This coming Sunday night we will take a look at two of the early films by Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, Fitzcarraldo, Rescue Dawn). Of his early work these two stunning films are considered to be his best....both of which are explorations of what it means to be human.

- Jeffrey

SUNDAY JUNE 14th

20:30
LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS (1971)
LAND DES SCHWEIGENS UND DER DUNKELHEIT
Directed by Werner Herzog
81 minutes
In German with English subtitles

\"Of all my films, this is the one I want to be available to audiences the most\"- Werner Herzog

An astonishing and sensual documentary by Werner Herzog which uncovers the world of those who are blind and deaf. This is the first film which would define what Herzog does best: revealing the extraordinary and mind-boggling dimensions of existence which are hidden in our everyday life and not covered by the mass media which is too concerned with what is superficially spectacular. Amongst all documentary filmmakers Herzog is perhaps the only one which approaches the magical.

This film follows the life of Fini Strabringer, a 56-year old blind and deaf woman who dedicates her life to people who are in the same situation as she is. This film is literally investigating what it means to be human without the sense of sight and speech. It has a heroic extra in Fini Straubinger, along with a number of other characters who are compellingly mysterious. It is a glimpse into a realm of life that is both abstract and intense, and as a film it enters that darkness and reaches lyrical heights.

For many this is one of the masterpieces of Herzog\'s career, but it is also a film which is never shown so few have ever had the chance to see it. This is an extremely rare screening!

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22:15
THE ENIGMA OF KASPER HAUSER (1974)
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL or GOD IS DOG SPELLED BACKWARDS

Directed by Werner Herzog
109 minutes long
In German with English subtitles

Kasper Hauser is not a documentary, but is a feature film based on a true event. It is one of the great masterpieces of the New German Cinema and stands as one Werner Herzog greatest achievements. It is a powerful film that will strike at the heart of the viewer through it\'s strong visuals and thought provoking story. Those who are need the normal type of Hollywood narrative may find Kasper Hauser hard to deal with since its not as much a rigid and gripping narrative as much as it is a poetically assembled chain of moments. But those who are willing to engage themselves both mentally and spiritually will find the film richly rewarding.

\"In his widely acclaimed attempt to fathom The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, director Werner Herzog probes a real-life mystery that has puzzled German society for nearly two centuries. In the title role, Herzog ingeniously cast the equally mysterious street musician Bruno S. (Stroszek), whose mesmerizing performance is unique in the history of film. Isolated since infancy in a dank cellar, the now-adult Kaspar is abandoned in 1820s Nuremburg by his unknown custodian; townsfolk futilely speculate on his origins, and he\'s shaped by a bourgeois villager who places rigid, conflicting restraints on his new and peculiar perspective on the world around him. It\'s telling that Herzog\'s preferred title is Every Man for Himself and God Against All, for this is an eerily effective cautionary tale about an innocent man of nature who moves from one prison to another in a cruelly fateful universe. The mystery lingers, making The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser a deep, resonant reflection on the nature of humanity.\"

CINEMA DERIVE
OVERTOOM 301 20:30
Membership 4 Euros for the evening



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