Directed by Les Blank with Maureen Gosling
Produced by Les Blank
Edited by Maureen Gosling
Burden of Dreams captures legendary director Werner Herzog’s filming of his most ambitious film Fitzcarraldo, in which an entrepreneur (Klaus Kinski) endeavors to push a steamship over a mountain to build an opera house deep in the Amazon jungle.
About the restoration The 2024 breathtaking 4K frame by frame restoration and remastering of Burden of Dreams which features 5.1 sound, and involved replacing all pre-recorded and live music, spanned 2 years of meticulous work. The restoration was executive produced by Harrod Blank, Les Blank’s son, and financed by Les Blank Films, Inc. a non-profit that the director created before his death. The picture was conformed by Anthony Matt, color corrected by Paul Cope and then cleaned and restored using Diamant software by Anthony Matt. Maureen Gosling, who recorded and edited the original film also worked on quality control and assisted in the mix and audio tweaks. All of the audio restoration work was done by Nick Bergh.
The film received a BAFTA for Best Documentary in 1983.
Out now in cinemas.
- Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) - 28 and 30 June - Screening with Fitzcarraldo
- Showroom Cinema, Sheffield - 13, 15, 16 July
- Chichester Park Cinema - 19 and 24 July - Screening with Fitzcarraldo
- Ultimate Picture Palace, Oxford - 26 July
- Previous screenings:
- Bertha DocHouse, London - 23 May to 10 June
- Hyde Park Picturehouse, Leeds - 23 May to 29 May
- Glasgow Film Theatre - 23 May to 29 May
- Watershed, Bristol - - 23 May to 26 May
Press:
- A rerelease of the documentary about Werner Herzog's operatic adventure in the Peruvian jungle is a compelling portrait of an artist obsessed -★★★★, Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
- Classic film of the week: The engrossing Fitzcarraldo backstory - ★★★★, Kevin Maher, The Times
- Blank created an enduring record of hubris, exploitation and unrelenting misadventure in the pursuit of artistic greatness, Zachary Barnes, The Wall Street Journal
- Burden of Dreams should be ranked with the finest of films about great artists, Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
- An extraordinary portrait of Herzog trapped in the middle of one of his wildest dreams…Les Blank is a brilliant filmmaker who is unafraid to ask difficult questions and portray Werner Herzog, warts and all, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
