The German director has been involved in the film business for decades. Now he gets an exhibition. What will be seen?
Berlin – A few years ago, “Time Magazine” named him one of the most influential personalities. Director Werner Herzog has shaped the film world for decades. Now he is 80 years old.
A new exhibition is dedicated to him in Berlin. The Deutsche Kinemathek shows around 250 exhibits, including many archive images, but also video material and personal letters.
The exhibition traces him not only as a pop culture phenomenon. About the legends that exist around him, or his guest appearances in the “Simpsons” or the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian”. Instead, she looks above all at his way of working and his way of telling about nature, people and reality.
With his films, he created extraordinary images that went far beyond what one is used to seeing in the cinema, the museum said. Herzog has directed feature films such as “Fitzcarraldo” with Klaus Kinski and “Queen of the Desert” with Nicole Kidman, as well as documentaries such as “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams” and “Encounters at the End of the World” about Antarctica.
“Herzog polarizes,” said curator Kristina Jaspers on Wednesday. “He actually never avoided controversy either.” This can be traced back, for example, to an exchange of letters in which he argues with a television station about a project.
Herzog was born in Munich and lives in the USA. On September 5th he will be 80 years old. The exhibition also shows controversies, for example about his depiction of war or people with disabilities. Other creative artists, such as Patti Smith, Volker Schlöndorff and Chloe Zhao, have their say in the videos.
The Deutsche Kinemathek on Potsdamer Platz has been managing Herzog’s archive for several years, which includes around 18,000 photos. “Werner Herzog is a cult,” says the announcement for the new exhibition. In a video message shown on Wednesday, he said his work was not over. Herzog has just published his memoirs “Everyone for himself and God against all”. dpa
