Meeting Gorbachev

Thursday, March 4, 2021
4:00 PM Virtual Film Screening
5:45 PM Virtual Film Discussion

Film director Werner Herzog will participate in a q&a session after the film screening.

The film will be introduced by A. James McAdams, William M. Scholl Professor of International Affairs and longtime director of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies (2002-2018).

Joshua Lund, Professor of Spanish and author of Werner Herzog: American Nomadic (2020), will moderate the post-film question and answer session.

About the Film

Werner Herzog meeting Mikhail Gorbachev opens a fresh door to some of the most significant happenings of the late 20th Century from nuclear disarmament to the unification of Germany. It also puts into perspective today’s era of populist political leadership. Herzog and Gorbachev meet three times over a six-month period, and although the last President of the Soviet Union is an ailing man, his mind is sharp. His warmth and humour, and Herzog’s ability to tackle unexpected and personal areas of his life, make the encounters engaging, insightful, moving and important.

About the Speaker

Werner Herzog was born in Munich on September 5, 1942. With Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff, Herzog led the influential postwar West German cinema movement. He grew up in a remote mountain village in Bavaria and studied History and German Literature in Munich and Pittsburgh. He made his first film in 1961 at the age of 19. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature and documentary films, published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas. Herzog lives in Munich and Los Angeles.

Q&A Session