2. PRESS RELEASE Uherské Hradiště, 31. 3. 2011

13. Archive Film Seminar: + Klaus Kinski 5.–8. May 2011

WERNER HERZOG AND KLAUS KINSKI

This year's Archive Film Seminar is oriented towards German director Werner Herzog (*1942) while a main programme section pays attention to his collaboration with controversial actor Klaus Kinski (1926–1991).

Five crucial films that Herzog directed with Kinski during years 1972–1987 form the very core of the main programme section. In the first of them, Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, 1972) Kinsky enacts a fanatic conquistador Lope de Aguirre on his journey into the heart of the Amazon rainforest and the mythical gold town El Dorado. Seven years later, in 1979, Herzog picks up the collaboration with two pictures: (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht) and Woyzeck. By the former one, with Klaus Kinski starring a notorious character of Count Dracula, Werner Herzog pays honours to director F. W. Murnau and his famous Expressionist horror film. On the contrary, Woyzeck, that was set in the Czech historical town Telč and shot immediately after Nosferatu, is a chamber drama, where Kinski enacts an emotionally unbalanced maltreated soldier. In the director's following "ill-fated" picture (1982), which, owning to many problems, was produced almost three years, Kinski stars here an adventurer obsessed with idea to build an opera house in the middle of the Peruvian jungle. Kinski's last role in Herzog's films is a feared bandit and slave supervisor Francisco Manoel da Silva in (1987).

This part of the programme also brings a documentary film (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski, 1999), that Werner Herzog directed eight years after Klaus Kinski's death and in which he describes often formidable work with this choleric actor. Second documentary (1982) by American independent filmmaker Les Blank concentrates on the chaotic production of Herzog's epic Fitzcarraldo in the middle of the Peruvian jungle.

The Archive Film Seminar will also screen a picture called Jesus Christ the Messiah (Jesus Christus Erlöser, 2008) in honour of Klaus Kinski that documents the artist's controversial performance in Berlin Deutschlandhalle in November 1079 with his attempts to recite his own version of the New Testament in front of the outraged audience. The record was edited by German artist Peter Geyer, who will introduce the screening in Uherské Hradiště in person. Peter Geyer is a protector of the artist's estate and will host a discussion on Klaus Kinski.

WERNER HERZOG – FEATURE FILMS

Another three Werner Herzog's feature films are enlisted in the programme. Every Man for Himself and God Against All (Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle, 1974) based upon true and mysterious story of Kaspar Hauser, who until his sixteen had been held captive in a dungeon having no contact with the outside world. The character of Kaspar Hauser was unforgettably starred by recently deceased Bruno S. Director's current work is represented by two films: an adventurous biographical drama (2006) set in the Vietnam War and narrating of a runaway German pilot Dieter Dengler enacted by the Hollywood star Christian Bale, and Herzog's so far the latest feature film My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009) that was produced by David Lynch and will be screened in its Czech premiere.

WERNER HERZOG - DOCUMENTARIST

Herzog's documentary films form an extensive part of his filmography and thus should not be ignored either. The Seminar introduces his two, thematically similar early documentaries, a feature- length portrait of a deaf and blind woman Fini Straubinger, who devoted her life to work on behalf of other deaf-blind people Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit, 1971) and the middle-length documentary Handicapped Future? (Behinderete Zukunft?, 1971) pointing at difficult social status of handicapped children. The 1980's are represented by the middle-length documentaries: Gasherbrum - der leuchtende Berg (1984) recording two great climbers Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander while reaching the tops of two eight-thousanders in the Karakoram Mountains, and Ballad of the Little Soldier (Ballade vom kleinen Soldaten, 1984) that looks at young soldiers in Nicaragua and Honduras. Herzog's 1990's period is introduced by his meditative world-famous film (Lektionen in Finsternis, 1992) depicting the burning oil fields in Kuwait in time of the Iraq War, and second film about German pilot Dieter Dengler Little Dieter Needs To Fly (1997) whose story of escape and miraculous rescue during the Vietnam War was later treated in the feature Rescue Dawn. Director's recent work is represented by sci-fi documentary (2005) starring Brad Dourif as an alien who looks for a new home on the Earth.

Another four documentaries view Herzog's personality and work from various points of view. Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980) by Les Blank shows Herzog at one of the premieres of Gates of Haeven (1978) made by American documentarist Errol Morris how he fulfills the promise he gave to Morris that if he finishes the film, Herzog would eat his shoe. Two documentaries of Christian Weisenborn I Am My Films - A Portrait of Werner Herzog (Was bin ich, sind meine Filme, 1979) and I Am My Films... 30 Years Later (Was bin ich, sind meine Filme. Teil 2... nach 30 Jahren, 2009/2010) captures Herzog as a director: the former one focuses on the beginnings, his first short and feature-length movies, while the latter one analyzes his documentary work. Besides these, the screening of Herzog's auto-portrait Werner Herzog – Director (Werner Herzog – Filmemacher, 1986), recalls the famous German film historian and critic Lotte Eisner.

