05/01/2007

Illustrious German filmmaker Werner Herzog will be the focus of an event that will take place from January 11-14 in Brussels and Antwerp, organised by the Cinémathèque Royale, Bozar Cinema, Flagey, the Goethe Institute and the Contemporary Art Museum.

The event will include meetings with the director, special evenings and a retrospective of his films, which will take place throughout January.

From his debut film Signs of Life, to his last documentary Grizzly Man – and including experimental films such as Fata Morgana and recent Venice title The Wild Blue Yonder (see news); the impressive Buchner adaptation, Woyzeck; the homage to Murnau, Nosferatu; great lyrical works such as Aguirre: The Wrath of God, presented at the Flagey Film Festival; Heart of Glass and Fitzcarraldo – this comprehensive retrospective will offer audiences a chance to see the most important films and several rare documentaries by one of the mainstays of the German cinema renaissance.

Since 1987’s Cobra Verde, Herzog – who has always crossed the limits imposed by genres – especially with such films as Stroszek , predominantly made documentaries, or features adapted from documentaries, throughout the remainder of his career.

Rescue Dawn, his last film that was presented at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival in the Master section, was a feature adapted from the 1997 documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, which Herzog will present at a special screening at the Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Little Dieter tells the story of Dieter Dengler, a German pilot who was kidnapped in Laos during the Vietnam war. Rescue Dawn, a fiction so to speak, is based along similar narrative lines.

Starring English actor Christian Bale, the film was co-produced with Gibraltar Films (US) and Thema Productions (Luxembourg) and is being sold internationally by US outfit Conquistador Worldwide Media.

(Translated from French)