Together have zogby is a film legend the german director has made over 70 films ranging from art house to big hollywood productions hes traveled to the ends of the earth and peered into the depths of the human soul. He mentions the movie the most. Hes created iconic characters to images in feature films and documentaries. Always searching for a deeper truth his perspective is investigative and radically subjective van i have song of the adventurer. We met up with this great cinematic storyteller in munich where his story began. When did it become clear to you that you had to and could make films. When i was around 14 or 15 years old when various things happened at the same time which made my fate apparent to me. Among them was that i would make films that i was also a kind of poet so the. And it was always clear to me that i would do this better than others. It was also clear that since i knew little about film and had seen almost nothing i would have to invent cinema myself. If i was. Very 1st feature film was a declaration of war on the triviality of postwar german cinema. And this anarchic surreal and disturbing drama about towards raising a riot at a correctional facility caused controversy upon its release in 1970 s. Showing the point of view of outsiders and people on society its bridges became hets ogs trademark. In 197900. 00 least nosferatu his amash to f. W. More now silent film classic much more than a remake it was his 1st Big International production the night it suited could be duty. But its good if you play it personally. Please let me do it its you. Forget it its hardly worth mentioning just a little cut. Even yes i feel youve lived in los angeles in the heart of the dream factory for many years. Youve said you dont really feel part of the german film scene but in the us you enjoy a cult status as a bavarian in Hollywood Hollywood superstar 1st. Since fascinated him because if not the cult status is a term you should only touch with pincers. But it gets really wild when i show up in brazil for example or in russia poland ireland or algeria all hell breaks loose when i show up there with films. You say im part of the city with the dream factory but no im not part of it and i dont really belong to german film either. I actually belong to something more regional to the variant films from the baroque in the world weary and thats why i sometimes say that apart from me you know dick the 2nd would have been the only person able to make this car all go. Its going right into my home couldnt. Fitzcarraldo is the story of an eccentric adventurer aiming to build an opera house in the amazon rain forest. Fitzcarraldo was a visionary with a mission. Yes but the thought that can take what comes and. Someone who is prepared to defy gravity to realize his lifes dream pushing boundaries is a constant theme and hair talks work. Hes indian if youve been in extreme environments extreme situations what drives you to the state to seek out these extremes. Hes. Going to actually seek out extremes rather i consider what i do to be normal people are always saying shooting in the amazon rain forest is so extreme. But look its just a forest. This is more involved. Katsav return to the jungle again for the vietnam war drama rescue dawn that was a big american production but head song is also a nonconformist in hollywood. Theory and with the will of its. Going to die. And a passion for unhinged characters. And their pockets dont buy them not just. With the. Youve called bad lieutenant of a very in film theres some of us who are so wild and baroque. Wilder than the wildest drinkers in october fest it really goes to extremes and. Back to the big. Surely guess what for. Still dancing. You never went to film school thank goodness you dont think much of them schools why. We decided. I think theyre completely misconceived. And basically poor film students are cooped up there for way too long. For 3 or 4 years. In 3 or 4 years they could shoot 3 features instead of sitting around there learning film theory or other such nonsense. They could learn everything they need to know in a week. Everything else is technical can be left to the technicians and take in this disconnect. And see if you can learn about filmmaking from veron or has a song on line for example and to not use a storyboard. Instrument of the cowards you can learn the same sorts of filmmaking. But theres more descriptive rope film school i founded the rogue film school. It was designed to be the exact opposite of everything youd normally learn in film school and. There are only 2 things i tell people there really learn. The 1st time out or pick a safety lock using a surgical instrument. And 2nd how to fake a filming permission to not get caught. In lots of recently ive switched to doing more workshops. Things are just as something in the amazon rain forest in peru. And in the 1st minute of the 1st meeting i said the topic of your show. The framework is delirium in the jungle so. See what you can come up with and deliver the results in 9 days time and some great films came out of it. A good read the wrath of god was also shot in the south american jungle if the tale of a 16th century spanish conquistador searching for el dorado this feverish drama tackles imperialism greed and megalomania shot in documentary style it follows a good day on his historical suicide mission. In the end klaus kinski a good day goes mad in a scene that wrote film history. Not. Just with. A good eye and later fitzcarraldo r. D. Made headlines during shooting largely due to the unpredictable lead actor klaus kinski he made 5 films with parents on who works through their productive love hate relationship in a documentary. They dont much about people going to friends or doesnt already know with and thats the dark and yes it was a rich person it was not your student talk about you