The Wild Blue Yonder/ Germany France UK Austria/ 2005/ 81 mins
@Filmhouse Edinburgh Sun 21 May 2017, 18:00
Unlike the work of the man himself, there is nothing oblique or ambiguous about the title of Filmhouse Edinburgh’s ongoing season. They are screening one title by the legendary Bavarian filmmaker Werner Herzog every month, for as long as possible. Supported by Goethe-Institut Glasgow, these screenings are in many cases a rare opportunity to see the work of this unique visual storyteller on the big screen. Spanning the entirety of his long and eclectic career, it is also a chance to explore some of his less celebrated work.
One such film is The Wild Blue Yonder. Released in 2005 during a spectacular burst of activity from 2004-2006 that also saw the release of The White Diamond, Grizzly Man, and Rescue Dawn, it tells the tale of an alien (regular collaborator Brad Dourif), fleeing his planet in the Andromeda system with the rest of his species because of an ice age. Their aim is to seek refuge on Earth. Herzog appropriates existing documentary footage of space travel and underwater exploration, manipulating them to his own ends, providing a backdrop for Dourif’s wry, cynical onscreen narration. A familiar Herzogian tale of obsession, albeit one driven by necessity.
This screening is followed in the coming months by two documentaries: Land of Silence and Darkness from 1971, about Fini Straubinger, a deaf and blind woman dedicated to helping others in his community; and 2007’s Encounters at the End of the World, in which Herzog journeys to the McMurdo Station in the Antarctic, headquarters of the National Science Foundation.
Land of Silence and Darkness screens Sun 18 June 2017, 18:20
Encounters at the End of the World screens Tue 18 July 2017, 18:10
Tickets are available online or by calling the Filmhouse box office on 0131 228 2688