He has lived in Los Angeles for many years, but Werner Herzog visits Munich every year in October. This is where he was born and where the foundation named after him awards the Werner Herzog Film Prize. As always, the director presents this himself, this year to the Georgian director Rezo Gigineishvili. “You want to laugh, but you can’t, and you want to cry, but that’s not possible either,” says Herzog about “Patient #1”, the Georgian’s new feature film. It will be shown on Friday, October 6th at the Film Museum.
It’s about the impending end of the Soviet Union, about the three heads of government Brezhnev, Andropov and Chernenko who died in quick succession. The latter is also the patient of the title: although he is terminally ill, Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko is appointed head of state of the Soviet Union by the Politburo in 1984. His only 13-month term in office is staged like a farce; the political patient lies in his hospital bed and is being prepared for television appearances.
On October 7th, the winners and award presenters will be guests again, then Gigineishvili’s film “Zalozhniki” (“Hostages”) from 2017 will be shown. Anyone who wants to see Werner Herzog’s films should come to the film museum in the following days: on October 8th he will be present at the screening of “Land of Silence and Darkness” (1971), and on October 10th and 11th his will be there US feature films “Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans” and “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done” on the schedule.
Werner Herzog Film Prize, Fri., 6th, to Wed., Oct. 11th, movie museumSt.-Jakobs-Platz 1