The Ister

A video meditation on Martin Heidegger's challenging philosophy, The Ister examines the course of Western civilization as viewed by some of today's leading thinkers. At the height of World War II, controversial German philosopher Martin Heidegger delivered a series of lectures on "The Ister," Friedrich Holderlin's poem about the Danube River (referred to here by its ancient Greek name).

A video meditation on Heidegger's challenging philosophy, The Ister is adapted from these lectures and structured around interviews with such contemporary philosophers as Jean-Luc Nancy and Bernard Stiegler. Just as Heidegger's lectures addressed the chaos facing Germany and the world in 1942, this film examines the course of Western civilization as viewed by some of today's leading thinkers. (189 mins.)