then but then because of that you know its hard. To know. Who thought i was not looking so i was trying to get in to join the Sports Committee and im the president can. Be sucked into that piece and the 2nd i know you got this feeling. In the last didnt get lost in your star theyre still actors as extreme as klaus kinski was. Infin didnt. Consider him extreme you can see he was kinski and in a certain sense he was a singular figure but he wasnt the best actor i worked with. The deepest and best one was bruno s. Who played the title roles in costume house. Ive worked with the worlds best with christian bale. Nicolas cage Nicole Nicole kidman. Tom cruise it is then but no one. Not any one of them. Ever came close to going on as is depth into charisma. Or his ability to convey isolation and parady. To write this blog that was likely due to his real life as a musician she practically 23 years from his childhood onwards he kept getting put away in correctional institutions and later in jail and in other places where he didnt belong. Then just seen a. Vehicle in this. Little subtle yet big fish he did loose a little. Bit on the side to side with think. Listening to stuff after the feast. Stick to the. City not. The food you get. There are others who have similar biographies but who dont have the depth and presence on screen employ no a stand. Pales in comparison. As does nicholas cage nicolas cage and tom cruise to talk. Then i had thought worked with tom cruise on the Action Thriller jack reacher but this time had songs did in front of the camera playing an evil gang leader. Spend my 1st winter. Coat out in what. I. Saw for the frostbite could gain green. B how was it how did you manage to be that evil. Or was it was effortless totally effortless work. So i didnt have to do a screen test and i knew that i could do it with come to us i earn good money for being terrifying on screen. She. Didnt. And hes. Been so many other states not. Van i have talked has his own unique perspective on the world and people his documentaries also focus on eccentric and obsessive tight. Like fanatical Animal Rights activist Timothy Treadwell. Im here with one of my favorite pairs expressed the chocolate iris chocolate has been with me for the grizzly man spent his summers in alaska and lost all sense of distance between himself and the bears examples out. There that are. Now going on all in the end he was himself killed by a bear. My mind. How many jurors after treadwells death in 2003 hertzog followed his trail right to the bitter and. Skipped and. Taught for 2 months he trained for and so there is an audio recording of the death of Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend and. Both of them were eaten by a bear eaten alive peace pipe hes alive well did say and the distributors and producers absolutely wanted this recording to be in the film and so i said ok ill listen to it. And i listened to it and it was so incredibly horrifying that i said only over my dead body will this make it into the film he come to see me in film can turn into. 2 must never listen to this i never heard her him to ever go into. I think you know you should not keep it you should destroy it you know. He said he thinks you can see it since ethical boundary individually toward because the dignity and the privacy surrounding an individuals death must not be violated. Period period poked. Yet haired zog didnt shy away from interviewing condemned prisoners awaiting execution for his many series on death row. As a chairman coming from a different historical background and being a guest in the United States i respectfully disagree with the practice of Capital Punishment and help me move forward ive watched several episodes of your series on death row what boundaries were you confronted with there. When c. Its mention and told us when you talk with and film people on death row with people who know that theyre going to be executed in 8 days. And theres no escaping that. Then of course there are certain boundaries there. Respect respect dignity. Due to respect to condemned persons of human dignity. Same spar and this is one of them. In order to film a death row inmate you have to be invited by him in writing. I was behind the camera you only ever hear my voice. Behind the camera i wore a formal suit in time which i almost never do it was a sign i respect you. They were always very open with you. Meant for me in the very 1st moment. And thats a question of how you work as a director. You can only do that if you know the heart of men. If you can look deep into their souls then it works its looking at your films the boundaries between documentary and feature film are really fluid. Do you still differentiate between them. Oh sure theres a big difference isnt much i also recognise. Me but i dont worry about it for me theyre all films feel me. You once said facts do not constitute truth per se. In this age of the internet and fake news whats the truth beyond the facts that you seek. If you have the facts can be misleading the truth is created or certain layers deeper layers are created through stylization through invention through imagination. The supposedly realistic picture often seen in documentaries is a misconception. Which is why i say i invent things too because they serve the truth better than the found. In fact. Back in south america again in the impenetrable tropical rain forest of guyana against the spectacular backdrop of chi to a falls a mythical location for the indigenous population. This is where hats are made the White Diamond a documentary about dreams and the limitations of technology. The dream of flying a floating above the earth here to hertz og dared to experiment. In that case we had the music 1st. So in the rain forest the camera man asked me how are you going to do it with the rhythm in the shooting center on my given