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My work with Werner Herzog...

Since many years now I have the pleasure to work for the great film maker and author Werner Herzog. Every new project is a challenge, we always have to be prepared for the unexpected. In many cases there are special technical problems, long-lasting batteries, radio mics, high mobility and small, top-class equipment is a must. Almost every project needed different, new gear. Travelling on trains, cars, busses, planes, canoes, helicopters - we get it all. Heat, high humidity, dust, mosquitos, snakes or howlers, it's all included. Crossing India while seated on our cases with film equipment within a train compartement as big as a toilet or sleeping on the ground amidst the rain forest, watching fire ants marching across my chest - things I will never forget. And nights around flickering fires with Werner as one of the last great storytellers in the world, yes, I have to admit, I truly enjoy my jobs...

Kinski- My Best Fiend

This movie took us across the rain forest in Peru. We travelled down the Urubamba River, then to Cusco, Agua Caliente and Machu Pichu. Still there is a clear mark running through the jungle, where in "Fitzcarraldo" the ship was tugged across the hill between the arms of the river.

From the traveller's diary:

"This is, what happens to careless visitors in the jungle, if they take a morning wash in a near-by river, ignoring swarms of tiny little black flies. It takes several weeks to get rid of the itching, ugly traces caused by bites and blood-sucking organisms and it also means to wear no shoes, even in the rain forest, which may cause even more troubles..."

Juliane - Wings of Hope

We followed the trail together with Juliane Koepke, who in her younger years fell off a plane in an altitude of 5 miles (3 km), when the vessel was smashed by lightning during a tropical thunderstorm. We searched for the plane wreck in the jungle. Having tracked down the remains we took the same trip that led to Juliane's rescue, miles and miles through the rain forest, till we finally reached Pucalpa.

Kalachakra-Wheel of Time

It took a year to finalize this movie. We followed H.H. The Dalai Lhama at different locations, visited the Tibetan buddhists, Mount Kailash, followed the procedure of Kalachakra in BodGaia and finished up at the Kalachakra in Graz, Austria. The end of the story, not mentioned in the movie, took place in three different hospitals, since H.H. The Dalai Lhama, Werner and me caught a very bad, unknown Indian virus.

The White Diamond

Several weeks in Guyana. Our starting point was Georgetown. With a chinese transporter we flew into Menzie's, on board we had a light little aircraft plus all parts for a small airship and the man, who had designed it, Graham Dorrington. In the following weeks, besides filming we had to assemble the airship and some remotly controlled balloons with cameras mounted underneath for special in-flight mode views.

Visiting Claudia Cardinale in her Paris home