Students from the New York Film Academy Los Angeles Documentary Filmmaking program recently had the opportunity to hear Werner Herzog speak as part of the International Documentary Association’s ongoing Conversation Series.
Herzog is one of the most celebrated and influential documentary filmmakers of our time. His documentaries range from Little Dieter Needs to Fly, a film about a German-American Vietnam War vet who revisits his place of capture at the hands of the Vietcong, to Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a look inside one of the oldest caves in the world and the study of how early man lived. Herzog’s documentaries never fail to provoke profound questions about human nature. Other notable works include Into the Abyss, Encounters at the End of the World, On Death Row, Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man, and The Enigma of Casper Hauser.
Herzog encouraged the audience to “have a strong affinity or respect for those in front of your camera” and to aim to “take the audience into a land of rogue insight and poetry.”
MFA student Guangli Zhou said, “’I just wrote an essay about him a couple weeks ago. I’m in front of him right now. It’s an awesome experience.”
MFA student Camilla Borel Rinkes wanted to thank Herzog for, “sharing your inspiring stories and for motivating me to keep broadening my horizon.”