Werner Penzel
2021Middle of the Moment
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Johann Le Guillerm, Sandra M'Bow
Filmmakers Nicolaus Humbert and Werner Penzel examine the nature of nomadic existence in this documentary, from the literal nomads of North Africa to the more metaphorical kind of wanderer, such as American poet and ex-pat Robert Lax. Humbert and Penzel focus especially on the nomad's paradoxical ability to fully inhabit every moment while remaining coolly detached from specific locales and anxious thoughts about the past or future.
Middle of the Moment
Why Should I Buy A Bed When All That I Want Is Sleep?
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Robert Lax
Robert Lax (1915-2000) was a poet with a singular vision and style whose quest to live an authentic life as both an artist and a spiritual seeker inspired Thomas Merton, Jack Kerouac, William Maxwell and countless others. Known in the U.S. primarily as Merton’s best friend and in Europe as a daringly original avant-garde poet, Lax lived a life of simplicity, humility and grace that continues to encourage and motivate readers and followers. This film is a portrait of Robert Lax as he was to those who were fortunate to visit him during his thirty years of living on the Greek island of Patmos.
Why Should I Buy A Bed When All That I Want Is Sleep?
Lax Readings
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Robert Lax
The space of a voice gives what is said its real meaning. In it you can feel what is actually behind the words. A voice can be like a landscape. Nobody we met on our cinematic paths made this more noticeable than Robert Lax. His incomparable serenity hovers over every thought. You can enter this space by listening to him read his poetry, a quarter hour of which is gathered in LAX READINGS.
Lax Readings
O Rei da Vela
José Celso Martinez Corrêa, Noilton Nunes
Maria Alice Vergueiro, Renato Borghi
Filming of the historical montage of Oswald de Andrade's play, where decadent millionaires, depraved children, corrupt and implacable capitalists are the characters interpreted by the Grupo Oficina, in a celebrated theatrical performance from 1967, fundamentally recorded in 1971 and released only in the 1980s.
The King of the Candle
Brother Yusef
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Yusef Lateef
The path to Yusef Lateef was a journey into the unknown. We were aware that he is one of the great maestros of jazz and one of the last of his generation still alive. In an era of black culture that probably found its strongest form of expression in music, he was a contemporary and companion of those musicians who helped to shape and renew jazz: John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Cannonball Adderley. Now, at the age of 84, Yusef Lateef lives withdrawn in his house in the woods somewhere in New England – in a room full of musical instruments. He still plays his saxophone today, as he has done for most of his life. (Humbert & Penzel)
Brother Yusef
Lucie et Maintenant
Werner Penzel, Simone Fürbringer
Océane Madelaine, Jocelyn Bonnerave
In May of 1982 Julio Cortázar, the Argentinean writer and his companion in life, Carol Dunlop set out in their VW bus on a journey along the highway from Paris to Marseille that, for each of them, was to be their final one. Twenty-five years later, Océane Madelaine and Jocelyn Bonnerave set out to undertake the journey again.
Lucie et Maintenant
Null Sonne No Point
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Lester Bowie, Roscoe Mitchell
The musicians of the ‚Art Ensemble of Chicago’ have been performing their portrayal of jazz from past and present since 1967, not unlike a journey backwards in time aroused by an ancestral call to the myths of Africa. But what happens before their concerts? NULL SONNE NO POINT is the magnificent chronicle of the preparation for a concert and invites us into the very heart of the music, following the musicians backstage, at their rehearsals and moments of privacy and concentration, seeking the fluctuating emotions before the music begins.
Null Sonne No Point
Zen for Nothing
Werner Penzel
Sabine Timoteo, Muho Nölke
Hidden in the wooded mountains on the west coast of Japan lies the small Zen monastery Antaiji. A young woman sets off to immerse herself through autumn, winter and spring in the adventures of monastic life. The young woman is Sabine Timoteo from Switzerland. The abbot of the monastery is Muho Noelke, born in Berlin. An interplay between the philosophy of the Japanese Zen master Kodo Sawaki and the surprises brought forth by everyday life.
Zen for Nothing
My Eye Your Eye
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Filmed in Patmos in May 1999, this is Robert Lax’s last year in Greece, roughly his last year of life. For 21 minutes you see only Lax’s head and his right hand, which holds a wooden staff of sorts (a walking stick or ... a broomstick?!). He wears a navy blue knit hat. The only movement is in his eyes, and ever so slight movements of his head. Lax does not look at the camera, his eyes are mostly downcast, but he is awake and aware, watching and waiting, and you are drawn into his profound stillness. All of those who were able to meet Lax during his lifetime consider it a particular stroke of fortune. They say that from that point on he became part of their bodies and souls, as though they had met a true saint. My Eye Your Eye is like being in the presence of holiness. For 20 minutes. Watching and waiting. I've always wanted to know better what Bob Lax was like - how he was. This film does it.
My Eye Your Eye
Not Like Before
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Agnès Varda, Nicolas Philibert
From January to November 2004, as a kind of carnet de voyage alongside our other activities, we asked one and the same question of various people we met on our journeys, including friends: "Do you remember a moment in your life when something really changed?" We requested them to tell us a story to illustrate their reply, and we filmed them.
Not Like Before
Fragments d'ici
Werner Penzel, Nicolas Humbert
Johann Le Guillerm
Johann le Guillerm, the tightrope walker who had become one of the main characters in Middle of the Moment, decided to found a new circus and called it “Cirque Ici.” In the fall of 1997, we visited him on the first European tour of his solo circus performance and shot with him for three days and nights.
Fragments d'ici
