Werner Herzog Just Made a PSA About Texting and Driving

Not four days ago, Werner Herzog co-edited and narrated a video for a Kickstarter for some salt; now here’s another new film he just made. This one, clocking in at 35 minutes, is about the repercussions of texting while driving, and it’ll be be “distributed by AT&T to more than 40,000 high schools, as well as hundreds of safety organizations and government agencies.” (Weirdly, that’s a better distribution plan than most of Herzog’s movies ever get.) So it’s like one of those movies you had to watch in drivers ed, basically, except it’s made by Herzog, so you know what? I bet it’s fucking great, which is exactly why I’m not going to watch it right now. I at least need to have breakfast before I start feeling fucking terrible and sad all day.

In his documentaries, Werner Herzog has examined grizzly bears, plane crash survivors, cave paintings and death row inmates. For his latest project, the 70-year-old filmmaker is exploring the dangers of texting while driving in “From One Second to the Next,” a 35-minute short film that emotionally recounts how lives have been forever changed by the issue.

“I knew I could do it because it has to do with catastrophic events invading a family,” said Herzog, who has alternated between fiction (Rescue Dawn) and non-fiction (Grizzly Man) throughout his career. “In one second, entire lives are either wiped out or changed forever. That kind of emotional resonance is something that I knew I could cover.” (Via.)

Oof. I’ll be watching this later today; if you’re made of sterner stuff this early, have at.