Movies by Werner Herzog

Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher

One morning in an ordinary town, five people are shot dead in a seemingly random attack. All evidence points to a single suspect: an ex-military sniper who is quickly brought into custody. The interrogation yields one written note: 'Get Jack Reacher!'. Reacher, an enigmatic ex-Army investigator, believes the authorities have the right man but agrees to help the sniper's defense attorney. However, the more Reacher delves into the case, the less clear-cut it appears. So begins an extraordinary chase for the truth, pitting Jack Reacher against ...

Jack Reacher: When the Man Comes Around

Jack Reacher: When the Man Comes Around

Cast and crew speak on adapting One Shot as the first Jack Reacher film, casting Tom Cruise, earning Lee Child's blessing, additional character qualities and the performances that shape them, Lee Child's cameo in the film, and shooting the film's climax.

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on 'The Act of Killing'

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on 'The Act of Killing'

Directors Errol Morris and Werner Herzog describe and discuss the film The Act of Killing (2012).

Lessons of Darkness

Lessons of Darkness

Shortly after the Gulf War, oil fires were raging all through Kuwait. In the week before this sea of fire would be extinguished, Werner Herzog filmed this apocalyptic landscape with its murky skies, scorched earth and capricious flames.

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds

This remarkable journey across our planet and universe explores how meteorites, shooting stars, and deep impacts have awoken our wonder about other realms—and make us rethink our destinies.

Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time

Wheel of Time is Werner Herzog's photographed look at the largest Buddhist ritual in Bodh Gaya, India.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

Little Dieter Needs to Fly

Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.

All In This Tea

All In This Tea

During the 1990s, David Lee Hoffman searched throughout China for the finest teas. He's a California importer who, as a youth, lived in Asia for years and took tea with the Dali Lama. Hoffman's mission is to find and bring to the U.S. the best hand picked and hand processed tea. This search takes him directly to farms and engages him with Chinese scientists, business people, and government officials: Hoffman wants tea grown organically without a factory, high-yield mentality. By 2004, Hoffman has seen success: there are farmer's collectives ...

Echoes from a Sombre Empire

Echoes from a Sombre Empire

Documentary examining Bokassa's rule in the Central African Republic using the testimony of witnesses and visits to key sites.

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World

Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.

A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner

A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner

Born in Berlin in 1896, Lotte Eisner became famous for her passionate involvement in the world of both German and French cinema. In 1936, together with Henri Langlois, she founded the Cinémathèque Française with the goal of saving from destruction films, costumes, sets, posters, and other treasures of the 7th Art. A Jew exiled in Paris, she became a pillar of the capital's cultural scene, where she promoted German cinema.

Bride of the Orient

Bride of the Orient

After the death of his mother, a lonely farmer in rural Switzerland considers finally starting a family of his own. Eventually he pays for a bride from Thailand. The couple don't share a language, but being to know each other. However the village neighbors are suspicious of foreigners.

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant

Chronicles the making of director Werner Herzog’s 2009 feature, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, providing profound insight into the director and his craft. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done was inspired by the true story of an actor who committed in reality the crime he was supposed to enact on stage: murdering his mother. With longtime friend Herbert Golder behind the lens, Herzog reveals the privacy and deep solitude that defines the director and his art.

The Boxing Prince

The Boxing Prince

The documentary tells the life story of the boxer Norbert Grupe, who was known by his fighting name Prince of Homburg.

The Andinist

The Andinist

An old painter recounts the story of when he met a strange mountain climber, or perhaps, an explorer from another world.

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

A documentary short examining the language and performance of auctioneering, filmed at the World Livestock Auctioneer Championship in Pennsylvania.

The Making of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

The Making of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Behind the scenes documentary for Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Features interviews and on-set footage.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

In the center of the story is the life of the indigenous people of the village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows the protagonists in the village over a period of a year. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions.

AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.

AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.

Unleashed from the video vaults of the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), AGFA MYSTERY MIXTAPE #2: LATER IN L.A. is a brand new compilation of the most electrifying found footage mayhem that you’ll see this week. For our second tape, we’ve returned to the hallowed halls of “behind the scenes” horror for another hour-long joyride of F-U-N. Thank you for your incredible support during these difficult times. And remember: “Do what your spirit tells you.”

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin

When Bruce Chatwin was dying of AIDS, his friend Werner Herzog made a final visit. As a parting gift, Chatwin gave him his rucksack. Thirty years later, Herzog sets out on his own journey, inspired by Chatwin’s passion for the nomadic life, uncovering stories of lost tribes, wanderers and dreamers.