Film Archive

My Best Fiend - Klaus Kinski (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski)

A chain of coincidence brings the 13-year-old Werner Herzog together with Klaus Kinski in the same apartment in Munich. In an unabated, 48-hour fit of rage, Kinski immediately proceeds to lay waste to all the furniture, only one of many such fits to follow. Herzog therefore knows what awaits him when, some years later, he engages Kinski to work with him on Aguirre, the Wrath of God, their first film together. Four more films will follow. My Best Fiend is a film about the love-hate relationship between Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski - utterly puzzling to outsiders - about deep trust between an actor and a director, and their independently and simultaneously hatched plans to murder one another.

Werner Herzog was born in 1942 and has produced, written and directed more than forty films, published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas. A selection of his films includeS: Even Dwarfs Started Small (Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen, 1970), Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit, 1971), Fata Morgana (1971), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes, 1972), Every Man for Himself and God Against All (Jeder fuer sich und Gott gegen alle, 1974), Heart of Glass (Herz aus Glas, 1976), La Soufrière (1977), Stroszek (1977), Woyzeck (1979), Nosferatu the Vampire (Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht, 1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Where the Green Ants Dream (Wo die gruenen Ameisen traeumen, 1984), Cobra Verde (1988), Echoes from a Sombre Empire (Echos aus einem duesteren Reich , 1990), Scream of Stone (Schrei aus Stein, 1991), Lessons of Darkness (Lektionen in Finsternis, 1992), Bells from the Deep (Glocken aus der Tiefe, 1993), My Best Fiend (Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski, 1999), Invincible (2001), Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (short, 2002), Wheel of Time (Rad der Zeit, 2003), Grizzly Man (2005), and The Wild Blue Yonder (2005).
 

Genre Biopic
Category Documentary Cinema
Year of Production 1999
Director Werner Herzog
Director of Photography Peter Zeitlinger
Editor Joe Bini
Music by Popol Vuh
Producer Lucki Stipetic
Production Companies Café-Productions/London, Zephir Filmverleih/Duesseldorf, in cooperation with ARTE/Strasbourg, BR/Munich, WDR/Cologne, YLE/Helsinki
Principal Cast Claudia Cardinale, Justo Gonzales, Eva Mattes, Benino Moreno Placido, Beat Pressner, Baron von der Recke, Guillermo Rios, Andres Vicente
Length 90 min, 2,466 m
Format 35 mm, color, b&w, 1:1.66
Dubbed Versions English
Original Version German
Subtitled Versions French
Sound Technology Dolby SR
Festival Screenings Cannes 1999 (Special Screening/ Out of Competition), Munich 1999, Gothenburg 2000, Fidmarseille 2005 (Retrospective)
German Distributor Zephir Filmverleih/Duesseldorf

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email: office@wernerherzog.com
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