Wernerfest! - A Marathon of Werner Herzog discoveries October 8, 2011

Wernerfest!
A Marathon of Werner Herzog Discoveries
Film Marathon
Saturday, October 8th 2011, Noon to Midnight
Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Tickets: $10 (all day) / Free for FOG members

For this non-stop hommage to "the most important filmmaker alive" Werner Herzog, we dug deep into his oeuvre to bring you Wernerfest, a daylong appreciation of the L.A. cult-figure, his magnificent work and his equally illustrious fans.
We've chosen a selection from his massive body of work for this fraternal event that's equally suitable for the novice as it is for the disciple. From the earliest to the classic, from the most obscure to the most poetic, there will be something new to discover even for the most die-hard Werner Herzog fan.
Spend a day among afficionados and walk with us through many rooms in the house that Werner built.

Refreshments served throughout the day.
An appearance by Werner Herzog himself is expected but not yet confirmed.

The program includes (complete screening schedule t.b.a.):

Herakles
1962, 10 min., b/w, digital
In his debut film, Herzog was already striving to subtly transgress the documentary genre and hints at what will become a central theme of his work – the absurdity of grandiose revolt.

La Soufriere
1976, 31 min., color, Germ. w/ Engl. s.t.
Summer 1976: A volcano on the French Caribbean island Guadeloupe threatens to unleash a devastating eruption. The islanders have been evacuated.
Werner Herzog and his team stay behind to film the disaster – and wait for the eruption promised to be the equivalent of five to six atomic bombs.

The Unprecedented Defense of the Fortress Deutschkreutz
(Die beispiellose Verteidigung der Festung Deutschkreutz)
1966, 15 min., b/w, Germ. w/ Engl.s.t., digital
A satire on war and the stupidity it inspires. Four young men enter an abandoned fortress.
They stumble across abandoned weapons, steel helmets and uniforms and stage war games, an action all the more senseless in face of the serene surrounding.

Lessons of Darkness (Lektionen in Finsternis)
1992, 55 min., color,. Germ. w/ Engl.s.t., digital
Shortly before the end of the Second Gulf War, Iraqi troops set fire to the oil fields and terminals as they withdrew from Kuwait. Herzog and his cameraman attempted to capture the unfathomable, the apocalypse, on film, creating a requiem on the destiny of our planet taking the consequences of the Gulf War as a point of departure

Last Words (Letzte Worte)
1967,13 min., b/w, Greek w/ Engl. s.t.
The inhabitants of a Greek island take turns telling stories of an old man, who was forcibly removed from an island.
The man, a lyre-player, refuses to speak. A doctor, a policeman, a fisherman and the owner of a pub appear repeating the same words, that –ultimately-have no meaning.

Precautions Against Fanatics (Massnahmen gegen Fanatiker)
1969, 11 min., color, Germ. w/ Engl. s.t., digital
Shot in television style, with the actors looking directly into the camera, the film consists of statements by character claiming they had to protect horses.

Werner Herzog Eats his Shoe
1980, 20 min., color, Engl., digital
The title says it all. German film director Werner Herzog had made a bet with fledgling director Errol Morris that, if Morris made a film, Herzog would eat his shoe. Morris went on to film 'Gates of Heaven', so Herzog kept his promise.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly
1997, 80 min., color, Engl., digital
The chronicle of the dramatic and extraordinary adventures of Dieter Dengler, a German pilot who joined the US air force to fulfill his dream to fly.
His plane crashed in Laos and he was held prisoner along with other American soldiers. After managing to escape he faced an excruciating trek back to safety.

Wings of Hope (Schwingen der Hoffnung)
1999, 66 min., color, Germ. w/Engl. s.t., digital
This is the story of Juliane Koepcke, the sole survivor of an airplane crash in the Peruvian jungle in 1971. Search and rescue teams were unable to find the wreckage and abandoned their search after ten days The film chronicles her the young woman’s dramatic 12-day journey to safety.

Ten Thousand Years Older (Zehntausend Jahre aelter)
2002, 10 min., color, Engl., digital
20 years after a Brazilian government delegation made contact with the remote Uru Eu tribe in the Amazon region, Herzog revisits the remaining tribe members. The exposure to the “civilized” world had catapulted them 10000 years into the future and to near extinction.
This short is part of the compilation film Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet, where renown directors were asked to translate their notion of time into a 10-minute piece.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes)
1972, 93 min., color, Germ. w/Engl. s.t.
In 1560, lured by the prospect of finding gold, Gonzalo Pizarro lead an expedition into the Andes. When the land route is blocked, he sends a patrol under the command of Don Lope de Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) to explore the river, which turned out to be treacherous.
When Pizarro decides to turn back, Aguirre rebels and declares himself head of the expedition. But hunger and the constant attacks by Indians wanes his detail’s strength and the absurd mission of conquest comes to a tragic conclusion.

Nosferatu – Phantom of the Night (Nosferatu - Phantom der Nacht)
1978, 103 min., color, Germ. w/Engl.s.t., digital
Parting from Bram Stoker’s horror novel Dracula (1897) and Nosferatu by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1921/22, the famous silent film version of the book, Werner Herzog endeavors to recount the frequently adapted vampire tale anew, melding the images of the German classic with his own visual universe.

Stroszek
1976, 107 min., color, Engl. w/Engl. s.t., digital
Former street singer and mental patient Bruno S. joins with whore (Eva Mattes) and aging eccentric Scheitz (Clemens Scheitz) to travel to the gold-paved streets of America, the promised land-which turns out to be dreary, rural Wisconsin.
Most effective as tragicomic, ultimately bitter ridicule of American society. (Leonard Maltin)