A fever-dream journal documenting the making of cinema's most infamous production from the
world's most infamously visionary director: Werner Herzog. In 1982 the visionary film
director Werner Herzog released Fitzcarraldo a lavish film about a would-be rubber baron
who pulls a 320-ton steamship over a mountain. Hailed instantly by critics around the globe as
a masterpiece Fitzcarraldo won Herzog the 1982 Outstanding Director Prize at the Cannes Film
Festival affirming Herzog's reputation as one of the most revered and enigmatic filmmakers of
his time. Conquest of the Useles s is the diary Herzog kept during the making of Fitzcarraldo
compiled from June 1979 to November 1981. Emerging as if out of an Amazonian fever dream during
filming Herzog's writings are an extraordinary documentary unto themselves providing a
glimpse into the mind of a genius during the making of one of his greatest achievements.
'Hypnotic... It is ever tempting to try to fathom [Herzog's] restless spirit and his
determination to challenge fate' New York Times
