Werner Herzog

05.09.1942, Műnchen, Njemačka

 

Director
Obsessed with film from an early age, Herzog first worked in an iron plant so
that he could invest his money in amateur films. Shortly after, he quit the
study of history and literature and shot his first motion picture The Signs
of Life
, which achieved quite a success at the Berlin Festival. He often
shot in authentic settings that were quite difficult to shoot in. For The
Heart of Glass
he hypnotized the cast. He also shot a significant number of
documentary and short films that won many international awards. He is also known
for his close cooperation with Klaus Kinski.

Filmography

Ten Minutes Older (2002)
Pilgrimage (2001)
Invincible (2001)
My Dearest Friend/Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski (1999)
Glocken aus der Tiefe (1993)
La Donna del lago (1992)
Lektionen in Finsternis (1992)
Cerro Torre: Schrei aus Stein (1991)
Echos aus einem düstern Reich (1990)
Les Gauloises (1988)
Cobra Verde (1988)
Where Green Ants Dream/Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen (1984)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Nosferatu, Phantom of the Night/Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)
Woyzeck (1979)
La Soufričre (1977)
Stroszek (1977)
How much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
Mit mir will keiner spielen (1976)
Heart of Glass/Herz aus Glas (1976)
Every Man for Himself and God Against All/Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1974)
Die Große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner (1974)
Aguirre, The Wrath of God/Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972)
Fata Morgana (1971)
Land of Darkness and Silence/Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (1971)
Even Dwarfs Started Small/Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (1971)
Maßnahmen gegen Fanatiker (1969)
Signs of Life/Lebenszeichen (1968)
Die Beispiellose Verteidigung der Festung Deutschkreuz (1967)
Letzte Worte (1967)
Games in the Sand/Spiel im Sand (1964)
Hercules/Herakles (1962)


Films by this director

Every Man for Himself and God Against All

(Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle, West Germany, 1974)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

This is a true story of a young man in his twenties who in the 19th century suddenly arrived in a small town. Everything about him points to the fact that, before his release, he was kept locked in a cellar: he cannot speak, read or write. Half of the townsmen see him as a threat, while the other half want to help him. He tries to find out his true identity…

color, 110'

Signs of Life

(Lebenszeichen, West Germany, 1968)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

Director Werner Herzog's first film. During World War II, a wounded German soldier Stroszek is sent to an isolated unit on a small Greek island to sit through the war. He is accompanied by his wife, Nora, and two other soldiers. Suddenly, he loses his mind and starts attacking both friends and enemies

b/w, 91'

Fata Morgana

(1970)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

Film shot in Sahara, an allegorical vision of man's life on Earth. An exceptionally difficult achievement direction-wise, a never-ending variation of 'empty' spaces. Background music was provided by the famous musician Leonard Cohen. Many critics consider this work to be Herzog's best.

color, 79 min

Even Dwarfs Started Small

(Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen, West Germany, 1970)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

A bizzare film that takes place in a desperate psychiatric hospital inhabited by dwarfs. They have had enough of normal people's tyranny so they organize a rebellion and take over the hospital. Grotesque characters acquire royal grandeur…

b/w, 96 '

Aguirre, The Wrath of God

(Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, West Germany, Mexico, Peru, 1972)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

In 1561 Pizzaro sends an expedition to the Amazonian wild to search for the legendary El Dorado. The leader of the expedition is the ruthless Spanish conquistador Lope de Aguirre. Hunger, fever, a merciless river, and the attacks of Amazon Indians gradually destroy the expedition. Possessed, Aguirre attempts to reach the seaside, appropriate New Spain, and found a new invincible dynasty with his daughter….

color, 95'

Heart of Glass

(Herz aus Glas, West Germany, 1976)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

