Venice Film Festival honors Werner Herzog with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, celebrating his six-decade career of cinematic exploration and truth-seeking.
In a move that feels both overdue and perfectly timed, the Venice Film Festival has announced that it will honor Werner Herzog with its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2025 edition.
Herzog, the German auteur whose career spans over six decades, is a filmmaker who has consistently defied categorization, blending documentary and fiction, reality and myth, in ways that have redefined the boundaries of cinema. The Golden Lion, Venice’s highest honor, is a fitting tribute to a director who has spent his life chasing the elusive truths that lie at the heart of human existence.
The Venice Film Festival, founded in 1932, is the world’s oldest film festival and one of the most prestigious. It has long been a platform for groundbreaking cinema, often serving as a launchpad for films that go on to shape the cultural conversation.
Herzog himself has been a frequent presence on the Lido, screening films like Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans in 2009 and My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done? that same year. But this time, he returns not as a competitor but as a lionized figure, celebrated for a body of work that has left an indelible mark on the art form.
A Career of Uncompromising Vision
Herzog’s career is a testament to the power of cinema as a medium for exploration—both of the world and of the self. Emerging from the New German Cinema movement in the 1960s and 1970s, he quickly established himself as a singular voice with films like Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), a hallucinatory descent into madness set against the backdrop of the Amazon jungle, and Fitzcarraldo (1982), which famously saw him drag a steamship over a mountain in Peru.
These films, often made under grueling conditions, are not just stories but feats of human will, mirroring the obsessions of their protagonists—many of whom were brought to life by the volcanic intensity of Klaus Kinski, Herzog’s frequent collaborator and sometime nemesis.
But Herzog is not merely a director of fiction. His documentaries—Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010), to name a few—are equally iconic, marked by his distinctive voice-over narration and a philosophical curiosity that elevates them beyond mere reportage. In Herzog’s hands, the documentary becomes a meditation on the human condition, a search for what he has called “ecstatic truth”—a deeper, more profound reality that lies beneath the surface of facts.
What sets Herzog apart is his refusal to adhere to conventional filmmaking norms. He eschews storyboards, embraces improvisation, and often places his cast and crew in real situations that mirror the narratives of his films. This approach has led to some of cinema’s most unforgettable moments, but it has also courted danger—both physical and artistic.
As Venice’s artistic director Alberto Barbera noted in announcing the award, Herzog’s career is “both fascinating and hazardous because it involves total commitment and putting oneself on the line to the point of physical risk, where catastrophe constantly lurks.” Yet, it is precisely this willingness to confront the abyss that has made his work so enduring.
A Lion Still Roaring
The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement is a recognition of Herzog’s unparalleled contributions to cinema, but it is also a reminder that his journey is far from over. At 82, Herzog shows no signs of slowing down. In a statement released after the announcement, he declared, “I have not gone into retirement. I work as always.” Indeed, he has just completed a documentary in Africa titled Ghost Elephants, is currently shooting a feature film, Bucking Fastard, in Ireland, and is developing an animated film based on his novel The Twilight World.
He is even lending his unmistakable voice to a creature in Bong Joon Ho’s upcoming animated project. Herzog’s restless creativity is a testament to his belief in cinema as a lifelong pursuit, a never-ending quest for meaning.
This award also places Herzog in the company of other cinematic giants who have received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, including Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, and, more recently, Pedro Almodóvar, who won the top prize in 2024 for The Room Next Door. Yet, Herzog’s honor feels particularly poignant because it celebrates a filmmaker who has always operated on the fringes, challenging the establishment and还不成行 (not yet completed) and pushing the medium into uncharted territory.
A Legacy Beyond the Frame
In an era where cinema is often reduced to spectacle or mere entertainment, Herzog’s work stands as a reminder of film’s potential to be something more—a tool for understanding the world and ourselves. His films are not easy; they are often unsettling, sometimes maddening, but always profound.
They ask us to confront the chaos of existence, to find beauty in the struggle, and to embrace the mysteries that lie beyond our comprehension. Whether it’s the doomed conquistador of Aguirre, the bear-obsessed dreamer of Grizzly Man, or the prehistoric artists of Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Herzog’s characters—and his films—are haunted by a restless yearning for something greater.
As the Venice Film Festival prepares to honor Herzog in 2025, it is not just celebrating a filmmaker but a philosopher, an explorer, and a relentless seeker of truth. In a career defined by its refusal to compromise, Werner Herzog has shown us that cinema, at its best, is not just about telling stories—it’s about revealing the soul of the world. And for that, the Golden Lion is not just an award; it’s a recognition of a life lived in service of something greater.
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