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Director

Werner Herzog

Germany · Munich
Profile

The ecstatic truth-seeker who ventures into the world's most hostile territories to film what others cannot see. His documentaries and narratives collapse the boundary between reality and fever dream — the camera becomes a tool for obsession, madness, and the sublime.

Thematic context drawn from Senses of Cinema. Read the full critical essay →
In Their Own Words

He was constructing ecstatic truth.

On Grizzly Man  ·  Film Comment, 'The Ecstatic Truth' by Scott Foundas
Filmography (76)
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World 2016
Salt and Fire 2016
Into the Inferno 2016
Queen of the Desert 2015
From One Second to the Next 2013
On Death Row (-13) Television series documentary 2012
The Killers: Unstaged 2012
Into the Abyss 2011
Ode to the Dawn of Man 2011
Cave of Forgotten Dreams 2010
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga 2010
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done 2009
La Bohème 2009
Bad Lieutenant 2009
Encounters at the End of the World 2007
Rescue Dawn 2006
Walking to Werner (Linas Phillips, ) documentary 2006
The Wild Blue Yonder 2005
Grizzly Man 2005
Incident at Loch Ness (Zak Penn, ) mockumentary feature, as actor/producer 2004
The White Diamond 2004
Meeting With Werner Herzog 2004
Rad der Zeit (Wheel of Time) 2003
Pilgrimage 2001
Invincible 2001
The Ball is a Scumbag (Christian Weisenborn & Rudolph Herzog, ) documentary 2000
Gott and die Beladenen (The Lord and the Laden) 1999
Julianes Sturz in den Dschungel (Wings of Hope) 1999
Mein liebster Feind (My Best Fiend) 1999
julien donkey-boy (Harmony Korine, ) feature, as actor 1999
Flucht aus Laos (Little Dieter Needs to Fly) 1997
Gesualdo – Tod für fünf Stimmen (Gesualdo – Death for Five Voices) 1995
Die Verwandlung der Welt in Musik (The Transformation of the World into Music) 1994
Glocken aus der Tiefe (Bells from the Deep) 1993
Lektionen in Finsternis (Lessons of Darkness) 1992
Schrei aus Stein (Scream of Stone) 1991
Das excentrische Privattheater des Maharadjah von Udaipur (The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur) 1991
Film Lesson 1991
Echoes aus einem düsteren Reich (Echoes from a Sober Empire) 1990
Giovanna d’Arco 1989
Wodaabe – Dei Hirten der Sonne (Wodaabe – Herdsmen of the Sun) 1989
Werner Herzog Essay (Peter Buchka, ) documentary 1988
Location Africa (Steff Gruber, ) documentary 1988
Cobra Verde 1987
Portrait Werner Herzog 1986
Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten (Ballad of the Little Soldier) 1984
Gasherbrum – Der leuchtende Berg (The Dark Glow of the Mountains) 1984
Wo die grünen Ameisen träumen (Where the Green Ants Dream) 1984
Burden of Dreams (Les Blank, ) documentary 1982
Fitzcarraldo 1982
Huie’s Predigt (Huie’s Sermon) 1980
Glaube und Währung (God’s Angry Man) 1980
Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (Les Blank, ) short documentary 1980
Woyzeck 1979
Nosferatu – Phantom der Nacht (Nosferatu the Vampyre) 1979
Was ich bin, sind meine Filme (I Am My Films) (Erwin Keusch & Christian Weisenborn, ) documentary 1979
La Soufrière 1977
Stroszek 1976
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck 1976
Herz Aus Glas (Heart of Glass) 1976
Mit mir will keiner spielen (No One Will Play With Me) 1976
Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser) 1974
Die Grosse Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner (The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner) 1973
Aguirre the Wrath of God 1972
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (Aguirre, the Wrath of God) 1972
Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit (Land of Silence and Darkness) 1971
Behinderte Zukunft (Handicapped Future) 1971
Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (Even Dwarfs Started Small) 1970
Fata Morgana 1970
Massnahmen Gegen Fanatiker (Precautions Against Fanatics) 1969
Die fliegenden Ärzte von Ostafrika (The Flying Doctors of East Africa) 1969
Letzte Worte (Last Words) 1968
Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) 1968
Die beispiellose Verteidigung der Festung Deutschkreuz (The Unprecedented Defense of the Fortress Deutschkreuz) 1966
Spiel im Sand (Game in the Sand) 1964
Herakles 1962