Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Film Still

October 21, 2020

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AFI Movie Club: FIREBALL: VISITORS FROM DARKER WORLDS at AFI FEST Presented by Audi

Watch at AFI FEST presented by Audi tonight at 7:00 p.m. PDT – Get Ticket

Following the film at 9:25p.m. PDT, neuroscientist Moran Cerf leads a conversation with filmmakers Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer.

Leave it to Werner Herzog to interrupt a world-renowned planetary scientist who has just made the simple yet astonishing statement that, “We are all stardust. Every element in our body was synthesized in other stars before it got here.” Herzog waves his hand in front of the camera. The scientist looks momentarily perplexed and then Herzog blurts out: “I think I am not stardust. I am Bavarian!” After a pregnant pause, the scientist bursts into laughter. It is a quintessentially Herzogian moment.

In this fascinating and delightful scientific, cultural and philosophical treasure hunt, Herzog and his co-director, the volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer, crisscross the globe seeking answers to the great mysteries locked inside the flaming balls of interplanetary debris that have hurled themselves at our defenseless planet for billions of years.