Werner Herzog and Tom Bissell | October 25, 2023

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Video: Karl Sonnenberg
World renown visionary filmmaker Werner Herzog’s own story could almost best that of his greatest films, which include the astonishing Fitzcarraldo; Aguirre: The Wrath of God; and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Herzog’s memoir, Every Man For Himself and God Against All, recounts one revelation after another: growing up in extreme poverty after WWII in Germany without running water, he had no exposure to cinema until he was 11, and didn’t develop an interest in film until he was 15. He made his first telephone call at age 17.
Self taught in filmmaking (by reading a few pages on the subject in an encyclopedia), he made his first feature film at 19, Aguirre: The Wrath of God. What a way to begin a career: he garnered dozens of prestigious international prizes. Herzog’s movies often feature man struggling against nature, or in search of impossible and epic quests. Werner Herzog is the definition of an iconoclast, and one of the most thrilling directors of our time, whose films are unforgettable.
In conversation with bestselling and WGA award-winning author and screenwriter Tom Bissell. Bissell is the author of eleven books, spanning nonfiction and award winning collections of short stories. He’s also known for his writing of video games, as well as his adaptation of the Apple+ show The Mosquito Coast, and has written for Star Wars: Andor. Werner Herzog adapted one of his short stories, Aral, into the film Salt and Fire.