Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. His style involves avoiding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing his cast and crew into real situations mirroring those in the film they are working on.
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is a 1974 West German drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Bruno Schleinstein and Walter Ladengast. The film closely follows the real story of foundling Kaspar Hauser, using the text of actual letters found with Hauser.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a 1972 epic historical drama film produced, written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role of Spanish soldier Lope de Aguirre, who leads a group of conquistadores down the Amazon River in South America in search of the legendary city of gold, El Dorado. The accompanying soundtrack was composed and performed by kosmische band Popol Vuh. The film is an international co-production between West Germany and Mexico.
Lessons of Darkness is a 1992 film directed by Werner Herzog. Shot in documentary style on 16-millimeter film from the perspective of an almost alien observer, the film is an exploration of the ravaged oil fields of post-Gulf War Kuwait, decontextualized and characterized in such a way as to emphasize the terrain's cataclysmic strangeness. An effective companion to his earlier film Fata Morgana, Herzog again perceives the desert as a landscape with its voice.
Even Dwarfs Started Small is a 1970 West German absurdist comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Werner Herzog.
Stroszek is a 1977 German tragicomedy film directed by Werner Herzog and starring Bruno S., Eva Mattes, and Clemens Scheitz. Written specifically for Bruno S., the film was shot in Plainfield, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. Most of the lead roles are played by unexperienced actors.
Nosferatu the Vampyre is a 1979 horror film written and directed by Werner Herzog. It is set primarily in 19th-century Wismar, Germany and Transylvania, and was conceived as a stylistic remake of F. W. Murnau's 1922 German Dracula adaptation Nosferatu. The picture stars Klaus Kinski as Count Dracula, Isabelle Adjani as Lucy Harker, Bruno Ganz as Jonathan Harker, and French artist-writer Roland Topor as Renfield. There are two different versions of the film, one in which the actors speak English, and one in which they speak German.
Fata Morgana is a 1971 film by Werner Herzog, shot in 1968 and 1969, which captures mirages in the Sahara and Sahel deserts. Herzog also wrote the narration by Lotte H. Eisner, which recounts the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh.
Popol Vuh were a German musical collective founded by keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Frank Fiedler, Holger Trülzsch (percussion), and Bettina Fricke. Other important members during the next two decades included Djong Yun, Renate Knaup, Conny Veit, Daniel Fichelscher, Klaus Wiese, and Robert Eliscu. The band took its name from the Mayan manuscript containing the mythology of highland Guatemala's K'iche' people.
Bruno Schleinstein, often credited as Bruno S., was a German film actor, artist, and musician. He is known internationally for his roles in two films directed by Werner Herzog, The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) and Stroszek (1976).
Florian Fricke was a German musician who started his professional career with electronic music, using the Moog synthesizer, and was a founding member of the Krautrock band Popol Vuh.
Woyzeck is a 1979 German drama film written, produced and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski and Eva Mattes. It is an adaptation of the unfinished play Woyzeck by German dramatist Georg Büchner.
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreutz is a 1967 short film by Werner Herzog filmed in 1966 in Deutschkreutz, Austria. Herzog's official website describes the film as "a satire on the state of war and peace and the absurdities it inspires.
Last Words is a 1968 short film by Werner Herzog shot in Crete and on the island of Spinalonga. The film was shot in two days during the filming of Herzog's feature Signs of Life, and edited in one day.
Scream of Stone is a 1991 film directed by Werner Herzog about a climbing expedition on Cerro Torre. The film was shot on location at Cerro Torre, with several scenes filmed close to the summit.
Henning von Gierke, born December 22, 1947, in Karlsruhe, is a German painter, set designer, production designer and art director. He has collaborated with director Werner Herzog on a number of projects. Among his many collaborations with other film, theatre and opera directors, Gierke is most notable as a painter.
The 18th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1968. The Golden Bear was awarded to the Swedish film Ole dole doff directed by Jan Troell.
Peter Brogle was a Swiss film actor. He appeared in 14 films between 1955 and 1987. He starred in the 1968 film Signs of Life by Werner Herzog, which won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 18th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1979, he won the Hans-Reinhart-Ring award.
Queen of the Desert is a 2015 American epic biographical drama film written and directed by Werner Herzog and is based on the life of British traveller, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer and political officer Gertrude Bell. The film follows Bell's life chronologically, from her early twenties until her death. It was Herzog's first feature film in six years after his 2009 film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done?
Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker whose films often feature ambitious or deranged protagonists with impossible dreams. Herzog's works span myriad genres and mediums, but he is particularly well known for his documentary films, which he typically narrates.
