An additional documentary will be shown at the same screening.
The Ecstacy of the Woodcarver Steiner. VHS/1974 This film will follow a introductory talk at 2pm. Film 2.30 approx.
This short documentary explores a subject close to Herzog's heart that of ski jumping. Herzog's vision places these jumps of Walter Steiner's on a heroic level with the slow motion images of him traveling through the air that is beautifully filmed and capture the ecstatic feel of the movement. Herzog perceives these ski jumpers as something beyond sportsmen and places them on a spiritual level, defying the laws of gravity and literally flying through air. This overcoming is a theme that is visited in later feature and documentary work of Herzog's. This visually stunning and subtly revealing portrait of a champion ski-jumper Walter Steiner is a controversial figure in this sport.
Fata Morgana. 16mm/ 1970
4pm. 1970.
Fata Morgana means mirage and the Fata Morgana means
mirage and the project was shot over a 3 month period in Central Africa.
Herzog originally planned the location for a science fiction feature film
however he decided on arrival to film the landscape and abandon the script.
The result is a visual documentary that displays the director's natural
ability to create original imagery with the 'illusionary' atmosphere of
the desert landscape the central motif. His profound response to landscape
speaks of his respect of the power and beauty of nature.
Told in 3 increasingly ironic chapters with a heroic
voice-over that are counter-pointed by extraordinary haunting images of
poverty, decay, pollution and bizarre humanity. Herzog's approach was
to immerse himself in the desert and construct the film later at the editing
stage reflects an attitude that would lead to his reputation as a maverick.
The project was only terminated when Herzog and the crew were arrested
and imprisoned on arrival in Cameroon.
Even Dwarfs Started Small. (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen) 16mm/1970 8pm.
Interview or discussion on Herzog's film work to follow.
A wonderful withering parable about an isolated penal institution inhabited by dwarfs who stage a revolution in the prison boss's absence. Herzog observes their ever more anarchic behaviour with genuine affection and a sad awareness of the absurdity and futility of so much human aspiration.