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Werner Herzog to receive the Coolidge Award on February 8

Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre is a bit of a mainstay for us around these parts, given how interesting and eclectic their programming choices are on any given week. It may come as a surprise to people who only know them for their rad cult movie choices on Friday and Saturday nights that they give out a pretty prestigious award, as well, named after the theatre, and have honored in the past cinematic titans like Meryl Streep and the late Jonathan Demme in their incredible art deco moviehouse.

Today, the Coolidge announced their next honoree, and its choice will easily freak out anybody with a pulse: German master and incredible cinematic rogue Werner Herzog, director of such classics as Aguirre, Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, Grizzly Man and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

If you’re still a teenager, you might know him from his acting work, in films like Jack Reacher (which we really hope one of you asks him about during the Q&A). The man is a living repository of brilliant quotes, and even if you haven’t seen a single one of his movies (which you really should), you should at least come for his musings about the cold stupidity in of the eyes of a Chicken and the virtues of documentary filmmaking, as seen below.

There’s no word yet on what films of his will show on the day of the event and in the weeks following Herzog’s reception of the award, but they’ve set a date for his award ceremony and a separate screening and an audience Q&A: February 8.

Typically there’s a whole week of Coolidge Award events themed around the recipient’s filmography — once upon a time, we attended a screening of Melvin and Howard that featured a conversation between Demme and his longtime cinematographer Tak Fujimoto (it was as epic as it sounds) — and it’s a whole lot of fun for the intense cinephile and the neophyte looking to make their way into a cinematic legend’s filmography.

Tickets for those events will go on sale next week, with Coolidge members getting the pick of the litter on January 10, while the general public will have to wait until January 12 in order to secure a spot. We promise you, you really won’t want to miss this.

Image via MoviestillsDB.