardcore, scientific adventure. The story follows an international team of astrophysicists trying to launch a multi-million dollar telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon. Their journey to discover thousands of early galaxies takes them from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Revealing frustrations, inevitable failures and ultimate triumph, BLAST puts a human face on the quest to answer our most basic question - How did we get here? (IMDb)
From cinema-verite; pioneers Albert Maysles and Joan Churchill to maverick movie makers like Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Nick Broomfield, the world's best documentarians reflect upon the unique power of their genre. Capturing Reality explores the complex creative process that goes into making non-fiction films. Deftly charting the documentarian's journey, it poses the question: can film capture reality?
The Grand is in the tradition of improvisational comedies like Best In Show and This Is Spinal Tap. The story is set in the world of professional poker and follows six players who reach the final table of the world’s second most famous high stakes tournament, the Grand Championship of Poker.
During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He's a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman's mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. By 2004, Hoffman has seen success: there are farmer's collectives selling tea, ways to export "boutique tea" from China, and a growing Chinese appreciation for organic farming's best friend, the earthworm.
Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger go to Antarctica to meet people who live and work there, and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. Herzog's voiceover narration explains that his film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins", but will explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.
A cheerful, amusing and melancholic look back at the Munich film festival from the perspective of the people who make up the film festival.
Linas Phillips pays tribute to Werner Herzog in his pledge to walk from Seattle, Washington to Herzog's Los Angeles home.
A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
What Is It? is the name of a 2005 experimental film written, starring, funded and directed by Crispin Glover. As of 2008, the film has only been shown at independent theaters, typically accompanied by a question and answer session, slideshow and meet-and-greet/autograph signing with Glover.
Legendary film director Werner Herzog brings together five shepherds and singers from the island of Sardinia in a Paris studio with a Senegalese singer and a Dutch cellist to create the music for one of his films.
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.
Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
This 2004 documentary by Werner Herzog diaries the struggle of a passionate English inventor to design and test a unique airship during its maiden flight above the jungle canopy.
The German film director Werner Herzog sets out to the Scottish Highlands to make a documentary, "Enigma of Loch Ness", exploding the myth of the Loch Ness Monster. Meanwhile, another documentary film crew is making a film about Werner Herzog, and we see the production of "Enigma" from their point of view. Shooting on a rented boat, tensions begin to rise as director Herzog and his producer, Zak Penn, find themselves at cross-purposes on the black surface of Loch Ness. Things get very edgy when the film crew starts seeing shapes in the murky water.
In this third volume of the Best of Tromadance, viewers can sample fifteen of the best films from the 2003 and 2004 Film Festivals totally over three hours. Titles include Giuseppe Andrews' "Dribble;" winner of the Tromadance / Kodak Independent Soul Award, Kevin Maher's "Monkey Brains," "Kung-Fu Kitties" and "Marijuana's Revenge" by the filmmaking team of Philip Gunn, Daniel Guiterrez and David Valdez. Also included are Matt and Greg Brookens' "Skunk Ape!?," Jamie Greco's "PDA Massacre" and others.
Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.
Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.
The documentary tells the life story of the boxer Norbert Grupe, who was known by his fighting name Prince of Homburg.
20 years after the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau tribe was first contacted in the Amazonian jungle, Werner Herzog visits them to see how their lives have changed since.
Accompanied only by music the film alternates between shots of pilgrims near the tomb of Saint Sergei in Sergiyev Posad, Russia and pilgrims at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico.
"Sometimes the ball is bewitched," says legendary soccer coach Rudi Gutendorf. He's the one who would know, after having coached 6 first division soccer teams in Germany alone and countless others in 38 countries around the world.
Klaus Kinski is one of the few German actors who has achieved international fame. He made headlines. And disappeared behind them. Kinski lived his parts 24/7. This film tells the story of a man who no longer could understand the difference or distinguish between fantasy and reality.
