Meeting Gorbachev
Synopsis
Across a six-month period, Werner Herzog conducted three interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev that are the foundation for this riveting film. Now 87, Gorbachev speaks like a man with nothing to lose. He is respected more outside Russia than inside, where he's blamed for the Soviet Union's breakup in 1991. He laments that "we didn't finish the job of democracy in Russia." And he worries that others took the wrong lessons from perestroika: "Americans think they won the Cold War and this went to their head. What victory?"
Herzog applies his own unique perspective and narration to a deep archive of footage, often with his eye oriented toward the absurd. Other key eyewitnesses to this history from the US, Germany, Hungary, and Poland are also interviewed, building a personal and revealing picture of Gorbachev as a statesman and as a human.
Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2018 - TIFF Docs
Details
- Year
- 2018
- Type of film
- Features
- Running time
- 90 mins
- Director
-
Werner Herzog, André Singer
- Producer
- Svetlana Palmer, Lucki Stipetic
- Executive Producer
- Richard Melman, Molly Thompson, Eli Lehrer
- Editor
- Michael Ellis
- Screenwriter
- Werner Herzog, André Singer
- Director of Photography
- Richard Blanshar, Yuri Barak
- Sound
- Vladimir Rizun, Vasily Amochkin, Simon Bishop, Alexander Kuckuck
- Composer
- Nicholas Singer
- Principal cast
- Mikhail Gorbachev, Miklós Németh, George P. Shultz, James A. Baker III, Lech Walesa, Horst Teltschik
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
UK, US, Germany coproduction
Werner Herzog Film GMBH (DE), Spring Films (UK)
Spring Films
7 Cavendish SquareLondon
W1G 0PE
Sales Company
A+E Networks (International sales)
235 E 45th StNew York
NY 10017
USA
Submarine Entertainment (US sales)
197 Grand Street, Suite 6WNew York
NY 10013
USA
Page updates
This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.
See also
You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.
Spacewoman
Director: Hannah Berryman
Year: 2024
A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere
Daria’s Night Flowers
Director: Maryam Tafakory
Year: 2025
Daria has written her first manuscript about falling in love with a mysterious girl called ‘abi’ [blue]. The night flowers in her garden hide the secrets of a country that has turned love stories into routine crime scenes. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025
My Blood is Palestinian (Ana Dammi Falastini)
Director: Jay Scanlan-Oumow, Omar Ismail
Year: 2025
Delving into the life of a Palestinian in the UK, separated from a culture and a way of life, this film captures the power of the human spirit in the face of adversity, delivering a powerful statement about the intersection of personal struggle and political conflict and offering hope, challenging narratives, and inspiring solidarity. Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025