Infinite Horizons: The Films of Werner Herzog
November 9, 2023–February 28, 2024
A major retrospective of German filmmaker Werner Herzog, which launched in November 2023, continues through February 2024. Herzog’s great facility for storytelling and his fascination with eccentric characters, whose lives and endeavors he observes, allow him to illuminate the human condition in his narrative and nonfiction films.
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Aguirre, the Wrath of God, © Werner Herzog Film / Deutsche Kinemathek
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Fitzcarraldo, © Werner Herzog Film / Deutsche Kinemathek
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Rescue Dawn
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Heart of Glass
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Stroszek, © Werner Herzog Film / Deutsche Kinemathek
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Even Dwarfs Started Small
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Films - Past
Films - Past
Events
Past Films
Signs of Life
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1968Thursday, November 9 4:30 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsWerner Herzog’s breakthrough film garnered a special jury award at the Berlinale and this appraisal at the New York Film Festival: “A strange, intense work . . . influenced by Borges and Kafka. The hypnotic probing of cruelty, indifference, and unspoken horrors becomes a metaphysical comment on man and his ideologies.”
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Werner Herzog
United States, 2009Thursday, November 9 7:30 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsBad Lieutenant benefits from Werner Herzog’s fearless direction and a delightfully unhinged Nicolas Cage, who brings a manic energy and humor to his performance. It is Herzog’s documentarian’s eye that brings an extra depth to the film. “He constantly frames the devastated New Orleans with heartbreaking poverty and ruin in the foreground and the gleaming metal towers of affluence in the background” (Toronto International Film Festival).
Mosse Lecture: Werner Herzog
Friday, November 10 1 PMWerner Herzog and Deniz Göktürk in ConversationView DetailsThe author of more than a dozen books of prose, Werner Herzog reads from the long-awaited Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir and engages in conversation with the audience.
Fata Morgana
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1971Friday, November 10 3:30 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsThis film about the creation and transformation of things is between documentary and feature, utopia and reality, beauty and decay. Hallucinatory images of African deserts and dunes are combined with music by Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen; Lotte H. Eisner reads the Guatemalan creation myth.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1972Friday, November 10 7 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsStunningly photographed in hazardous locations in Peru, Aguirre, the Wrath of God takes the viewer on a mad voyage as frightening and entertaining as one of Edgar Allan Poe’s maelstrom-bent epics of demented discovery. Featuring a seething, controlled performance from Klaus Kinski, who delivers an unforgettable portrait of madness and power.
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1974Saturday, November 11 1 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsWerner Herzog’s unforgettable 1974 classic is based on a real historical incident of an adult foundling. Bruno S. gives a revelatory performance as Kaspar Hauser, a man who literally has no concept of society, no language, and no knowledge, but who finds civilization terrifyingly uncivilized.
The White Diamond
Werner Herzog
Germany, United Kingdom, 2004Saturday, November 11 4 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsThe White Diamond is a film about the daring adventure of exploring the rainforest canopy with a novel flying device. Airship engineer Dr. Graham Dorrington embarks on a trip to the giant Kaieteur Falls in the heart of Guyana, hoping to fly his helium-filled invention above the treetops.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog
Germany, France, United Kingdom, 1992Sunday, November 12 1:30 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsWerner Herzog’s gripping documentary shows the disaster of the Kuwait oil fields in flames. In contrast to most documentaries—especially ones tackling the destruction of the planet—there’s minimal commentary and no talking heads. “An evocation of hell on earth . . . with an epic, elegiac musical backdrop” (Time Out).
Family Romance, LLC
Werner Herzog
United States, 2019Sunday, November 12 4 PMWerner Herzog in PersonView DetailsWerner Herzog’s latest narrative focuses on Japan’s bizarre “rent-a-family” business, a professional stand-in service that provides clients with actors who portray a range of roles, including friends, family members, or even coworkers.
Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog
West Germany, Peru, 1982Friday, November 24 3 PMView Details“In a film of stunning spectacle and furious struggle, boat and task become centerpieces for two tales of obsession. Every bit as driven as Fitzcarraldo’s efforts to move the craft upward, Mr. Herzog’s determination to perform the feat in actuality inspired Les Blank’s documentary Burden of Dreams, also released in 1982, about the making of the film” (Peter M. Nichols, New York Times).
Burden of Dreams
Les Blank, Maureen Gosling
United States, 1982Saturday, November 25 4 PMMaureen Gosling in PersonView DetailsAcclaimed documentary filmmaker and longtime collaborator with Les Blank, Maureen Gosling was nominated for Best Editing for Burden of Dreams by the American Cinema Editors. Gosling joins us for the presentation of a new digital restoration of this celebrated film.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1972Saturday, December 2 7 PMView DetailsStunningly photographed in hazardous locations in Peru, Aguirre, the Wrath of God takes the viewer on a mad voyage as frightening and entertaining as one of Edgar Allan Poe’s maelstrom-bent epics of demented discovery. Featuring a seething, controlled performance from Klaus Kinski, who delivers an unforgettable portrait of madness and power.
Woyzeck
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1979Wednesday, December 6 7 PMView DetailsAn ordinary German barber-turned-soldier (Klaus Kinski) puts up with all manner of slights and insults until, finally, he cracks in Werner Herzog’s adaptation of the acclaimed absurdist, anti-militarist play. “Kinski is a riveting screen presence who threatens to burst beyond the medium” (New York Times).
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Werner Herzog
West Germany, United States, 1979Saturday, December 9 7 PMView DetailsWerner Herzog’s reworking of the F. W. Murnau silent film showcases a ghoulish Klaus Kinski as das Vampyre, spreading death and disease in a small German town with only pretty bride Isabelle Adjani to stop him. “Opulently beautiful” (The Nation).
My Best Fiend
Werner Herzog
Germany, United Kingdom, 1999Sunday, December 10 2 PMView DetailsThe lines between madness and artistry, and confrontation and creation, are explored through Werner Herzog’s look at his fiery collaborations with frequent lead, and frequent tormenter, Klaus Kinski. Together they created masterpieces, while nearly killing one another.
Fitzcarraldo
Werner Herzog
West Germany, Peru, 1982Friday, December 15 7 PMView Details“In a film of stunning spectacle and furious struggle, boat and task become centerpieces for two tales of obsession. Every bit as driven as Fitzcarraldo’s efforts to move the craft upward, Mr. Herzog’s determination to perform the feat in actuality inspired Les Blank’s documentary Burden of Dreams, also released in 1982, about the making of the film” (Peter M. Nichols, New York Times).
Cobra Verde
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1987Wednesday, December 20 7 PMView DetailsWerner Herzog and Klaus Kinski’s final collaboration continues their exploration of colonial madness in Indigenous worlds, with Kinski starring as a Brazilian outlaw turned African slave trader in Dahomey. Haunted with an “intoxicated, intoxicating sense of spectacle” (New York Times).
Even Dwarfs Started Small
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1970Saturday, January 13 4 PMView DetailsAnarchy ensues when a group of institutionalized dwarfs takes over their asylum in Werner Herzog’s notorious second feature, an unholy combination of 1960s revolutionary attitude, Tod Browning’s Freaks, and the surrealist shivers of Luis Buñuel. “One of the most genuinely disturbing films I have ever seen” (Richard Roud, The Guardian).
Heart of Glass
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1976Wednesday, January 17 7 PMView DetailsWerner Herzog memorably hypnotized nearly his entire cast for this haunting tale of nineteenth-century German townsfolk fallen into despair after forgetting how to make their famed glassworks. “It should be approached like a piece of music, in which we comprehend everything in terms of mood and aura” (Roger Ebert).
Stroszek
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1977Saturday, January 20 7 PMView DetailsA lyrical, melancholy, bitterly funny tale of three oddly assorted Berlin misfits who follow the American Dream to Railroad Flats, Wisconsin, a bleak dead end of flat farmlands, TV dinners, CB radio, and mobile homes.
