Portrait Werner Herzog is an autobiographical short film by Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

 made in 1986. Herzog tells stories about his life and career.

The film contains excerpts and commentary on several Herzog films, including Signs of Life

Signs of Life (1968 film)

Signs of Life is a 1968 feature film written, directed, and produced by Werner Herzog. It was his first feature film, and his first major commercial and critical success...

, Heart of Glass

Heart of Glass (film)

Heart of Glass is a 1976 film written, directed, and produced by Werner Herzog, set in 18th century Bavaria. The main character is "Hias," based on the legendary Bavarian prophet Mühlhiasl.-Plot synopsis:...

, Fata Morgana, Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Aguirre, the Wrath of God is a 1972 West German adventure film written and directed by Werner Herzog. Klaus Kinski stars in the title role. The soundtrack was composed and performed by German progressive/Krautrock band Popol Vuh...

, The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner is a 1974 documentary film by German filmmaker Werner Herzog. It is about celebrated ski-jumper Walter Steiner who works as a carpenter for his full-time occupation...

, Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo

Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru, who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber...

, and the Les Blank

Les Blank

Les Blank is an American documentary filmmaker best known for his portraits of American traditional musicians....

 documentary Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams

Burden of Dreams is a feature-length documentary and making-of directed by Les Blank, shot during and about the chaotic production of Werner Herzog's 1982 film Fitzcarraldo, filmed in the jungles of South America....

. Notable is footage of a conversation between Herzog and his mentor Lotte Eisner, and a discussion between Herzog and mountaineer Reinhold Messner

Reinhold Messner

Reinhold Messner is an Italian mountaineer and explorer from Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol "whose astonishing feats on Everest and on peaks throughout the world have earned him the status of the greatest climber in history." He is renowned for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without...

, in which a future film project in the Himalayas

Himalayas

The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...

 involving Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski, born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski , was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and is perhaps best-remembered as a leading role actor in Werner Herzog films: Aguirre, the Wrath of God , Nosferatu the Vampyre , Woyzeck , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .-Early...

is discussed.