Werner Herzog, tireless explorer, creator and protagonist of the history of cinema, has traveled the world investigating it, rediscovering it, resignifying it, making it a film.

Each of the more than 70 works that make up his extensive and diverse filmography, testify to his unique curiosity, his particular way of narrating the world, it’s history, natural phenomena, landscapes, hilarious companies, failure, the complexity of the human existence and at the same time its insignificance compared to the greatness of the universe.

With serenity and without limits, Herzog has faced throughout his more than 50 years of career the biggest and most insane obstacles that a film director has been able to find when it comes to carrying out titanic projects. His experience and his daring will be the driving force behind this cinematic encounter.

In 1968, in a global context of student revolts, Werner Herzog traveled to Lanzarote for the first time to shoot his own aesthetic and cinematographic rebellion “The dwarfs also started small” (1970): a subversive film with which he speaks directly about society, exclusion and repression, filmed in the arid landscapes of the Canary Island.

The same place where the filming of “Fata Morgana” (1971), a poetic work about the Mayan myth of the creation of the world and the utopia of beauty, also played in the background the drama of human misery.

The rebellion and utopia were recreated by Werner Herzog using the beauty and rarity of the landscapes of Lanzarote. Locations that inspired him to create two of his most extreme works in terms of style, and that will inspire the group of filmmakers who accompany him on this new creative adventure.

In the rarity of a post-pandemic world, with his gaze directed towards outer space as a gateway to chaos, Werner Herzog returns to the lunar landscapes of Lanzarote to stimulate the limits of creativity of a group of filmmakers from all over the world willing to create alongside one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema.

The rebellion, the utopia, the surrealism, the beauty and strangeness of the volcanic landscapes, are just some of the points that unite Werner Herzog with Lanzarote. The mystery of the new creations that will emerge under his tutelage is yet to be built.

The island of Lanzarote, one of the 8 islands of the Canary archipelago (Spain), located in the Atlantic Ocean in northwest Africa, will be the base of the international creation meeting.

Under the guidance of the great German director, each participant will individually experience all the phases of making a film, from the birth of the idea, inspired by a theme proposed by Herzog on the 1st day of the meeting, to the first exhibition of the finished piece.

On a daily basis, field work in locations with characters will be enriched by individual exchanges between Werner Herzog and the participants, as well as by group evening meetings, in which they will be able to address the concerns they face when making movies.

To facilitate the creation process, the Film Accelerator’s production team will provide each participant with a complete base of production resources available in the area to develop their projects. This base includes a varied casting of local characters, a scouting of locations with their respective filming permits, a daily transportation system for the film crews, as well as translation support to facilitate the exchange work between the characters of the stories and the filmmakers.

To encourage creativity and maximum use of time, the Film Accelerator will take place in an artistic residency format, in which the participants will live together during the 11 days of the experience. The Accelerator base camp, in addition to housing the authors, will host the evening group talks and individual writing and editing consultancies.

As a result, the works are projected publicly, thus closing the cycle of cinematographic creation with all its participants.

Known as ancient times by Phoenicians and Romans, Lanzarote was inhabited by peoples of Berber descent. These inhabitants, called majos, lived by grazing, fishing and a very limited agriculture. At the end of the Middle Ages, the Spanish crown conquered the entire Archipelago, consolidating one of the key points for commercial and cultural traffic with the new lands of America.

The volcanic eruptions of the 18th and 19th centuries gave the landscape a unique aspect of great beauty. Next to unusual places formed by volcanic caves, lava lakes and craters, lie beaches of golden or black sand and transparent waters.

Declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1993, Lanzarote was the first destination in the world certified by Biosphere Responsible Tourism (2015). The Timanfaya National Park contains a beautiful succession of volcanic landscapes, standing out as one of the great attractions. The original farming systems of the Lanzarote peasants, who have overcome the sterility of the island and make the lava lush, are another of its peculiarities.

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