5 Minutes
Venice Brings Together Two Visionary Filmmakers
The 82nd Venice Film Festival promises a cinematic rendezvous between two giants: Francis Ford Coppola will deliver the Laudatio for Werner Herzog as the festival awards the iconoclastic German director its 2025 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The presentation, scheduled for the opening ceremony on Aug. 27, underscores Venice’s role as a stage for auteur reverence and cross-generational conversations in world cinema.
Herzog’s Honors, a New Film and a Masterclass on the Lido
Werner Herzog, known for indelible works such as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," "Fitzcarraldo," and "Nosferatu the Vampyre," will be feted with the Golden Lion. At the same time, Herzog will premiere his new documentary "Ghost Elephants," an elegiac search for a rumored herd of elephants roaming a largely uninhabited expanse of the Angola highlands — a landscape as large as England. "Ghost Elephants" screens out of competition, and Herzog will also give a masterclass on the Lido, continuing his long tradition of mixing stiff philosophical reflections with practical on-set storytelling.
From Mythic Jungle Epics to Intimate Documentaries
Herzog’s Angola odyssey echoes his lifelong fascination with obsession, isolation and the limits of human understanding — themes that link "Ghost Elephants" to earlier classics. While "Fitzcarraldo" dramatized a man’s Sisyphean dream in the Amazon, the new documentary reverses the frame: the mythic quest is now directed toward wildlife and landscape, with Herzog’s voice guiding viewers into the unknown.
Coppola’s Presence: Subject and Speaker
Francis Ford Coppola — a five-time Oscar winner who himself received Venice’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in 1992 — will present the award in person. Interestingly, Coppola will not only serve as Herzog’s presenter; he is the subject of Mike Figgis’s new documentary "Megadoc," which chronicles his decades-long effort to realize the self-financed epic "Megalopolis." "Megadoc," premiering in the Venice Classics section, is billed as a portrait of Coppola’s creative process, exposing the joys and frustrations of a seasoned auteur who continues to create on his own terms.
Festival Opening and Other Highlights
The festival opens with Paolo Sorrentino’s "La Grazia," reuniting the Oscar-winning director with actor Toni Servillo of "The Great Beauty" fame. Meanwhile Herzog’s next feature, the rumored narrative "Bucking Fastard," will star sisters Kate and Rooney Mara — a casting choice that signals Herzog’s continuing interest in blending established talent with unconventional material.
Broader Context and Industry Notes
Venice’s pairing of Herzog and Coppola reflects a wider festival trend: honoring auteur legacies while foregrounding new work that extends those directors’ obsessions. As streaming reshapes distribution and budgets tighten for mid-size auteur films, festivals like Venice have become crucial showcases for documentaries and passion projects that might otherwise struggle to find audiences.
Trivia fans will enjoy that Coppola recently underwent a non-emergency heart-related procedure in Rome on Aug. 5, underscoring the resilience of filmmakers who continue to tour and promote work well into their later years. Meanwhile, Herzog’s fascination with remote landscapes — from the Amazon to the Siberian tundra — remains a defining hallmark that continues to fascinate critics and cinephiles alike.
Film historian Marco Jensen offers context: "Herzog and Coppola occupy different poles of cinematic mythmaking — Herzog, the obsessive pilgrim of the human spirit; Coppola, the architect of sprawling familial and urban sagas. Seeing them linked at Venice is a reminder of cinema’s capacity to hold both inner and outer worlds simultaneously."
Conclusion: Venice as a Living Archive of Auteur Cinema
As the Lido prepares to host screenings, masterclasses and awards, the 2025 Venice Film Festival will feel like a living archive: a place where the past and present of auteur cinema converge. Whether you follow Herzog’s quest for elusive elephants or Coppola’s meticulous pursuit of a grand urban epic, Venice remains vital for cinephiles seeking bold, personal filmmaking. Expect conversations that range from the philosophical to the practical, and films that test the boundaries of human endurance and imagination.
Source: variety
Leave a Comment