Main Programme  

Werner Herzog interviews Mikhail Gorbachev, the now 87-year-old former president of the Soviet Union. In this film co-directed by André Singer, Herzog’s instantly recognizable voice reveals huge admiration for his subject as he interviews this farmer’s son from the Caucasus and supplements his story with commentary and background information using voice-overs, archive footage and interviews with other prominent politicians of the period. During and partly due to Gorbachev’s leadership, great events took place on the world stage. He introduced perestroika (political restructuring) and glasnost (transparency) to the Soviet Union. The Cold War came to an end, the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain were pulled down and nuclear disarmament began. Under the influence of political opponents, however, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and Gorbachev resigned.

Awards

Biografilm Festival – Audience Award and Guerrilla Staff Award for Best Guest, 2019

Werner Herzog

Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn’t finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has won numerous national and international awards for his poetic feature and documentary films. Herzog is a figure of the New German Cinema.

Selected Filmography

Little Dieter Needs to Fly, 1997
My Best Fiend, 1999
Grizzly Man, 2005
Encounters at the End of the World, 2007
Cave of Forgotten Dreams, 2010
Into the Abyss, 2011
Ode to the Dawn of Man, 2011

André Singer

André Singer is a British documentary film-maker, as well as an anthropologist. He is currently CEO of Spring Films Ltd of London and was President of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland from 2014-2018.

Selected Filmography

Night Will Fall, 2014
Where the Wind Blew, 2016