Film School

Get inside the head of one of the most celebrated filmmakers in history when the Curious Mind of Werner Herzog kicks off tonight with the famed director’s documentary debut, Land of Silence and Darkness. This 1971 film turns the cameras on the blind-deaf, a world as alien to our own experience as our everyday lives are revealed to be to them. In the process, Herzog shows us a fair bit of himself as well.

“When you watch it, and as you watch his other films, you’ll find out his films are a lot about him,” says Chris Loffelmacher, head of cultural programming for the Denver Public Library’s Fresh City Life, which is presenting the Herzog program. “Which I think for any documentary filmmaker is the case, but he’s not so secretive about it as other filmmakers are. It’s really more about what’s going on in his brain and what he thinks about the world, and how he sees the world, than his subjects at times.”

Tonight’s program is followed by screenings on each of the next four Tuesdays, ending with Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog’s latest work. After each presentation, film academic and Herzog expert Walter Chaw will speak and lead a discussion about the film.

“This is comprehensive in that it does span his entire documentary filmmaking career,” explains Loffelmacher. “I guess it’s a brief history of Werner Herzog.”

Admission is free. but seating is limited. The films show at 6 p.m. in the conference center at the DPL’s central branch, 10 West 14th Avenue Parkway, following a brief introduction from Chaw. For more info, visit www.denverlibrary.org/fresh or call 720-865-1111.
Tuesdays, 6-9 p.m. Starts: June 16. Continues through July 14, 2009