Complete Seminar programme will be placed on the website on 5. April at the latest.

13. ARCHIVE FILM SEMINAR GUESTS:

Peter Geyer (*1966)

Born in Stuttgart, later leaves for Tübingen to study law. He directed many audiobooks and edited several collective biographies on renowned artists, e.g. „Kinski spricht Werke der Weltliteratur“.

Since 1999 Geyer protects Kinski's estate, whereby, due to the actor's third wife Minhoi and his only son Nikolai, he was given a chance to get to Kinski's two-hour record of his controversial performance in Berlin Deutschlandhalle in November 1971, where Kinski recites his own version of the New Testament in front of the outraged audience. Geyer edited this material and made a ninety- minutes long ravishing documentary called Jesus Christus Erlöser, enriched with Kinski's quotations from his autobiography „Ich brauche liebe“.

Peter Geyer comes to Uherské Hradiště to introduce this film in person and to hold an afterward discussion on this remarkable actor.

Lukáš Skupa (*1983)

Graduated in Theory and History of Film and Audiovisual Culture at Masaryk University in Brno. Currently works at the department on his Ph. D.

For this year's Seminar Skupa has elaborated a special lecture on basic contexts of New German Cinema. Previously, he handled this issue in a series of lectures at Faculty of Arts MU in Brno. Furthermore, he is concerned with history of Czech cinematography for children or for example the relationship of Czech cinematography and censorship in the 1960's. His sustainable collaboration with film festivals Cinema Mundi in Brno and Festival on the River in Písek are also worth noting. Skupa publishes in film magazines Illuminace, Cinepur, Živel, Tamto Revue or in Literární noviny.

Rudolf Schimera (*1978)

Graduated in Spanish Philology at Faculty of Arts UP in Olomouc. He organized a film club and co- founded an internet film magazine Fantom to which he continually publishes. For four years, Schimera was a dramaturgist at International Film Festival for Children and Youth in Zlín. He is at present a film publicist, cooperates with film festivals and gives lectures on film history at FF UP.

With his annotation of Czech cinematography he contributed to the International Film Guide edition. Occasionally, he publishes in Cinepur and Tvar. He specializes in the British and Asian cinematography and the Sixties and Seventies cinematography.

Schimera is an author of several articles about Werner Herzog and Neue Kino and at the Seminar gives a lecture on Herzog's personality and work.

Michal Michalovič

His enthusiasm for Werner Herzog is directly connected to Uherské Hradiště – for the first time, he watched here a screening of Fitzcarraldo – at the 32. Summer Film School in 2006. This enthusiasm soon grew into passion. Michalovič gasped for knowing all Herzog's work in detail as well as broader context, cinematographic and cultural. As a result, he published a number of papers and articles and the diploma thesis on this topic. Confronted with the magnificent Herzog's work, these are however only slight pieces describing the director's variability and majestic unity partially. Archive Film Seminar means another challenge for him to confront with film according W.H. During the Seminar, Michal Michalovič will introduce some of the films listed in the programme.

ACCOMPANYING EVENTS

The weekend film session will be accompanied with a photography exhibition of Swiss photographer Beat Presser (http://www.beatpresser.com/) depicting the two central personalities of the Seminar. Similarly, a collection of Terry's Socks film posters will deal with films of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. Two music concerts – one thematically connected with German music and the second being a combination of music and authentic sounds will try to express exotic jungle wilderness from some of Herzog's projects. Authorial reading sessions are being in negotiations. Cinema and music club Mír will become the central point of all accompanying events and a sort of a chill-out place during the whole Seminar.

Last but not least, organizers remember to come up with favourite tips of the Seminar, an opening ceremony with delicacies and vintage of southern Moravia and the commented tour of Uherské Hradiště.

ACREDITATION, PROMOTION

Accreditation was launched on 14. March. Price of a one-day accreditation is 130 CZK, a full accreditation 520 CZK. Many various discounts is available, for example all students of film schools have a 30% discount.

More information: http://www.archivniseminar.cz/str/archiv-2011-akreditace

An original banner and a seminar spot are available at our website – you are welcome to download and distribute both promotion materials.

Jana Bébarová | programme director | [email protected] Josef Korvas | chairman of Municipal Cinemas Uherské Hradiště | [email protected] Jaromír Orel | press service | [email protected]