A personal essay that examines the relationship between film footage,…
Dear Werner (Walking on Cinema)
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In 1974 Werner Herzog walked from Munich to Paris, an act of faith to prevent the death of his mentor Lotte Eisner. Forty years later, a young filmmaker walks following in Herzog ́s footsteps in an act of love to one of the best filmmakers of our time.
A journey through villages, nature, loneliness and cold, looking for the meaning of filmmaking. Including fragments of the book "Of Walking in Ice" by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog narrated by himself exclusively for the film.
'For those who love cinema beyond and possible measurement.'' — Fotogramas
''A beautiful and sincere love letter to the cinema.'' — Caiman
"Poetic, inspiring and really beautiful." — Cinemania
''Bright and Lucid." — El Duende
"Cinefilia, filming and life merge with disarming honesty.'' — Fotogramas
Citation
Main credits
Maqueda, Pablo (film director)
Maqueda, Pablo (screenwriter)
Maqueda, Pablo (narrator)
Viana, Haizea G. (film producer)
Herzog, Werner (narrator)
Other credits
Cinematography and editing, Pablo Maqueda; music, Jose Venditti.
Distributor subjects
Cinema Studies; Biography; History; GeographyKeywords
01:05:05.520 --> 01:05:08.320
He may improvise,
but technicians don't.
01:05:08.480 --> 01:05:10.200
So someone's taking notes.
01:05:10.720 --> 01:05:14.960
"I somehow have the feeling
I'm shooting an amateur's film,
01:05:15.440 --> 01:05:17.440
but that's neither here nor there.
01:05:18.320 --> 01:05:22.040
Read the Libération issue of April 26
that mentions the film.
01:05:22.840 --> 01:05:26.560
Switzerland, Swiss men and women
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are ass-holes,
which you already knew."
01:05:29.880 --> 01:05:31.880
Don't forget that Godard is Swiss.
01:05:32.400 --> 01:05:33.640
"What about you?
01:05:33.840 --> 01:05:36.160
I think
you could make a short-feature,
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shoot it without sound and lights.
01:05:39.960 --> 01:05:42.360
There's a new way to imagine a shoot,
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just with a camera and an assistant.
01:05:45.280 --> 01:05:48.800
We'll talk about it in Paris
where I hope to be on May 10."
01:05:49.400 --> 01:05:53.000
Here it is,
this brief letter says it all
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about the atmosphere
of the Nouvelle Vague.
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Do I speak in French?
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Lotte Eisner was very important
for the Cinémathèque
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because a large part
of the German expressionism collection
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are here thanks to her.
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These drawings are in the collection.
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There were shown in the exhibition
which was
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very important for the Cinémathèque
when we moved to Bercy.
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She was very close to the filmmakers
of the New German Cinema
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such as Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog.
01:06:36.840 --> 01:06:39.120
Werner Herzog became
a very close friend
01:06:39.560 --> 01:06:42.840
after he walked from Germany to Paris.
01:06:43.640 --> 01:06:47.440
Here we have
a very important photograph
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signed by Werner Herzog.
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Here he is.
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She is hiding
under that shell like thing,
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as if she were reborn
after her illness.
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Here's Werner Herzog lying down.
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Very seventies style.
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With his new beard.
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Here is Lotte Eisner under her shell.
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One wonders why she is like that,
hidden under her shell.
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Personally I think it conjures
the idea of rebirth.
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She was locked in by illness
and she comes back to life.
01:07:20.480 --> 01:07:24.200
Over here we have Bruno Ganz,
who had one of the main roles.
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I don't know the others,
technicians probably.
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Technicians who worked on the shoot.
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Let's see,
I've been in the Cinémathèque
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for 23 years.
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But I also worked
at the Film Library
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before it was absorbed
by the Cinémathèque.
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I've worked in several places
like Chaillot.
01:08:22.960 --> 01:08:24.520
-Chaillot...
-25 years.
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Yes, for 25 years.
01:13:05.680 --> 01:13:08.720
Dear Haizea, it's 8:30 a.m.
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As planned,
I leave our home in Valverde street
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towards the Madrid Barajas airport.
01:13:16.720 --> 01:13:19.920
I'll catch a plane to Porto
where I'll wait over two hours
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for another plane to take me
to my final destination, Munich.
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I'm only taking three changes
of clothes, a polar fleece,
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several T-shirts and pants,
two tripods, two cameras,
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two fixed lenses, hard-drives.
01:13:34.440 --> 01:13:36.280
Along with technology, literature:
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Several magazines and notebooks,
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Lotte Eisner's
"The Haunted Screen",
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"Herzog on Herzog"
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and the reason for this trip,
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"Of Walking in Ice".