Werner Herzog returns to the South American jungle with Juliane Koepcke, the German woman who was the sole survivor of a plane crash there in 1971. They find the remains of the plane and recreate her journey out of the jungle.
This film tells the fascinating story of one of the most critically acclaimed careers in independent documentary film making in recent cinema history. This comprehensive overview of Morris' career includes clips of all his important films as well as interviews with collaborators such as Werner Herzog and Phillip Glass.
Undiagnosed, untreated and generally untethered schizophrenic Julien lives with his pregnant younger sister Pearl, would-be wrestler brother Chris, sympathetic grandmother, and severely depressed German father.
Episode 9 of the series "2000 Years Of Christianity". Director Werner Herzog explores Christianity in the New World including an overview of the Spanish conquest of Mexico and modern day religious rituals in Antigua. Two versions exist of this film, the one called "Christ and Demons in New Spain" features Herzog's voice over.
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.
A strongly visual look at the life, work and obsessions od the writer Bruce Chatwin, who died of AIDS in 1989. Chatwin was hailed as the greatest novelist since Hemmingway, and the foremost travel writer of modern times.
Chris Neilson dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he dies, his wife, Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven.
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?
This film was prepared as a introduction to a series of opera broadcasts on German television. It depicts the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings in preparation for the annual opera festival in Bayreuth.
Works, legend and murders of Carlo Gesualdo, a notorious Italian composer and murderer from 16th century.
This film shows the disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames. In contrast to the common documentary film there are no comments and few interviews. What must have been the hell itself is presented to the viewer in such beautiful sights and beautiful music that one has to be fascinated by it.
A group of pilgrims lie down on the thin ice of the lake Svetloyar and begin to look for the city of Kitesh. According to the legend, God saved the city from the Mongolian prince Batyi's soldiers by letting it sink to the bottom of the lake. If you listen carefully you can hear the bells of the Kitesh cathedral toll deep down.
A meeting of two world famous climbers, one an experienced mountaineer the other a sport climber, and a journalist (Ivan) results in a bet on which of the two is the best climber. Roger (the mountaineering expert) states that Martin (the sport climber) wouldn't survive a day on a 'real' climbing expedition, although he is considered to be the world's best sport climber (having just won an indoor 'world championship,' an event depicted in the opening scene). They plan to climb 'Cerro Torre,' in the Patagonia region of South America, near the Argentinian/Chilean border, one of the world's most difficult mountains, especially considering the extreme weather conditions common to the area.
Jag Mandir is a quiet and often overlooked film in the vast oeuvre of Werner Herzog. Apparently, 20 hours of footage was shot that covered the whole fest and the film hardly presents us a twentieth of that. A native walking into the film in between may well fail to immediately realize that it is his country that is being shown and these are figures from the mythology of various sections of his nation.
Documentary about the twin sister Jutta and Gisela Schmidt. In the late sixties the two women rebelled against middle class society as if they gave vent to a new kind of art. They became active in the underground communist party KPD and showed a heart-felt interest in the colour red, the aesthetics of the revolution. Soon, though, the twins quit their experiments in Germany. They left their husbands and went to Rome, where they met the fabulously wealthy Paul Getty III, and soon things got really out of hand.
Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.
Werner Herzog recreates the primitive 10th century northern-European setting of Lohengrin.
Another planet in the period of medieval times. An employee of the institute of experimental history from Earth, who is send under the name of noble don Rumata of Estor as a spy with a mission to contact the local resident of the institute, arrives in the city of Arkanar. But the resident perishes under an unlucky attempt to make a palace coup, and Rumata have to take his place as the resident. Soon he meets all the horrors of the medieval society - a peasant war, palace coups, mass executions. To continue to be an indifferent watcher of all these horrors turns out to be simply impossible...
Director Werner Herzog, one of the most highly acclaimed German film makers, joins forces with the great Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly to effect a masterful rendition of this rarely-performed opera involving spectacular scenes of alternating light and dark, pageantry and intimacy. Staged and recorded at Teatro Comunale di Bologna in Bologna, Italy.
