Incident at Loch Ness

In 2004, Incident of Loch Ness was one of our favourite films to be screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. As it featured the great German director Werner Herzog and one of Scotland's enduring favourite creatures, the Loch Ness Monster, we thought it would return to our screens quite soon after getting it's premier at the festival. We only had to wait 13 years.....


Directed by Zak Penn, this purports to be a documentary of the making of Werner Herzog's documentary 'The Enigma of Loch Ness'. We are given access to production meetings and one to one discussions about how the film is going to be made and the increasing tension between the crew members. It becomes more and more obvious that something is not quite right, from the miniature Loch Ness monster that keeps appearing to the lack of credibility of the scientific and technical members of the crew.

Herzog becomes more and more disillusioned with the whole project and things take a decidedly dangerous turn.....

So does the Loch Ness Monster exist or is it just a figment of our collective need to believe in the unseen and unknowable? Is the film a hoax? Was Herzog ever intending to make a film called 'The Eniglma of Loch Ness'? Are any of the crew members who they say they are? Are the stories about Herzog as a director true or just myths?

This era of fake news in in fact the ideal time to see again this brilliant film about the nature of truth, the distinction between truth and facts and the difference between lies for the sake of art and downright lies. I just hope we don't need to wait another 13 years before it next hits the big screen!

Incident at Loch Ness screened as part of Edinburgh Filmhouse's current Herzog of the Month series.