Burden of dreams
By: Janus Films ; Flower Films in association with José Koechlin von Stein presents ; a film by Les Blank with Maureen Gosling ; narration written by Michael Goodwin ; produced and directed by Les Blank
Contributors: Herzog, Werner, 1942- interviewee (expression); Kinski, Klaus, interviewee (expression); Cardinale, Claudia, 1939- interviewee (expression); Robards, Jason, interviewee (expression); Jagger, Mick, interviewee (expression); Fuentes, Miguel Angel, interviewee (expression); Gagnon, Mariano, interviewee (expression); Hittscher, Paul, -1992, interviewee (expression); Lewgoy, José, interviewee (expression); Mauch, Thomas, 1937- interviewee (expression); Saxer, Walter, 1947- interviewee (expression); Laughlin, Candace, narrator; Lane, Bruce, 1938- interviewer (expression); Janus Films; Flower Films (Firm); Criterion Collection (Firm)
Edition: Filmmaker-approved DVD special edition.
Series: The Criterion collection -- 287; Criterion collection -- 287.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Format: [videorecording] /
Number of pages: 95
ISBN-13: 9781681431253
Subjects: Motion pictures; Production and direction; Fitzcarraldo (Motion picture)
Other titles: Burden of dreams (Motion picture)
Description: Walter Herzog's film Fitzcarraldo is the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house in the Amazon jungle. Filmmaker Les Blank captured the production, made perilous by Herzog's determination not to use models or special effects.

For nearly five years, acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog desperately tried to complete one of the most ambitious and difficult films of his career--Fitzcarraldo, the story of one man's attempt to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle. Documentary filmmaker Les Blank captured the unfolding of this production, made more perilous by Herzog's determination to shoot the most daunting scenes without models or special effects, including a sequence requiring hundreds of indigenous Peruvians to pull a full-size, 320-ton steamship over a small mountain. The result is an extraordinary document of the filmmaking process and a unique look into the single-minded mission of one of cinema's most fearless directors.
Notes: Originally produced as a motion picture in 1982.

Full screen (1.33:1).

Special features: Commentary (features director Les Blank, editor and sound recordist Maureen Gosling, and director Werner Herzog); Werner Herzog eats his shoe (1980, a twenty-minute film by Les Blank fearuting Werner Herzog fulfilling a bet); Dreams and burdens (a new thirty-eight-minute interview with Herzog); Deleted scenes; Trailer; Stills gallery. Insert includes an essay by film scholar Paul Arthur.

Interpreting, interviewing and camera assistance by Bruce "Pacho" Lane ; interviewing, assistance camera and assistant sound by Michael Goodwin ; photographed by Les Blank ; edited by Maureen Gosling.

Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards, Mick Jagger, Alfredo de Rio Tambo, Angela Reina, Carmen Correa, Elia de Rio Ene, David Perez Espinosa, Miguel Angel Fuentes, Father Mariano Gagnon, Paul Hittscher, Huerequeque Bohoroquez, Evaristo Nunkuag Ikanan, José Lewgoy, Laplace Martins, Thomas Mauch, Nelson de Rio Cenepa, Walter Saxer, Jorge Vignati, Werner Herzog's film crew ; (narration) spoken by Candace Laughlin.

DVD; NTSC, region 1; monaural; full screen (1.33:1)

In English, German, Spanish, and indigenous Peruvian languages with English subtitles; subtitled for the deaf and hard of hearing.