A documentation about Werner Herzog's motif to do movies.
Herzog's documentary of the Wodaabe people of the Sahara/Sahel region. Particular attention is given to the tribe's spectacular courtship rituals and 'beauty pageants', where eligible young men strive to outshine each other and attract mates by means of lavish makeup, posturing and facial movements.
Two segments make up this short film. The first portion called “The French” has two men taste testing some delicious wine, and the other, titled “The Gauls”, is of men playing rugby. This short by Werner Herzog is part of the “The French as Seen By…” series. It was initiated and sponsored by the newspaper Le Figaro, as part of the 1988 celebration of the tenth anniversary of its magazine section.
In 1988, the Figaro magazine asked to a few famous directors a series of short movies, to celebrate the 10 years of the revue. The thematic : The French seen by - The movies have been released for the French revolution bicentenary. Werner Herzog - Les Gaulois David Lynch - The Cowboy and the Frenchman Andrzej Wajda - Proust contre la déchéance Luigi Comencini - Pèlerinage à Agen Jean-Luc Godard - Le dernier mot
A fearsome 19th century bandit, Cobra Verde cuts a swath through Brazil until he arrives at the sugar plantation of Don Octávio Countinho. Not knowing that his new guest is the notorious bandit and impressed by his ruthless ways, Don Octávio hires Cobra Verde to oversee his slaves. But when Cobra Verde impregnates Don Octávio’s three daughters, the incensed plantation owner exiles the outlaw to Africa where he is expected to reopen the slave trade. Following his trans-Atlantic journey, Cobra Verde exploits tribal conflicts to commandeer an abandoned fortress and whips an army of naked warriors into a frenzied bloodlust as he vies for survival.
Making-of documentary that covers "Cobra Verde," Herzog's last film with Kinski before Kinski's death. This is the documentary that registers the behind the scenes moments of "Cobra Verde", the last project that united director Werner Herzog to actor Klaus Kinski. The notorious and infamous relation between the two filled Cinema theatres with masterpieces, but also filled pages of Cinema History with mutual declarations of both love and hate.
is an autobiographical short film by Werner Herzog made in 1986. Herzog tells stories about his life and career. The film contains excerpts and commentary on several Herzog films, including Signs of Life, Heart of Glass, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner, Fitzcarraldo, and the Les Blank documentary Burden of Dreams. Notable is footage of a conversation between Herzog and his mentor Lotte Eisner, a photographer. In another section, he talks with mountaineer Reinhold Messner, in which they discuss a potential film project in the Himalayas to star Klaus Kinski.
German director Wim Wenders made this documentary in which he tries to explore the Tokyo that was depicted in the films of Yasujiro Ozu. When Wenders visits Tokyo for the first time, he finds a very different city, one with a booming fascination with technology that often clashes with the traditional elements of Japanese culture. Wenders also interviews Ozu's cinematographer, Yuharu Atsuta, and Chishu Ryu, an actor who frequently collaborated with Ozu.
Werner Herzog follows mountaineers Hans Kammerlander and Reinhold Messner during their expedition into climbing the Gasherbrum mountains, which has some of the most difficult peaks to be conquered, and they'll do it without the use of oxygen tanks. Herzog also takes some time to hear about their past experiences with other mountains, their personal tragedies and the reasons why they are so involved with such activity.
Ballad of the Little Soldier is a 1984 documentary film about child soldiers in Nicaragua.
Extraordinary images from Werner Herzog. Shot in the Australian Outback the Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.
Reverend Huie Rogers is a preacher at the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Brooklyn. He is the topic of this short film, during which launches into an epic call-and-response denunciation of human hubris, greed, corruption and failure. The use of lengthy shots present it less like a sermon and more a performance, and induce an almost trance-like state.
