This year’s German Film Festival, presented by the Goethe-Institut, will focus on Werner Herzog, one of Germany’s most important filmmakers of New German Cinema, showing a large spectrum of his impressive documentary films.

Many of you will know his feature films, especially, perhaps, Fitzcarraldo with Klaus Kinski in the leading role. Over a couple of weeks in April, we would like to focus on his documentary films, screening 12 of them, from various countries and various times, telling the stories of extraordinary people. The list of descriptors for the filmmaker, Werner Herzog, tells its own story: madman, adventurer, obsessive. In order to find images that no one had ever seen before, he headed into the hottest desert, the thickest jungle, the coldest ice. We can promise you one thing: Herzog’s nose for finding stories about interesting people in extreme or unusual situations guarantees intelligent entertainment of the highest standard. We hope the films will make you think and inspire discussions among yourselves and with us.

In The White Diamond Herzog takes us on a journey over the rainforest of Guyana with a teardrop-shaped airship. In Wodaabe – Herdsmen of the Sun he leads us into the Sahara desert to view the most handsome men in the world. Watch these beautiful men in their extravagant make-up and costumes who dance and sing for their women.

In his film How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck we join the Livestock Auctioneering Championship in Pennsylvania. This inspired us to run our own Tongue Twister Contest based on the title of this film. Make your own video with either the tongue twister in English

“How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood? A Woodchuck Would Chuck As Much Wood As A Wood Chuck Could, If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood”

or in German “Der Cottbuser Postkutscher putzt den Puttbuser Postkutschkasten, und der Puttbuser Postkutscher putzt den Cottbuser Postkutschkasten” or any other tongue twister in any other language!

Send your video (20 MB max) to arts@wellington.goethe.org by 27 March 2011. We’re sure you can do better than us!!! Have a look at our Goethe-Institut New Zealand facebook page! The winner video will be shown after the film.

Be in to win:

First prize: 13 DVD package of Werner Herzog’s documentaries plus two tickets to the screening of How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck on 6 April at 6 pm at the Film Archive in Wellington.

Second prize: two tickets to the screening of How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck and a bottle of bubbly.

Third prize: two tickets to the screening of How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck

 The selection panel’s entirely subjective decision will be final. Prizes will only be awarded to people in New Zealand at the time!

• German Film Festival is on from 5 – 27 April 2011, The New Zealand Film Archive, Wellington.