This week, director Dieter Kosslick announced that Werner Herzog, the so-called Godfather of German New Wave cinema, will be the President of the Jury at the 60th Berlinale in February next year.
Not only will the 2010 festival mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the German capital, but it is also 31 years since Herzog himself won the Silver Bear for Best First Film with his World War II feature Signs of Life.
Since that first full length feature, Herzog has written, directed and starred in over 50 films, documentaries and operas including Grizzly Man, Rescue Dawn, Nosferatu the Vampyr, Fitzcarraldo, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner and My Best Fiend, which explores the notoriously tumultuous relationship between Herzog and his leading man Klaus Kinski.
Werner Herzog being interviewed by Mark Kermode
Herzog is arguably one of cinema’s most apocryphal figures, and his relationship with Klaus Kinski is typically littered with shocking and controversial stories. Did Herzog force Kinski to act at gun point? Probably not. Did Kinski try to pay a local tribesperson to kill Herzog? Perhaps. Did Kinski shoot into a hut of extras while Herzog filmed Aguirre, the Wrath of God? Apparently. It is certainly true that during an interview with Mark Kermode, Herzog was shot in the leg with an air rifle by an unknown marksman (he carried on with the interview, claiming the wound was nothing significant), that Ian Curtis watched Herzog’s 1977 film Stroszek before committing suicide and that during the filming of Fitzcarraldo, Herzog really did haul a 320 tonne steamship over a hill without use of special effects.
His obsession with authenticity and verisimilitude has made Herzog a highly respected if eccentric director, whose influence can be seen in the work of fellow New Wavers German Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, as well as a new generation of filmmakers like Harmony Korine, not to mention Hollywood players like Francis Ford Coppola, who said of his 1979 film Apocalypse Now; “Aguirre, with its incredible imagery, was a very strong influence. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it.”
The Berlinale, or Berlin International Film Festival, was founded in 1951 and is considered one of the industry’s most important and well attended annual events. The decision to elect Herzog as president will be popular with fans of the great auteur, including the director of the festival, Dieter Kosslick. “Werner Herzog’s films convey the artistic strength of cinema,” said Kosslick. “We are very pleased to have this outstanding director as Jury President for the 60th anniversary of the festival.”
But will he arrive at the festival wielding a gun and pulling a 320-tonne steamship? We’ll just have to wait and see…