An eccentric elderly man tries to enjoy the three things in life that he considers real beauty: collecting art, collecting flowers, and watching pretty women undress.
Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.
Made around the time of Fitzcarraldo's release, this documentary follows Werner Herzog on a journey across France and Germany and sees the director talk at length about his life and films.
German director Werner Herzog begins work on his 1982 epic "Fitzcarraldo" but soon runs into serious setbacks, from casting problems to his own stubborn refusal to use special effects. After having to reshoot much of the film because the lead actor was recast, his crew must then haul an old-fashioned steamboat over a mountain using manpower alone. With a resolve bordering on insanity, Herzog struggles to realize his vision, vowing to see the film completed -- even if it leads to his undoing.
Having lost a bet with documentarian Errol Morris, Werner Herzog eats his shoe.
A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, and a flavorful musical soundtrack.
The documentary follows Gene Scott, famous televangelist involved with constant fights against FCC, who tried to shut down his TV show during the 1970's and 1980's, and even argues with his viewers, complaining about their lack of support by not sending enough money to keep going with the show.
Interview film with German director Werner Herzog revisiting the films he made up to ca. 1977.
Having fathered an illegitimate child with his lover, Marie, feckless soldier Franz Woyzeck takes odd jobs around his small town to provide some extra money for them. One of them is volunteering for experiments conducted by a local doctor, who puts Woyzeck on a diet of peas. This serves to drive him close to madness, and the discovery that Marie is involved in an affair with the local drum major exacerbates the situation. Pushed too far, Woyzeck resorts to violence.
Jonathan Harker, a real estate agent, goes to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar. Once Jonathan is caught under his evil spell, Dracula travels to Wismar where he meets the beautiful Lucy, Jonathan's wife, while a plague spreads through the town, now ruled by death.
Werner Herzog takes a film crew to the island of Guadeloupe when he hears that the volcano on the island is going to erupt. Everyone has left, except for one old man who refuses to leave.
Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.
A documentary short examining the language and performance of auctioneering, filmed at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in Pennsylvania.
BBC documentary about the rise of the New German Cinema and several of its most important figures.
A small Bavarian village is renowned for its "Ruby Glass" glass blowing works. When the foreman of the works dies suddenly without revealing the secret of the Ruby Glass, the town slides into a deep depression, and the owner of the glassworks becomes obssessed with the lost secret.
A darkly humorous short documentary about a preschool-age boy ostracised from interactions with his classmates until a girl who has become interested in his pet crow provides the link to social acceptance.
Cannes is the town in France where Bergman meets bikinis, and the art of filmmaking meets the art of the deal. In 1975, a group of expat Kiwis managed to score interviews with some of the festival's emerging talents, indulging their own cinematic dreams in the process. Werner Herzog waxes lyrical on the trials and scars of directing; a boyish Steven Spielberg recalls the challenges of framing shots during Jaws; Martin Scorsese and Dustin Hoffman talk a gallon.
The film follows Kaspar Hauser (Bruno S.), who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.
A study of the psychology of a champion ski-flyer, whose full-time occupation is carpentry.
A few decades after the destruction of the Inca empire, a Spanish expedition leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon river in search of gold and wealth. Soon, they come across great difficulties and Don Aguirre, a ruthless man who cares only about riches, becomes their leader. But will his quest lead them to "the golden city", or to certain destruction?
The Dumpster Kid is an artistic creation: in every story society forces her to learn something. But she, fully grown from the moment of her birth, unquestionably learns more than is called for. This extra knowledge, which is not wanted by society, regularly brings her into danger. Dumpster Kid dies in each story, and across each genre. Her stories are set in a whole range of different time periods. What is a Dumpster Kid?
A documentary by Werner Herzog exploring the different treatment accorded to the disabled in Germany and the USA.
Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.
