Werner Herzog: “I am a writer who incidentally makes films”

Werner Herzog: “I am a writer who incidentally makes films”
Werner Herzog: “I am a writer who incidentally makes films”

The French public knows Werner Herzog more for his films than for his books. An uncompromising filmmaker who has made around sixty films, Herzog has become a legendary director over the decades, both for his films and his documentaries. He has just published his memoirs, Each for himself and God against all published by Séguier and translated into French by Josie Mély. In this work, he recounts in particular his memories of chaotic filming, the death he often came close to, but he also affirms the superiority of literature over cinema, a position which may seem surprising for someone who has filmed so much:

“I think that writing allows us to approach the border of what makes us human beings. But it’s true that writing is another profession. In all my writings, we hear my voice because I think that everything I write is extremely personal, because it has to do with the way I look at the world and seeing the world is not just seeing what I put in a film. is also what we find in prose, in poems, in writing (…) One of my convictions is that writings survive films. I often say that time is on my side. , because there are now many of my writings which have been translated, which are published in French” explains Werner Herzog, translated by Florence Roucout-Conan.

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News of the day:

  • The Gallimard publishing house has announced that it has been excluded from the Algiers Book Fair which will be held from November 6 to 16. The reason for this exclusion is explained by the publication by Gallimard of the novel Hourisby Franco-Algerian Kamel Daouda fiction which returns to the civil war in Algeria. However, Algerian law prohibits any evocation in a book of the events of this period, which prevents the publication or importation of this novel.
  • The largest theater on the African continent, located in Morocco, still remains inaccessible to the public. Completed in 2021 at a cost of 200 million euros, the Grand Théâtre de Rabat is the latest work of architect Zaha Hadid. Although no official explanation has been given, it seems that this closure is linked to the absence of a structure to operate the place. A case which is not an exception since another theater, built by the French architect Christian de Portzamparc in Casablanca, is also closed to the public even though the construction of these two buildings cost three times the amount of annual budget of the Ministry of Culture.
  • The Lumière festival opens this Saturday, October 12 in . This event dedicated to heritage cinema is an opportunity for the public to come and see or rewatch old films, often presented by film stars or historians. 450 sessions are planned throughout the city. And on the program for this 16th edition: retrospectives dedicated to Isabelle Huppert, the director Costa-Gavras and even the Mexican filmmaker Matilde Landeta.
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