Was Werner Herzog in Burlington?
Apparently so.
The revered German director of Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans directed this 35-minute documentary about the dangers of texting while driving for AT&T's It Can Wait campaign. It features a locally shot segment on Debbie Drewniak of Colchester, who was critically injured after being struck by texting driver Emma Vieira in 2011.
A Silver Palm-winning director making a PSA? Sure, why not? The doc, called "From One Second to the Next," is austerely presented and devastating. You'll see a young Iowa man break down as he describes how he plowed into an Amish family's buggy while texting his wife. Drewniak and her siblings talk about how radically her life has changed since the accident, which put her in a coma and killed her beloved Lab.
With characteristic flair, Herzog told the Associated Press, "What AT&T proposed immediately clicked and connected inside of me. There's a completely new culture out there. I'm not a participant of texting and driving — or texting at all — but I see there's something going on in civilization which is coming with great vehemence at us."
So, if you are a "participant of texting and driving," next time consider this: The guy who dragged a steamship up a mountain and maintained a close friendship with Klaus Kinski thinks you're taking an unacceptable risk.