Until The End… And Even Further November 1–11, 2012

İstanbul Modern Cinema presents 24 shorts and documentaries made since 1962 by Werner Herzog, master of German cinema celebrated for his impressive fictions. Organized in partnership with Goethe Institut Istanbul, the screening program comprises documentaries that reach from volcanic mountains to the oceans and from African natives to Buddhist priests and also includes four films on the life and cinema of the director.

Creation and Apocalypse

Herakles

1962, B&W, 10’

One of the first films of Herzog, Herakles tries to slyly reach beyond the confines of documentary cinema while reflecting a central idea of the director’s films: The revolt of the titans is funny.

 

Fata Morgana

1970, Color, 79’

A poetic and surreal journey to Africa… Herzog juxtaposes myths of creation with images of destruction in this film which, although devoid of a narrative has coherence nonetheless.

 

La Soufrière

1976, Color, 31'

In the summer of 1976, a devastating volcanic eruption is predicted in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. The island is evacuated. Herzog and his crew stay in the island and wait for the disaster.

 

Lessons of Darkness / Lektionen in Finsternis

1992, Color, 55'

Shot from the perspective of an almost alien observer, the film is an exploration of the ravaged oil fields of post-1st Gulf War Kuwait.

 

Wodaabe – Herdsmen of the Sun / Wodaabe – Hirten der Sonne

1989, Color, 49'

In the film, Herzog explores the social rituals and cultural celebrations of the Saharan nomadic Wodaabe tribe. Particular focus is given to the Gerewol celebration, which features an elaborate male beauty contest to win wives.

 

Bells from the Deep / Glocken aus der Tiefe

1993, Color, 60'

In Bells from the Deep Werner Herzog investigates a Russian faith healer and a man claiming to be the reincarnation of God as was Jesus.

 

Wheel of Time / Rad der Zeit

2002-2003, Color, 80'

In Wheel of Time, Herzog documents two Kalachakra initiations in the site of the Mahabodhi Temple and the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya India, and in Graz, Austria.

 

 

Beginning and End of Language

Last Words / Letzte Worte

1967, Color, 13'

The film tells a story of the last man to leave the abandoned island of Spinalonga, which had been used as a leper colony. The man refused to leave, and so was forcibly removed. He now lives in Crete, where he plays the lyre at nights in a bar, and refuses to speak. Everyone has their own explanation on the issue.

 

Land of Silence and Darkness / Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit

1971, Color, 85'

Following people in a deaf-blind community, Herzog investigates the nature of human thought and communication. Discussing their struggle to live in the modern world with their disabilities, the film also delves into questions of being, knowledge, and communication that philosophers have been asking for centuries.

 

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

1976, Color, 45'

Herzog examines the world championships for cattle auctioneers held in 1976 in Colorado, and reflects his fascination with this language created by an economic system, which he defines as “the last poetry possible, the poetry of capitalism”. For him, this is an "an extreme language ... frightening but quite beautiful at the same time."

 

Huie’s Sermon / Huie’s Predigt

1980, Color, 42'

Huie Rogers of the Bible Way Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Brooklyn influences his congregation with his intense sermons. Herzog records one of his sermons objectively.

 

God’s Angry Man

1980, Color, 44'

Televangelist Dr. Gene Scott has been delivering his sermons in front of TV cameras for years. His main purpose is to raise as much money as possible.

 

 

Warriors and Perpetrators

Precautions against Fanatics / Maßnahmen gegen Fanatiker

1969, Color, 12'

People on a horse-racing circuit in Daglfing, Munich talk about protecting the horses from the fans, but there is no danger in sight.

 

The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz / Die beispiellose Verteidigung der Festung Deutschkreuz

1966, B&W, 15'

Four men break into an abandoned castle that was the site of a battle during World War II. The men find old military uniforms and equipment, and equip themselves for a defense of the castle. They see farmers approaching the castle, but are disappointed when they fail to attack. “A man has to defend himself!”

 

Echoes from a Sombre Empire / Echos aus einem düsteren Reich

1990, Color, 87'

Tracing Jean-Bédel Bokassa(1921 – 1996), the dictator president and self-proclaimed emperor of the Central African Republic, the film follows American journalist Michael Goldsmith as he revisits the Central African Republic, where he was imprisoned and tortured by Bokassa's regime.

 

Ballad of the Little Soldier / Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten

1984, Color, 45'

February 1984: Miskito Indians resist against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Werner Herzog and the French photojournalist Denis Reichle take a closer look at the child soldiers of the Miskitos.

 

Little Dieter Needs to Fly / Flucht aus Laos

1997, Color, 80'

Dieter Dengler grew up in a Germany and emigrated to the US at 18, Dengler to become a pilot. In the film he discusses his service as an American naval pilot in the Vietnam War. Dengler also revisits the sites of his capture and eventual escape from the hands of the Vietcong, recreating many events for the camera.

 

 

Lift-Off and Come-Down

Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner / Die große Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner

1973/1974, Color, 47'

The films is the study of the psychology of celebrated ski-jumper Walter Steiner who works as a carpenter for his full-time occupation.

 

Dark Glow of the Mountains: Gasherbrum / Gasherbrum – Der leuchtende Berg

1984, Color, 45'

Celebrated freestyle mountain climber Reinhold Messner and his partner Hans Kammerlander plan to climb Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I all in one trip without returning to base camp. To reveal the inner motivation of the climbers, Herzog accompanies them in this expedition.

 

Wings of Hope / Schwingen der Hoffnung – Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel

1999, Color, 66'

In Christmas of 1971, Juliane Koepcke, then 17 was the sole survivor of 93 passengers and crew in a plane crash in the Peruvian rainforest. After her airliner blew up in midair, she survived after falling about 10,000 feet and traveled on foot for 12 days before she was found. 27 years after the incident Herzog, together with Koepcke visit the scenes of her flight, crash, and escape from the jungle.

 

Gesualdo / Gesualdo – Tod für fünf Stimmen

1995, Color, 60'

Born in 1560 in Napples, composer and prince Carlo Gesualdo di Venosa was famous for his madrigals. But he was also known for his personality, his cursed castle, and his murder of his wife and her lover.

 

The White Diamond

2004, Color, 87'

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 tree-tops. But this logistic effort will not be without risk. With the expedition is Werner Herzog, setting out now with a new prototype of the airship into the Lost World of the pristine rain forest of this little explored area of the world.

 

The Wild Blue Yonder

2005, Color, 81'

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visits to Earth and Earth's man-made demise, while human astronauts attempt to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

 

On Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Filmmaker

1986, Color, 30'

A self-portrait documentary that brings together parts from the director’s films and documentary scenes in which Herzog visits Lotte Eisner, legendary film critic and historian, in Paris.

 

Until the End… And Even Further / Bis ans Ende... und dann noch weiter

Director: Peter Buchka

1988, Color, 60'

A Werner Herzog portrait that includes comments from the director and scenes from his films.

 

I am My Films – Part 1 / Was ich bin sind meine Filme – Teil 1

Directors: Christian Weisenborn, Erwin Keusch

1976-78, Color, 93'

Christian Weisenborn and Werner Herzog know each other for more than 40 years. Weisenborn‘s first film on Werner Herzog covers Herzog's beginning as a filmmaker.

 

I am My Films, Part 2, 30 Years Later / Was ich bin sind meine Filme – Teil 2... nach 30 Jahren

Director: Christian Weisenborn

2009/10, Color, 97'

As a sequel to his first film, Christian Weisenborn visits Herzog in his Los Angeles home 30 years later and talks to him about Werner Herzog as a documentarian of the past 30 years.