Rudolph Herzog newsletter

The latest film coproduced by my company, Brümmer&Herzog Filmproduktion, has just won the Chicago Filmfestival (Golden Hugo Award).

Set “in an unknown country”– and shot in the Republic of Georgia– “The President” is a timely drama about a deposed dictator on the run with his 5-year-old grandson after a coup d’etat. They meet freed political prisoners who survived torture, as Mahkmalbaf did at the hands of the Shah’s secret police in the ‘70s.

Some reviews have come back from the two most recent projects I've been working on:

-My film A SHORT HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FOLLY went out in Germany and France on ARTE and was reviewed very favourably by Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany's leading daily paper.
"a tale of negligence and hubris that makes one speechless... at other times one can't help but laugh out loud". Spektrum described it as a „symphony of the absurd“. The film also rated well, coming in more than a third above the benchmark.

As some of you may know, I co-produced THE PRESIDENT, the latest feature film of legendary Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The latest is that the film will open the renowned "Orizzonti" strand of the Venice Film Festival 2014.
If you want to know more about the project, please refer to the synopsis below.
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The transmission date for my new film A SHORT HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FOLLY (German title: "Die Atombombe im Vorgarten") has now been published, it's August 19th, at 09:50 p.m. on German/French culture channel ARTE. As a run-up to the broadcast, I did a 1 hour interview with German public radio. It includes stories from both the film and my book of the same title, as well as a more general portrait of yours truly. It will also be available as a podcast & stream from the HR2 Kultur website. I've attached the relevant details and a blurb below. All German language only, I hasten to add...

My SHORT HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FOLLY is now available as a paperback. Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nuclear-Folly/dp/1612193307/ref=tmm_...

I actually spent most of last year turning FOLLIES into a film. It will be released in Germany and France sometime this summer. International sales are handled by ZDF Enterprises. As soon as more specific dates emerge, I'll create an updated post.

A first round of reviews has just come back for my new book, A SHORT HISTORY OF NUCLEAR FOLLY. Please follow the link below to see an interview with me
on the BBC WORLD NEWS: http://vimeo.com/65658568
and a 1 hour reading on C-SPAN: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/312985-1

QUOTES:
An eclectic, innovative approach to the bureaucratization of creativity during the Cold War.” —The Los Angeles Review of Books

My new film THE AGENT has received some very favorable reviews. For your information, some press quotes are included below:

"There's no better way to tell a story... a little masterpiece"
WESTDEUTSCHE ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

"Rudolph Herzog's documentary offers deep insights into the world of East-West espionage with all its turmoils."
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG

"A film like a movie thriller. Rudolph Herzog grippingly tells the life story of Werner Stiller who was given a new identity by the CIA." Rating: 6 of 6 stars
NEUE OSNABRÜCKER ZEITUNG

My new film THE AGENT will premier on ARTE on February 5th at 9:55 p.m. (GERMANY) and 10:30 p.m. (FRANCE).

The documentary is about the former nuclear spy and Stasi double agent Werner Stiller. He risked his life betraying secrets to the CIA. He then fled communist East Germany, changed his identity and became a millionaire stockbroker at Goldman Sachs.

News has just reached me that my book DEAD FUNNY has been selected as a best book of 2012 by THE ATLANTIC.

The editors write:

"Dead Funny isn’t just a book of wildly off-limits humor. Rather, it’s a fascinating, heartbreaking look at power dynamics, propaganda, and the human hunger for catharsis."

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/12/the-best-book-i...