Encounters at the End of the World

2007 American documentary film by Werner Herzog

Encounters at the End of the World

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Werner Herzog
Written by| Werner Herzog
Produced by| Henry Kaiser[1]
Erik Nelson
Phil Fairclough
Dave Harding
Julian Hobbs
Andrea Meditch
Narrated by| Werner Herzog
Cinematography| Peter Zeitlinger[1]
Edited by| Joe Bini[1]
Music by| Henry Kaiser
David Lindley[1]

Production
companies

Discovery Films
ThinkFilm
Image Entertainment

Distributed by| ThinkFilm
Image Entertainment

Release dates

* September 1, 2007 (2007-09-01) (Telluride Film Festival)
* June 11, 2008 (2008-06-11) (United States)
* April 24, 2009 (2009-04-24) (United Kingdom)

Running time

| 99 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Box office| $1.2 million

Encounters at the End of the World is a 2007 American documentary film by Werner Herzog about Antarctica and the people who choose to spend time there. It was released in North America on June 11, 2008, and distributed by ThinkFilm.[2] At the 81st Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

## Synopsis

[edit]

Filmmaker Werner Herzog and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger travel to Antarctica to meet the people who live and work there and to capture footage of the continent's unique locations. In his narration, Herzog explains that this film will not be a typical Antarctica film about "fluffy penguins" but will instead explore the dreams of the people and the landscape.

Arriving at McMurdo Station, the two-man crew interview some maintenance and support workers and iceberg geologist Douglas MacAyeal. They travel to a nearby seal camp supervised by zoologist Olav Oftedal, then join the film's composer/producer, research diver Henry Kaiser, at a diving camp. The film then shows underwater footage shot by Kaiser. Cell biologist Samuel Bowser and zoologist Jan Pawlowski are interviewed, and after finishing their research, Kaiser and Bowser stage a rooftop guitar concert back at McMurdo.

Herzog and Zeitlinger visit Ernest Shackleton's nearby cabin, which has been preserved, unchanged, for almost a century. After some footage filmed at the South Pole, Herzog interviews penguin scientist David Ainley. He asks Ainley about penguin sexuality and mental illness, and there is footage of a penguin marching away from the sea, going inland to its certain death.

The filmmakers visit the active volcano Mount Erebus and interview volcanologists. As Herzog speculates about alien scientists visiting a post-human Earth, there is a sequence shot in tunnels carved deep into the ice below South Pole station, where various trinkets and mementos, including a can of Russian caviar and a whole frozen sturgeon, have been placed in carved-out shelves in the walls and preserved by the extreme cold and dry air. On the slope of Erebus, Herzog and Zeitlinger explore ice caves formed by fumaroles.

Continuing the progression into the metaphysical, the filmmakers visit the launch of a giant helium balloon used in a neutrino detection project (ANITA) and interview physicist Peter Gorham. The final word is given to a philosopher/maintenance worker at McMurdo, and the film ends with more footage from the fumarole ice caves and Kaiser's dives.

## Production

[edit]

Herzog was drawn to Antarctica after viewing underwater footage filmed there by Henry Kaiser. He became aware of the footage when he happened to notice Kaiser showing it to a friend while working on the music for Herzog's Grizzly Man.[3] Kaiser, a musician and diver, first went to Antarctica as part of the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program for his "Slide Guitar Around the World" project, and he returned on several scientific diving expeditions.[4] Before Encounters at the End of the World, Herzog made prominent use of Kaiser's footage in the fiction film The Wild Blue Yonder (2005).

The film was shot in Antarctica as part of the same NSF Antarctic Artists and Writers Program[5] that had first brought Kaiser to the continent. The entire film crew consisted of Herzog, who recorded all production sound, and cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger. The pair went to Antarctica without any opportunity to plan filming locations or interviews, and had just seven weeks to conceive the project and shoot their footage. The freewheeling nature of the time in Antarctica meant that Herzog often only met the interview subjects minutes before beginning to film them.[6]

Filming in Antarctica is usually overseen by the NSF's media office, which approves and supervises all film productions. Because of Herzog's grant from the Artists and Writers Program, however, he was allowed to film without any minders or oversight from the NSF. This allowed him and Zeitlinger to film the "seal-bagging" footage, which is not typically deemed suitable for public release.[3]

The audio recordings of the seals featured in the film were produced by Douglas Quin, a sound expert and professor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and another recipient of the Antarctic Artists and Writers grant.[3]

The film is dedicated to American film critic Roger Ebert,[7] a supporter and friend of Herzog who had recently, in his protracted battle with cancer, lost the ability to speak.

## Release

[edit]

The film was screened at the 2007 Telluride Film Festival,[8] and, one week later, had its official premiere[9] at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10.[1] In 2008, it was featured at the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Cambridge Film Festival, and the Melbourne International Film Festival. The film was shown at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as part of the 2008 Hong Kong International Film Festival on March 28, and at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival on April 30.