In Focus: Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog
United States, 2007Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, January 24 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsA voyage to the end of the world—Antarctica—to discover the ecstatic realities of those who have chosen to live amidst nature’s awe-inspiring vastness. “A portrait of people in search of the sublime” (Cinema Scope).
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1972Sunday, January 28 1 PMView DetailsStunningly photographed in hazardous locations in Peru, Aguirre, the Wrath of God takes the viewer on a mad voyage as frightening and entertaining as one of Edgar Allan Poe’s maelstrom-bent epics of demented discovery. Featuring a seething, controlled performance from Klaus Kinski, who delivers an unforgettable portrait of madness and power.
In Focus: Land of Silence and Darkness
Werner Herzog
West Germany, 1971Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, January 31 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsWerner Herzog’s 1971 documentary on the world of those who are both deaf and blind defies expectations; neither morbidly depressing nor heartwarmingly uplifting, it is “so intense and abstract that at times it reaches great lyrical heights” (New Yorker Films).
Encounters at the End of the World
Werner Herzog
United States, 2007Friday, February 2 7 PMView DetailsA voyage to the end of the world—Antarctica—to discover the ecstatic realities of those who have chosen to live amidst nature’s awe-inspiring vastness. “A portrait of people in search of the sublime” (Cinema Scope).
In Focus: Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Werner Herzog
Germany, United Kingdom, France, 1997Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, February 7 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsWerner Herzog accompanies a Vietnam War POW back to the jungles of Laos to relive his imprisonment and torture in this award-winning documentary.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Werner Herzog
Germany, United Kingdom, France, 1997Sunday, February 11 5 PMView DetailsWerner Herzog accompanies a Vietnam War POW back to the jungles of Laos to relive his imprisonment and torture in this award-winning documentary.
In Focus: The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Werner Herzog
France, United Kingdom, United States, 2022Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, February 14 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsWerner Herzog's “requiem” for another pair who followed their passions: the globe-trotting husband and wife volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft, who filmed hundreds of hours of astonishing footage of volcanoes. “This is a radical filmmaker acknowledging two kindred spirits. . . . Solemn, sparse, and hypnotic” (Film Stage).
Rescue Dawn
Werner Herzog
United States, 2006Sunday, February 18 4:30 PMView DetailsThis big-budget Hollywood retelling of Werner Herzog’s documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly stars Christian Bale as a German immigrant–turned–fighter pilot who overcomes torture and starvation as a POW in Laos during the Vietnam War. “Less so Herzog selling out, than Hollywood buying in” (New Yorker).
In Focus: Grizzly Man
Werner Herzog
United States, 2005Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, February 21 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsThe film that “turned [Werner] Herzog’s distinctive Bavarian accent into a pop culture phenomenon” (IndieWire), Grizzly Man investigates the life and death of Timothy Treadwell, who lived with—and was killed by—bears. Herzog used and mused over Treadwell’s video footage for this memorable essay on nature, both human and wild.
Queen of the Desert
Werner Herzog
United States, 2015Saturday, February 24 4 PMView DetailsNicole Kidman, James Franco, and Robert Pattinson star in Werner “Herzog’s feminist version of Lawrence of Arabia” (Independent), which follows the amazing journey of Gertrude Bell from English high society to archeologist and political specialist of the Arab world and advisor to Middle Eastern rulers.
In Focus: Into the Abyss
Werner Herzog
United States, United Kingdom, Germany, 2011Lecture & Screening
Wednesday, February 28 3:10 PM–6 PMLecture by Michael FoxView DetailsWerner Herzog’s very first film concept centered on a prison. Decades later, he reflects on a triple murder in a small Texas town through interviews with two men convicted of the killings. As he so often has, Herzog “probes the contradictions of the human heart, in which nobility and savagery are so entwined as to be almost indistinguishable” (A. O. Scott, New York Times).