Filmmaker Werner Herzog at FAU

Image: Werner Herzog. Photo ©Robin Holland

Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters presents a special event with the international, award-winning filmmaker Werner Herzog on Friday, February 11, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the University Theatre on FAU’s Boca Raton campus. This special screening of “Aguirre, the Wrath of God,” followed by discussion with Herzog and the film’s co-producer Jose Koechlin, is a celebration of the film’s 50^th anniversary. Tickets for the event are $30 and can be purchased at www.fauevents.com or by calling 561-297-6124.

The film documents the fictional journey of Don Lope de Aguirre, a ruthless Spanish conquistador, who vies for power while in Peru searching for El Dorado, the mythical empire of gold. Watch as Aguirre presses deeper into the Amazonian jungle and descends further into madness.

Following the screening, Herzog will share tales of the extraordinary feats undertaken to create this film. Both Herzog and Koechlin discuss the true adventures and unrepeatable achievements in the making of their films in the Peruvian Amazon. Working diligently to achieve their goals in film and sustainable tourism, they continue to portray the true character of Peru and the remarkable Machu Picchu.

Herzog has produced, written and directed more than 60 feature films and documentaries and is known for his unique filmmaking process of placing cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films. His works include Heart of Glass (1976), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Cobra Verde (1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), and  Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010). He has published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas. Time magazine named him one of the world’s most influential people in 2009.

The event is sponsored by FAU’s School of Communication and Multimedia Studies and the America’s Initiative along with the Boca Raton Museum of Art, State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.