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Werner walked for Lotte Eisner.
01:13:52.400 --> 01:13:53.760
Today I walk for both.
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He walked for the love
of his friend.
01:13:56.880 --> 01:13:58.960
I'll walk for you
and my love of cinema.
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I will record this journey
in a documentary.
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So far, it has no title,
"Dear Werner" may be a good option.
01:14:12.200 --> 01:14:15.840
Haizea, my wife, said goodbye
between yawns and kisses.
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With a last wave going downstairs,
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I noticed
that she had taken several pictures.
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She sent them a few minutes later.
01:14:23.520 --> 01:14:26.400
A three images sequence
while I go down the stairs.
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In the first one, I wave.
01:14:28.400 --> 01:14:31.400
In the next two,
I'm facing the upcoming adventure.
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Using her cell phone
she has documented
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the first steps of the journey
I'm about to take.
01:14:37.880 --> 01:14:39.400
As always, thanks to her,
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her unconditional support
and her vision.
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She'll be in my thoughts.
01:14:46.120 --> 01:14:49.360
Like my parents and my friends
who all wished me luck
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on the morning of my departure.
01:14:51.520 --> 01:14:52.800
They're my strength.
01:14:55.720 --> 01:14:59.640
I'm impatient to start on this journey
I've been preparing for months.
01:14:59.960 --> 01:15:03.480
I can't believe I'll soon be walking
on the grass in Sachrang,
01:15:03.640 --> 01:15:05.560
Werner's hometown in the Alps.
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I watch the sun reflect on clouds
through the plane window.
01:15:16.640 --> 01:15:18.640
I'll be in Germany in a few hours.
01:15:19.720 --> 01:15:22.000
Whenever I'm about
to start shooting a film,
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I keep in mind images I created
when I wrote the script.
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It's easier to create them
for a fiction film.
01:15:28.960 --> 01:15:32.640
You can build the atmosphere,
there's the set, the props department,
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the camera crew and the lenses...
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This is my first day of shooting
on my own.
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A documentary on my own,
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walking and no more.
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That's what I wanted to do,
like Werner did in 1974.
01:15:45.920 --> 01:15:47.880
Any other way wouldn't make sense.
01:15:48.760 --> 01:15:51.960
Suddenly, while in Porto entering
the second airplane,
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a mental image took hold of me.
01:15:54.440 --> 01:15:57.120
It becomes clearer,
more visible by the second.
01:15:57.800 --> 01:15:59.440
I know I have to make it real.
01:15:59.600 --> 01:16:01.720
I don't know how,
but I have to film it.
01:16:02.960 --> 01:16:05.760
It seems simple,
yet it's also mysterious and magical.
01:16:06.360 --> 01:16:09.400
A huge green field
enveloped in mist,
01:16:09.800 --> 01:16:12.800
like the start of Herzog's films,
like "Aguirre".
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A very wide shot,
and in the center of the frame,
01:16:16.400 --> 01:16:19.000
symmetrically, I'm filming the mist
01:16:19.160 --> 01:16:21.640
with my camera and my tripod.
01:16:24.400 --> 01:16:26.640
On the ground, next to me,
my backpack.
01:16:27.000 --> 01:16:29.320
After a few seconds,
I pack everything up.
01:16:29.960 --> 01:16:32.400
I put my backpack on
and I start walking
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towards the horizon,
01:16:34.520 --> 01:16:36.600
disappearing among the trees
and the mist.
01:16:38.240 --> 01:16:41.000
If I manage to reach Paris
at the end of my journey,
01:16:41.320 --> 01:16:43.440
this image could be
a good way to finish,
01:16:44.040 --> 01:16:45.520
perhaps as an epilogue.
01:16:47.080 --> 01:16:49.800
If the shot were interesting enough,
01:16:49.960 --> 01:16:52.360
it could even become
the film's last shot.
01:16:55.360 --> 01:16:59.360
But if I want to build this image,
I must continue on my quest.
01:17:00.040 --> 01:17:00.920
Today,
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plagued by doubts and fears,
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my sole goal is my only certainty.
01:17:09.000 --> 01:17:10.760
To walk towards the woods,
01:17:12.280 --> 01:17:13.720
towards the fog,
01:17:15.680 --> 01:17:17.080
towards my dreams.
01:17:19.720 --> 01:17:20.720
And then,
01:17:22.680 --> 01:17:23.880
to keep on walking.
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 80 minutes
Date: 2020
Genre: Expository
Language: English; Spanish
Grade: Middle School, High School, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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