But why? The “Nihilist Penguin” refers to a famous scene from Werner Herzog’s documentary Encounters at the End of the World, featuring a disoriented penguin that abandons its colony and heads inland towards the mountains, away from food and safety, seemingly without purpose, leading Herzog to muse on its existential crisis and its potentially fatal, non-conformist path. The term, while catchy, sparks debate, with some seeing pure nihilism and others interpreting it as an act of existential rebe

German director Werner Herzog turns 80 today. He's influenced countless filmmakers, and become a pop culture icon in the United States – his adopted homeland. His global fame was cemented with such feature films as 1972's Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Woyzeck in 1979, and Fitzcarraldo in 1982, as well as his 1999 documentary My Best Fiend. | DW Euromaxx