Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2016: #54. Werner Herzog’s Salt and Fire

Salt and Fire

Director: Werner Herzog
Writer: Werner Herzog

While universal disappointment has followed Herzog’s 2015 Gertrude Bell biopic Queen of the Desert following its Berlin premiere (subsequently re-cut but to little avail for the North American premiere at AFI in November), Herzog has charged on to his projects, including a documentary set to premiere at Sundance 2016 and Salt and Fire, a ‘super volcano’ disaster movie headlined by Michael Shannon, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Veronica Ferres as a scientist in Bolivia clashing with a corporation responsible for a mass scale ecological disaster. We were sad to see Herzog ditch plans for his adaptation of Vernon God Little but are pleasantly looking forward to his reunion with Shannon (star of the sadly underrated weirdness My Son My Son What Have Ye Done, produced in 2009 by David Lynch).

Cast: Michael Shannon, Gael Garcia Bernal, Veronica Ferres.

Production Co.: Benaroya Pictures, Construction Film, Arte France Cinema, Canana Films, Skellig Rock

U.S. Distributor: Rights available TBD (domestic/international)

Release Date: Filming wrapped in 2015, but considering it’s an ecological disaster movie, we aren’t sure Herzog will be unveiling at a major film festival. If it doesn’t show up at Berlin or Cannes, we’d assume a bid for distributors would be enhanced by a premiere out of competition at a major venue such as TIFF.