The inhabitants of an institution in a remote country rebel against their keepers. Their acts of rebellion are by turns humorous, boring and alarming. An allegory on the problematic nature of fully liberating the human spirit, as both commendable and disturbing elements of our nature come forward. The film shows how justifiable revolt may be empowering, but may also turn to chaos and depravity. The allegory is developed in part by the fact that the film is cast entirely with dwarfs
The Flying Doctors of East Africa (German: Die Fliegenden Ärzte von Ostafrika) is a 1969 documentary film by Werner Herzog about the "flying doctors" service of the African Medical and Research Foundation in Tanzania, Kenya, and Nairobi.
The film features several horse trainers and other track workers talking about their roles at the track, always eventually interrupted by an older man who claims to be the true authority, and demands that they be thrown out. One recurring young man, the first to appear, claims that he protects the horses from enthusiastic racing fans. He does not appear to be employed by the track, but seems to provide his services voluntarily. His protection from "fanatics" gives the film its title. The film is shot in a documentary style, but the sheer implausibility of the dialogue leaves the exact nature of the film ambiguous.
Early short by Werner Herzog shot while being on location in Greece shooting "Lebenszeichen".
Documentary by Wilhelm Roth about the state of affairs of the Young German Cinema.
During World War II, three German soldiers are withdrawn from combat when one of them, Stroszek, is wounded. They are assigned to a small coastal community on the Greek island of Kos while Stroszek recuperates. The men become increasingly stir crazy in their uneventful new assignment. Stroszek eventually goes mad.
Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966.
A satire on war and on the stupid things war inspires people to do. Four young men enter an abandoned fortress. Inside, they find military uniforms, which they immediately resolve to use to stage a bizarre war game. Their actions appear all the more senseless in relation to the peaceful everyday reality of the workers in the surrounding countryside.
Basically, 'Herakles' is an omnium-gatherum of film clips depicting images of machismo. Some of those images are explicitly macho: we see various body-builders flexing their biceps and triceps. Other images seen here are not macho in the literal sense, but are indirectly related to testosterone or cojones on some level: we see military aircraft making bombing raids, and footage of car crashes.
Christian Weisenborn and Werner Herzog know each other for more than 40 years. His first film on Werner Herzog "I am my films" (1976-78) covered Herzog's beginning as a filmmaker, the new film is a sequel titled "I am my films, part 2, -30 years later-" in which Weisenborn talks about Werner Herzog as a documentarian of the past 30 years.
Powerful American automaker Henry Ford attempts to build a factory in the Brazilian rain forest.
Every five seconds a child under the age of ten dies of hunger. Every four minutes a person loses their sight due to a lack of vitamin A. According to the United Nations, 963 million people - almost one in six inhabitants of our planet - are seriously malnourished. At present, the right to food is surely, of all human rights, the one that is violated with the most impunity. Jean Ziegler argues that hunger is caused by human injustice and assures that today the world could produce enough food to feed the world's population. Among the main causes of this disaster, Ziegler points to stock market speculation, which forces cereal prices to rise, and the appearance of biofuels as a new source of energy. Burning food to keep millions of cars on the roads is a crime against humanity. Hunger is no inescapable destiny. A starving child is killed. The current world order of globalized financial capitalism is not only deadly, it is also absurd. Whoever speculates on staple foods kills children.
Director Jösta Hagelbäck speaks on the importance of Werner Herzog.
A drama centered on a Texas teenager whose best friend goes on a shooting spree at their high school.
A fictionalized story of the violet invasion of Aztec- ruled Mexico by the Spanish in the early 1600s. Told entirely from the point of view of the Aztecs.
Documentary about space colonization: a voyage across our planet, into the stars and beyond.
Gérard Courant's "Filmed Diary" of December 14, 2011, produced in Dubai (United Arab Emirates). Between December 7 and 15, 2011, Gérard Courant was invited by the Dubai International Film Festival, in the United Arab Emirates. It was an opportunity for him to film many "Cinematons" of personalities from the Arab world and to continue his "Film Notebooks" from which he brought back 7 episodes.
