Werner Herzog is no less a showman than he is an artist (some would readily say more so), making it no surprise that his film school is driven by the same wild man, God-against-all attitude that’s allowed a New German Cinema figurehead to make guest appearances on Parks & Recreation. The outlet, Rogue Film School, has an about page stresses that spirit, or so I’m inclined to think when it says they “will not teach anything technical related to film-making” — heading to “your local film school” is encouraged if you wish for something else — but do tell their students about how to pick a lock, enjoy being shot at (while also missed), “[the] creation of your own shooting permits,” etc. [Open Culture]
Also on their page is a required-reading and -viewing list, albeit one far shorter than you’d otherwise expect. (They don’t teach the technical sides of filmmaking, after all.) So Herzog seems to believe that, if you want to be a filmmaker of his stripe, it’s time to look at these pictures: Elia Kazan‘s Viva Zapata; the Apu trilogy; The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; The Battle of Algiers; and Kiarostami‘s Where is the Friend’s Home, “if available.” (It, in fact, is.) Read these books and short stories, while you’re at it: Hemingway‘s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”; J.A. Baker‘s The Peregrine; and Virgil’s Georgics;, while a familiarity with The Warren Commission Report, The Poetic Edda (with an emphasis on “The Prophecy of the Seeress”), and True History of the Conquest of New Spain is encouraged.
This won’t cover it completely, of course, since Rogue Film School emphasizes conversing with Herzog about your work “at varying locations and at infrequent intervals.” So unless you can get in touch with him and convince him to sit down… well, I suppose this list is a decent starting point.