headphones and said listen. This is how well do it and he understood immediately. Else right there goes music evokes the beauty of nature and its vulnerability. To the scene im to type nearly all there were one and a half 1000000 swifts which came out of the sky in a huge swarm and flew in circular movements into their nests behind a huge waterfall. Goodness the it was overwhelming. And the music is equally overwhelming. Holy. Is this one sorry these who 1st raised the singers were sardinians who almost all have prehistoric voices. And they started singing with far too much energy and the meter was far too clear so i stood up and made flying movements for them and they understood. And suddenly the movement became that of an eagle gliding from sri up 2. In hats oggs films music itself is often a performer such as in the show of a case where dreiser goes music brings the prehistoric paintings to life. In 2019 the vendor had sought Foundation Awarded a price or i said he was praised for creating spaces with his music that were larger than what could be seen on the screen. That is so im sick you do need these you need a good mews an extraordinary visionary. 2 in the loggy it until hes able to transform an entire world with music and to transform a world of images and suddenly you the combination of music and images gives rise to something new and different that the audience can perceive and experience in a different way. Than i have sagas relationship with music is a story of its own. He has also staged many operas going back to wagner again and again his 1st time was knowing playing at the by avoid festival in 1987. Many of your colleagues vendors last frontier were also supposed to direct and buy rights but they shied away from doing it whats so difficult about staging wagner is he going to help operates according to different rules. From directors counted. Spector used the same criteria and the same working methods as they do in the cinema that was always clear so i told the singers and the others that we had to forget that i work in film. I said that we had a task and that there would only be an opera when the whole world transformed into music and you can see built in music from one built. So that some for back to film youve been in some very extreme places in the mountains in the amazon underwater in the desert on the ice caps is there anything else that youre still seeking or that youd like to explore more. Id like to go to the space station or to the moon. Or id like to make a short visit to mars if that ever becomes possible in this and found. One is bavaria still your home even though you havent lived here for 20 years and seen many of my Cultural Roots are here by my 1st language was a very and i miss it actually and when im traveling around the world i miss the fact that i never hear bavarian dialect being spoken. Ish understand it isnt that of it its a taco list consensus and. Just go to its a cinch to its new and turn to. The sun to make this the tumbling of the earth apocalyptic imagery more than 50 years after launching his career cats are still seeks soul schemes on the edges of the planet. He said once to burst forth if you could this country. Is middle of you have been winning prizes for your Lifetime Achievement for 10 years now this time its from the european film academy. How does that feel. So next time i mean if you distances protasis well to begin with i think its true task is really well and of course its a little strange because im still in the middle of my work. And now my output is higher than it was 30 or 40 years ago but i think well feel secure last year i made 3 films by. Now there is need 6 to 8 years to do that yog the day before yesterday i was still shooting in norway on a new film and in less than a week ill be in mexico to continue it. Isnt so much to get this prize 10 years after i stopped making films and have to be rolled onto the stage in a wheelchair after. He ordered 2 out there that i helped thank you its been a pleasure male. Africa. These freshly hatched sea turtles in ivory coast are under threat. Humans are their greatest enemies. But one in geo is working with researchers in the Maritime Police to protect them. From saving the sea turtles the microscopes to. Be cold for. 30 minutes p. W. Can see her walking through quite high and then crash its time to come onstage mido was once filled with been regarded as a model businessman bankers and politicians contributed to his success. The scheme would never have worked in the banks hadnt played along theres no way. Big money big fraud the story of a german con. In 60 minutes t w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all miss them. Just 3 of the topics covered and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like and new information on the crown of virus or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast so you can get it where ever you get your podcasts you can also find us and dot com and slash science of. Beethoven to genesis did you did do did the. Did is it does it got a 16 bloodied shooting off of rock n roll. Many rounds of stolen beethoven. And of course the subconscious always one thing is clear. Benvenuto is a wildly popular. I see a sure. Sound that the biggest composer of all time i cant even be trying to imagine a world class one player several years on a musical journey of discovery. With all. Sorts of temper 16. This is the news live from birth in hopes of peace to end it to take aids of war in afghanistan talks between the Afghan Government and the taliban beginning but sides are cautiously optimistic even though they were. Also coming up. The golden age for best film is no mans land i truly think as the Venice Film Festival draws to a close the movie industry is heiling a pandemic reboot folk local cinema our culture correspondent takes us through the hot