Film about a person with apocalyptic visions and premonitions of total destruction and madness. A small Bavarian town is thrown into cursed despair when the owner of the local glass factory dies carrying the secret of its famous Ruby Glass to his grave…It is interesting that all the actors were acting while hypnotized! According to Herzog, the goal was to recreate the atmosphere of hallucination, prophecy and predictions. So, all the actors were hypnotized before the shooting.

color, 94'

Stroszek

(West Germany, 1977)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

Having gotten out of prison, Bruno Stroszek befriends a prostitute, Eva, and an eccentric old man, Scheiz. The three of them leave Berlin and set off on their way to America in search of a better life and the fulfilment of the American dream. They settle near a deserted truckers’ inn in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, their American dream does not last long…

color, 115'

Woyzeck

(West Germany, 1979)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

The setting is a small military town in the mid 19th century. Forty-year-old Franz Woyzeck is a regular soldier whom his commander humiliates and exploits on daily basis. Beside verbal abuse, he also suffers physical torment because he serves as a guinea pig in experiments of the local doctor. In addition to the madness that surrounds him, his wife falls for a handsome soldier and they have an affaire. When Woyzeck finds out the truth, he kills Marie in a fit of jealous rage… The film is the ada...

color, 82'

Cobra Verde

(West Germany, Gana, 1987)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Viktor Ružička
Synopsis:

The action takes place at the turn of the 19th century. Violent Francisco Manoel da Silva, also known as Cobra Verde, works on a sugar cane farm in Brazil as a slave foreman. The owner of the farm decides to get rid of him when he finds out that he has gotten his three daughters pregnant. Cobra Verde is sent to Africa to bring a new shipment of black slaves. However, nobody told him that the place is ruled by a crazy king, and that no white man has come back alive from there for the...

color, 111'

My Dearest Friend

(Mein liebster Feind, 1999)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
Synopsis:

A documentary retrospective of Klaus Kinski's and Herzog’s turbulent relationship. Klaus Kinski was frequently Herzog's lead actor; he featured in five of his films: Aguirre, The Wraths of Godi (1972), Nosferatu (1978), Woyzeck (1978), Fitzcarraldo (1981), and Cobra Verde (1987). And film was screened in the official program of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival.

color, 95 min

The Land of Silence and Darkness

(Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit, 1971)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

The heroine of this documentary is Fini Straubinger, a deaf and blind woman. Although handicapped, she dedicates her life to helping people with same difficulties. The film describes the battle of a deaf and blind person to accept and understand the world from which she is completely isolated.

color, 85 min

Fitzcarraldo

(West Germany, 1982)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

Peru na samom početku 20. stoljeća. Irac Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, kojeg Indiosi zovu Fitzcarraldo, opsesivni je ljubitelj opere koji mašta o izgradnji veličanstvene zgrade opere usred negostoljubive amazonske prašume. Da bi to i ostvario, Fitzcarraldo je spreman da uz pomoć privržene ljubavnice Molly, vlasnice lokalnog bordela, poduzme i nemoguće. Želeći pod svaku cijenu usred prašume izgraditi operu u kojoj će on i Molly moći pogledati opernu izvedbu s velikim Enricom Caru...

color, 158'

Nosferatu the Vampyre

(Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, West Germany, France, 1979)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein
Synopsis:

Jonathan Harker zastupnik je u trgovini nekretninama koji u njemačkom gradu Wismaru živi s voljenom suprugom Lucy. Njegov novi zadatak je da po nalogu svog šefa Renfielda otputuje u Transilvaniju, u dvorac grofa Drakule koji je zainteresiran za kupnju kuće u inozemstvu. Nakon što entuzijastično krene na put, vjerujući da je pred njim jednostavan i ugodan zadatak, Jonathan će susresti skupinu Cigana koja ga stane odvraćati od posjeta grofu. Kad od njih čuje da grofa Drakulu prati za...

color, 107'

Last Words

(Letzte Worte, West Germany, 1968)

Directed by: Werner Herzog
PHOTOGRAPHY: Thomas Mauch
Synopsis:

b/w, 13'
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