Fever Dreams: Two weeks in the jungle with Werner… | Little White Lies

if (value) {<br>setTimeout(() => $refs.menuContent.classList.add('overflow-y-auto'), 300);<br>} else {<br>$refs.menuContent.classList.remove('overflow-y-auto');<br>})">

Reviews

Features

Festivals

Podcast

Club LWLies

Magazine

Stockists

Submissions

Huck

TCO London

Reviews

Tuner review – woefully off-key

Power Ballad review – amiable musical comedy about songwriting and plagiarism

Backrooms review – sincerely disturbing and admirably subtle

Hen review – a strange, uniquely compelling film

Eagles of the Republic review – a glossy portrait of a modern screen icon

Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu review – an unintelligible mess

Features

Hacks was always a love story

Andrzej Wajda’s Cinema of Complicated Defiance at 100

The Dreamed Adventure – first-look review

The End of It – first-look review

Everytime – first-look review

The Birthday Party – first-look review

Fever Dreams: Two weeks in the jungle with Werner Herzog

Callum Costello

A personal diary from a filmmaking workshop in Peru, hosted by the legendary German director.

A personal diary from a filmmaking workshop in Peru, hosted by the legendary German director.

“That’s El Tunche, the evil spirit.” Welcome to the jungle – specifically the Inkaterra Reserve in Peru, Madre de Díos river, Amazon Basin. Things here are strange by nature; giant snails, night monkeys, violent bushmaster snakes. Turn your back and a tarantula might creep into your shadow. It’s a mythical place, with tribes hidden between the dense rainforest and impassable jungle. The climate is the same that Werner Herzog endured during his tumultuous production of Fitzcarraldo 36 years ago, and the same he will share with 48 emerging filmmakers over the next two weeks. This is my personal account, for what it’s worth.<br>Day 0

Get more Little White Lies

Listen to our podcast

Get the magazine

Join Club LWLies

Being from the Baltic north of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, I decide to arrive early to acclimatise. Three days in Lima then the jungle town of Puerto Maldonado to meet up with the other workshoppers and begin our journey. The first wave arrive and we take a motorised canoe up the river to base camp. Vines drape overhead from 300-year-old Lapuna trees, bushes rustle with critters and a thick wave of humidity dulls the senses. Wave two arrives with whispers that Werner may appear tonight. He doesn’t. He just got back from Japan and needs rest. He’ll see us tomorrow, 05:30 sharp.<br>Day 1<br>Herzog arrives and takes the time to shake every hand. He informs us we’ll all make a film, and that the theme is ​‘fever dreams in the jungle’. The first two days will be location scouting and casting portfolios. A herculean effort from host staff Black Factory Cinema has secured nine locations and more than 200 locals to appear in the films. We visit the native Ese Ejas tribe, are greeted by their chief then given a demonstration of tribal customs. It’s like a BBC documentary, except everyone has Direct TV. Then we’re back to base so the boss can watch Bayern Munich get knocked out of the Champions League.

Day 2<br>More location scouting – first up is the idyllic Lake Sandoval and then its back to Puerto Maldonado. Sandoval is a one hour walk into the forest but Herzog manages it no problem – not bad for a 75-year-old. In town I have a lead of my own and want to get going – I ask if I can film the next day; the organisers tell me I have to okay it with Werner. I explain to him my plan before delving into the ideas for my film. He stops me. ​“So long as it’s not softcore pornography, I don’t care.”<br>Day 3<br>There’s a routine now and people are beginning to get to the work. Two things about the jungle: it’s always damp, and it’s never quiet. Sleep is a byproduct of exhaustion. Tonight I’m staying in town so I can film at sunset on my secret lagoon – the boats can’t navigate the river after dark. My two non-professional actors and I go piranha fishing on then head back to town to fry and eat them. Aside from the guts, you eat the full fish, so I enjoy my first taste of fried piranha heads.<br>Day 4<br>Back at base camp, I’m isolated from the group today as they’re beginning while I’m already going. In my head, if I finish faster than others, I’ll get more feedback from Herzog (something I’ll later live to regret). I spend the day in the canopy above the jungle trying to film Howler monkeys. Regular day in the jungle.<br>Day 5<br>On the fifth day, an epiphany: Werner Herzog isn’t Werner Herzog – he’s Werner Herzog. He’s the mythical filmmaker. It’s a performance. You have to break down the performance or all you’ll get is weird and wonderful sayings, such as ​“It is the job of the filmmaker to jump out of the window into the boat even if he has no confidence there is water beneath it.” When you get past the guard the guy is remarkably attentive. He focuses on what you want, tells you what you need to hear.

Day 6<br>Another day of filming; I’m...