Francis Ford Coppola gave the Laudatio honoring Werner Herzog

Francis Ford Coppola gave the laudatio honoring Werner Herzog Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement during the opening ceremony on Wednesday September 27th

Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Megalopolis) gave the Laudatio honoring Werner Herzog, on the occasion of the awarding of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement to the German director, on Wednesday August 27th in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema (Lido di Venezia), during the Opening Ceremony of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, starting at 7 pm. 

Werner Herzog, accepting the award, said: “I feel deeply honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Honorary Golden Lion by the Venice Biennale. I have always tried to be a Good Soldier of Cinema, and this feels like a medal for my work. Thank you. However, I have not gone into retirement. I work as always. A few weeks ago, I just finished a documentary in Africa, Ghost Elephants, and at this moment, I am shooting my next feature film, Bucking Fastard, in Ireland. I am developing an animated film, based on my novel, The Twilight World, and I am acting the voice of a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated film. I am not done yet”.

Regarding this award, Director Alberto Barbera declared: “A physical filmmaker and indefatigable hiker, Werner Herzog constantly crosses the planet Earth pursuing hitherto unseen images, testing our ability to look, challenging us to grasp what lies beyond the appearance of reality, and probing the limits of filmic representation in an unflagging search for a higher, ecstatic truth and new sensorial experiences. Establishing himself as one of the major innovators of New German Cinema with films such as Signs of Life;  Nosferatu the Vampyre; Aguirre, the Wrath of God; and Fitzcarraldo, Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call: New Orleans, and Grizzly Man, he has never ceased from testing the limits of the film language, belying the traditional distinction between documentary and fiction, and at the same time proposing a radical investigation of the topics of communication, the relationship between images and music, and of the infinite beauty of nature and its inevitable corruption. Herzog’s career is both fascinating and hazardous because it involves total commitment and putting oneself on the line to the point of physical risk, where catastrophe constantly lurks. A brilliant narrator of unusual stories, Herzog is also the last heir of the great tradition of German romanticism, a visionary humanist, and a tireless explorer dedicated to perpetual wandering, in search (as he said) «of a decent and fitting place for mankind, a Landscape of the Soul»”.

The documentary Megadoc by Mike Figgis (USA / 107’), part of the Venice Classics - Documentaries About Cinema section, will be presented on Thursday August 28th at 5 pm in the Sala Corinto. The film is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's latest feature film. The great director received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1992 at the 49th Venice Film Festival.

Werner Herzog will present his new documentary Ghost Elephants (USA / 99') Out of Competition on Thursday August 28th at 2 pm in the Sala Grande. The director will also hold a Masterclass on the same day at 4 pm at the Match Point Arena, at the Tennis Club Venezia in the Lido.