Revolver Entertainment released the film theatrically in the UK on April 24, 2009.[10]

## Critical reception

[edit]

Encounters at the End of the World received predominantly positive reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 94%, based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 7.70/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Encounters at the End of the World offers a poignant study of the human psyche amid haunting landscapes."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on reviews from 25 critics.[12]

### Top ten lists

[edit]

The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008,[13] including the following:

* 1st - Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer[13]
* 1st - Dennis Harvey, Variety[13]
* 2nd - David Ansen, Newsweek[13]
* 4th - Andrew O'Hehir, Salon[13]
* 4th - Dana Stevens, Slate[13]
* 4th - Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor[13]

* 8th - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times[13]
* 9th - Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter[13]
* 10th - Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader[13]
* 10th - Richard Corliss, Time magazine[13]
* 10th - Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter[13]

|

## Awards

[edit]

Encounters at the End of the World won the award for Best Documentary at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Special Prize at the Planet Doc Review Festival in Warsaw (both in 2008). It was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 81st Academy Awards, but lost the award to Man on Wire.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e Film details Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
2. ^ Goldstein, Gregg (March 13, 2008). "The Hollywood Reporter". Archived from the original on November 23, 2008.
3. ^ a b c Herzog, Kaiser, Zeitlinger, DVD audio commentary for Encounters at the End of the World
4. ^ "Slide Guitar & Exorcism @ The South Pole", featurette on DVD release of Encounters at the End of the World
5. ^ "Artists and Writers Program" (PDF). National Science Foundation. July 18, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2019.
6. ^ Ebert, Roger (July 7, 2011). "Werner Herzog: 'Tell me about the iceberg, tell me about your dreams.'". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on July 11, 2008.
7. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 17, 2014). "A letter to Werner Herzog: In praise of rapturous truth | Interviews | Roger Ebert". Archived from the original on December 17, 2014. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
8. ^ Program Archived October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine of the 2007 Telluride Film Festival
9. ^ "Official screening times". Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved September 3, 2007.
10. ^ "Launching Films - Film Distributors' Association". www.launchingfilms.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2007.
11. ^ "Encounters at the End of the World Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
12. ^ "Encounters at the End of the World (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 12, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2008.
13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 2, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2009.

## External links

[edit]

* "Encounters at the End of the World". Archived from the original on December 24, 2014. Retrieved June 19, 2019. Official website.
* Encounters at the End of the World at IMDb
* Encounters at the End of the World at Rotten Tomatoes
* Encounters at the End of the World at Metacritic
* Encounters at the End of the World at Box Office Mojo
* Review by interviewee Bill Jirsa
* Antarctica - Encounters at the End of the World. Full Documentary on YouTube

* v
* t
* e

Werner Herzog

* Filmography
* Bibliography

Feature films|

* Signs of Life (1968)
* Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970)
* Fata Morgana (1971)
* Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
* The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
* Heart of Glass (1976)
* Stroszek (1977)
* Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
* Woyzeck (1979)
* Fitzcarraldo (1982)
* Where the Green Ants Dream (1984)
* Cobra Verde (1987)
* Scream of Stone (1991)
* Lessons of Darkness (1992)
* Invincible (2001)
* The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)
* Rescue Dawn (2006)
* Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009)
* My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2009)
* Queen of the Desert (2015)
* Salt and Fire (2016)
* Family Romance, LLC (2019)

Documentaries|

* The Flying Doctors of East Africa (1969)
* Handicapped Future (1971)
* Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
* The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974)
* How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck (1976)
* La Soufrière (1977)
* Huie's Sermon (1981)
* God's Angry Man (1981)
* Ballad of the Little Soldier (1984)
* The Dark Glow of the Mountains (1985)
* Herdsmen of the Sun (1989)
* Echoes from a Sombre Empire (1990)
* Jag Mandir (1991)
* Bells from the Deep (1993)
* The Transformation of the World into Music (1994)
* Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices (1995)
* Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997)
* My Best Fiend (1999)
* Wings of Hope (2000)
* Pilgrimage (2001)
* Ten Thousand Years Older (2002)
* Wheel of Time (2003)
* The White Diamond (2004)
* Grizzly Man (2005)
* Encounters at the End of the World (2007)
* Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010)
* Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
* Into the Abyss (2011)
* On Death Row (2012)
* Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World (2016)
* Into the Inferno (2016)
* Meeting Gorbachev (2018)
* Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin (2019)
* Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020)
* The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft (2022)

Shorts|

* Herakles (1962)
* Game in the Sand (1964)
* The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz (1967)
* Last Words (1968)
* Precautions Against Fanatics (1969)
* No One Will Play with Me (1976)
* Portrait Werner Herzog (1986)
* Les Gaulois (1988)
* La bohème (2009)

Other|

* Incident at Loch Ness (2004)

Books|

* Of Walking in Ice (1978)
* Conquest of the Useless (2004)
* The Twilight World (2021)
* Every Man for Himself and God Against All (2022)

Related|

* Lena Herzog (wife)
* Lucki Stipetić (brother)
* Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)
* Burden of Dreams (1982)
* Location Africa (1987)
* Plastic Bag (2009)

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