Repertory Cinema -
A Spectrum of Film Classics and Masters:
October Classics: Werner Herzog - Signs of Life

The Werner Herzog Classics is jointly presented by the
Goethe-Institut Hong Kong and the
Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Screening Schedule

German director Werner Herzog is one of the most gifted filmmakers with works encompassing a realm of ideologies.

His debut Signs of Life was honoured with Silver Bear Award at the 1968 Berlin Film Festival and thereafter signified the emergence of the New German Cinema. The uniqueness of Herzog lies on his constant collaboration with some notorious actors, and working on unthinkable subjects rarely touched on by others.

His films embrace a boundless natural world in which he tells parables of different kinds of characters ranging from mythical heroes, dwarfs, autistic patients and even Hercules, depicting their glories and disgraces.

With the assistance of the Goethe-Institut Inter-Nationes Hong Kong, ten titles will be showcased in this Retrospective which presents the director's signature style of ironic allegory delivered in various executions.

A seminar on Herzog films will also be held on 2 Nov at 4:15pm at the HK Science Museum Lecture Hall 

SIGNS OF LIFE
          (Lebenszeichen)

LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS
          (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit)

AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD
          (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes)

THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER
          (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle)

HEART OF GLASS
          (Herz aus Glas)

STROSZEK

WOYZECK

LESSONS OF DARKNESS
          (Lektionen in Finsternis)

MY BEST FIEND
          (Mein liebster Feind)

INVINCIBLE

21/10, 9:30 pm,  HK Film Archive Cinema
1/11, 7:15 pm, HK Science Museum Lecture Hall

Germany 1967, B/W, 16mm, German, English subtitles, 90min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Thomas Mauch
Cast: Peter Brogle, Wolfgang Reichmann, Athina Zacharopoulos
Winner of: Silver Bear Awards,
Berlin Film Festival 1968.

The first feature film of Herzog with an anti-war motif.
During WWII, the German soldier Stroszek was sent to a Greek island to guide an ammunition depot. Life became a deadly boredom. One day, he was so disturbed by the sights of hundreds of giant windmills that he finally went berserk. The film depicts the tension between the nature and individuals in a magnificent way.

Germany 1971, Colour, 16mm, German, with English subtitles, 85min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Jürg Schmidt-Reitwein
Cast: Fini Straubinger, Heinrich Fleischmann,
Vladimir Kokol

This is a documentary film about Fini Straubinger who tries to reach out and help other deaf and blind people like her.
The inner world of the disabilities has been subtly explored. Herzog's aim is not to arouse the sense of sympathy of the audience, but rather grant them access to the lives of those being discriminated along with his camera.

Germany 1972, Colour, 16mm, French,
Chin/ Eng/German subtitles, 93min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Thomas Mauch
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Helena Rojo, Del Negro
Nominated for: Best Foreign Film,
César Awards of France 1976.

This piece of work landmarks the legendary collaborations between Herzog and Klaus Kinski.
In 1560, Spanish conquistadors set out to find El Dorado in the Amazon, allegedly with abundant gold. But their trip was obstructed when a group of soldiers suffered heavy casualties during an attack of local Indians. Possessed by the hallucination of power, Aguirre (Klaus Kinski) was led to a fervent obsession.

Germany 1974, Colour, 16mm, German, English subtitles, 109min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Jürg Schmidt-Reitwein
Cast: Bruno S., Walter Ladengast, Brigitte Mira
Winner of: Special Prize of the Jury,
Cannes Film Festival 1975.

Kaspar Hauser is entirely a "natural man".
He has been chained in a cellar for a long time and reaches adulthood with little socialization. His inability to communicate with others lets him be treated as an insane person. Kaspar has been referred to scientists, theologians and government officials but none of them could successfully reveal his enigmatic background. Based on a true story, the film is full of sarcasm and embitterment about the conventional society.

Germany 1976, Colour, 16mm, German, with English subtitles, 94min
Scr: Herbert Achternbusch, Werner Herzog
Photo: Jürg Schmidt-Reitwein
Cast: Josef Bierbichler, Stefan Güttler, Clemens Scheitz
Winner of: Golden Prize for Best Camera,
German Film Awards 1977.

The master of ruby-glass dies, taking his secret formula with him.
The owner of the glasswork frantically takes measures to reproduce the spiritual glass that he even kills his servant girl for her virgin blood as part of the refining ingredients. In the end, he not only fails to regain the formula but also got imprisoned for murder. On the other hand, a prophecy who prognosticates the fire at the glasswork, is accused of conjuring this disaster and put in jail as well. The two men meet each other in the prison. Is their encounter a display of mystery of fate, or a revelation of signs of life?

Germany 1976, Colour, 16mm, German, with Chin/Eng subtitles, 109min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Thomas Mauch
Cast: Bruno S., Eva Mattes, Clemens Scheitz
Winner of: Prize of the German Film Critique, 1978.

Released from prison, Stroszek is determined to start a new life. He meets a prostitute Eva with whom he falls in love.
The couple decide to go to the US and establish their "ideal" family there. Stroszek works hard and buys a mobile house and colour TV set on hire purchase, the first symbol of material possessions. He however gets in great despair when Eva elopes with a truck-driver and he gets no way to repay his loan. His American dream finally vanishes and he resorts to shoot himself.

Germany 1978, Colour, 16mm, German, English subtitles, 81min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Jürg Schmidt-Reitwein
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Wolfgang Reichmann
Winner of: Best Supporting Actress
(Eva Matte), Cannes Film Festival 1979.
(Playing with Lessons of Darkness)

In order to feed his mistress and their baby, Woyzeck chooses to be a guinea-pig in an experiment on the frailty of the body.
The long-time diet on green peas, the continual abuse of authority by his captain and the adultery committed by his mistress with the Major ultimately bring about the mental breakdown of Woyzeck. The director again gives his sardonic comments on the society. The film reflects the conflicts between Super-Nature and Civilization.

Germany 1992, Colour, 16mm, German, English subtitles, 50min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Paul Berriff
(Playing with Woyzeck)

An epic visual poem set in the burning oil fields of Kuwait following the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War.
Herzog's camera gracefully glides along the spectacular landscape which is only the prelude to the catastrophe that follows.

Germany 1999, Colour, 16mm, German, English subtitles, 98min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Peter Zeitlinger
Cast: Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Claudia Cardinale
Nominated for: Best Documentary Award,
European Film Awards 1999.

Klaus Kinski is notorious of his violence in the German film scope.
But yet, his collaboration with Herzog, no matter how combative, resulted in the finest, most memorable works of either's career, from Aguirre, the Wrath of God to Fitzcarraldo. The film is a documentary by Herzog about his work with Kinski, and portrays the actor with a large degree of affection while making no secret of his volatile nature.

21/10, 7:00 pm,  HK Film Archive Cinema
3/11, 2:30 pm,  HK Science Museum Lecture Hall

Germany/UK 2001, Colour, 35mm, English, with Chinese subtitles, 131min
Scr: Werner Herzog
Photo: Peter Zeitlinger
Cast: Jouko Ahola, Tim Roth, Anna Gourari

The latest work by Herzog.
A Polish-Jew is enlisted to play the strongman for a circus-revue in a club owned by Nazi sympathiser Hanussen on condition that he should disguise as a Weimar civilian. The Jew comes to believe that like Samson, he must warn his people against the onslaught of anti-Semitism. Hitler's fascinating realm is soon revealed to be just an apocalypse of blood and autocracy.