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Legendary director Werner Herzog, one of the founders of the German New Wave, whose films embrace obsessive quests and maddening conflicts with nature, will receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ Board of Governors Award at the 34th annual Asc Awards on January 25 (at Hollywood & Highland’s Ray Dolby Ballroom).

“Werner Herzog is truly a unique storyteller, and we are honored to recognize him for his prolific contributions to cinema,” said Asc President Kees van Oostrum.

Herzog has produced, written, and directed more than 70 feature and documentary films. His volatile, love-hate relationship with actor Klaus Kinski resulted in such powerful films as “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” “Fitzcarraldo,” “Nosferatu the Vampyre,” and “Woyzeck.” Other masterpieces include “Stroszek” and “The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser,” both starring street musician-turned actor Bruno S.

Herzog received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature for “Encounters at the End of the World,” while “Little Dieter Needs to Fly...

Das Gespenst (1982)

“I always have a simple story, but I tell it so fanatically and wildly and tenderly and cursingly and on fire and in need of being loved that you’ll find a slice of life in front of you.”

The first time I saw Herbert Achternbusch he was hypnotizing a chicken in Werner Herzog’s The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser. Anybody who has seen the film might recall the chicken, but who is Herbert Achternbusch? It is a question that cannot be simply answered. Achternbusch captions his entire artistic output with a paradox: ‘You don't have a chance, but use it’. Trying to make sense of his work, this epigram sounds appropriate.

Matters are not helped by the unavailability of most of his films on DVD. In Germany, a boxset devoted to Achternbusch is now out of print, although two key works—Heilt Hitler (1986) and Das Gespenst (1982)—remain in circulation.

Werner Herzog is one of my all time favourite directors. Ever since watching his take on Nosferatu, I knew I was hooked. Exploring both his fictional and documentary films, you will find a fascinating body of work. Sure, some of his opinions I really don’t agree with (I’m talking about you, Into the Abyss and Death Row) but whether you agree with the content or not, a film with Herzog’s name on it will at least touch you in one way.

The British Film Institute recently released a 10 disc box set of some of Herzog’s films. Over the coming weeks (and maybe months) I will be going through each disc. Part review. Part retrospective. Hopefully you will join me on my Herzogian journey.

Whether you are a fan of Herzog or a newcomer to his work, I hope you at least get something out of this.

Nosferatu the Vampyre

Written and directed by Werner Herzog

Germany, 1979

Before he filmed his eccentric version of what makes a bad lieutenant, and before he fictionalized his documentary about Dieter needing to fly, Werner Herzog in 1979 wrote and directed a full-fledged remake of a silent film classic. His Nosferatu the Vampyre, an exceptionally faithful take on F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu from 1922, recalls the original in story, tenor, and potency. Not matter the subject, Herzog frequently manages to endow the mundane and banal with qualities of inherent peculiarity; here, working specifically within the horror genre, his capacity for the uncanny is as intoxicating as ever.

In a contemporary documentary about the making of the film, included as part of the newly released Blu-ray, Herzog declares Murnau’s picture to be “the most important film ever made in Germany.” That’s quite a statement, certainly a debatable one, but it is nevertheless...

Featured as part of the BFI’s current season, Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film, Werner Herzog’s 1979 classic creeps back onto British screens this week, saving audiences from the horror of a Halloween that has come to mean nothing more than the 50p witches hats sold in Tesco’s by the baby food section.

Nosferatu the Vampyre, a tribute to F.W Murnau’s 1922 silent film Nosferatu: Symphony of Terror, and to German Expressionist cinema itself, retells Bram Stoker’s immortal Dracula story once more. Jonathan Harker (Bruno Ganz) is an estate agent who lives with his beautiful wife Lucy (Isabelle Adjani) in the quaint German town of Wismar. Sent by his boss to Transylvania to make a business deal with a certain Count Dracula (Klaus Kinski), surely an unreasonable request, even for an estate agent, Harker embarks on his long and arduous journey, much to the dismay of his young wife,...

‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’: Werner Herzog’s German-language version to be presented at Film Forum (photo: Isabelle Adjani and Klaus Kinski in ‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’) Werner Herzog’s stylish 1979 horror drama Nosferatu the Vampyre will have a two-week run at New York City’s Film Forum from Friday, October 25, through Thursday, November 7. Tagged as "the unseen German-language version," Nosferatu the Vampyre, starring Klaus Kinski in the title role, Isabelle Adjani, and Bruno Ganz, will be presented in a new 35mm print. According to Film Forum’s press release, Herzog shot two versions simultaneously: the English-language Nosferatu the Vampyre was released in the United States theatrically and on video, whereas the German-language version, also known as Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, though available in other territories, has been "virtually unseen" in the U.S. Needless to say, Film Forum’s presentation of Nosferatu the Vampyre will feature English subtitles. ‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’: Visually haunting Curiously,...