18 September 2009

Observations: Werner Herzog as (and where) you've never seen him before

September 18, 2009

Observations: Werner Herzog as (and where) you've never seen him before

By Emma Love

We've had pop-up shops and theatre, now it's the turn of pop-up cinema. Until the end of October, 26 films by legendary German screenwriter and director Werner Herzog are being shown in a series of rare screenings in unusual spaces around London. Timed to coincide with the Werner Herzog: Conquest of the Useless event at London's Royal Festival Hall on 3 October, where Herzog himself will be in conversation, each venue chosen for a screening has been matched to the subject of the film being shown.

So Heart of Glass will be on at the Horniman Museum, which is a Victorian glasshouse in Forest Hill as part of their Thursday Lates programme; Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices will be shown at the Cinema Museum in Kennington, with the ushers wearing outfits from the museum's own collection, while God's Angry Man and Huie's Sermon will be shown back to back at The Tabernacle in west London, with a live gospel choir singing in between screenings. Other venues on the schedule include Pushkin House, the Old Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey on Hallowe'en and Westbourne Studios.

Tara Cranswick, founder of art collective V22 who organised the film season, explains: "Werner Herzog is coming to London and it's going to be such an exciting event that I thought it was an unmissable opportunity to show his work. I'm always amazed that he's not more widely known. We were looking for places that take an audience out of the normal world, just like his films do."

For info and tickets to the screenings, visit www.v22presents.com; for tickets to Werner Herzog in Conversation, visit www.intelligencesquared.com

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