September 2012

Villa Aurora and Goethe-Institut Los Angeles present:

Renn, wenn du kannst (Run If You Can)

Dietrich Brüggemann, Germany, 2010, 112 minutes, German with English subtitles, digital

An independent tragicomedy, Run If You Can is the debut feature for director Brüggemann who, along with his sister, also wrote the compelling screenplay.

Forced to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, Ben is deeply desperate, despite his humor and vivaciousness. When he meets Christian, his new assistant, Ben treats him like every other helper he’s had. Things suddenly change when Christian meets Annika, “the cello player” whom Ben has been observing from his window for years. The three become close friends, putting Annika in the middle of an emotional, and somehow dangerous, ménage à trois. (…)

A character-driven story, Run If You Can owes much of its power to the actors’ performances, especially Robert Gwisdek’s outstanding interpretation of Ben. (Toronto Filmfestival)

Q and A with Director Dietrich Brüggemann.

Thursday, September 6 @ 7:00 p.m.

Goethe-Institut Los Angeles

5750 Wilshire BLvd. Suite 100

L.A., CA 90036

Free of Charge

Hassouna Mosbahi will read a brief passage from his novel "Hikaya Tunisiyya" (A Tunisian Tale) in Arabic followed by a reading in English.

Hassouna Mosbahi is a Tunisian writer, literary critic, journalist and translator, born in 1950 to a Bedouin family in the back country of Kairouan. He started writing stories, tales and anecdotes back in his youth, orientated at the tradition of folk storytelling.

His first short story "L'image de mon père", inspired by Camus' "L'Étranger", already won the Tunisian Broadcasting Prize for young authors in 1968. During the following years he spent a long time studying abroad in Paris, Madrid and London and worked, amongst other things, as a correspondent for Arabic newspapers.

His recent project focuses on a story of the famous Andalusian mystic Ibn Arabi. Beside the publication of novels and short stories in Arabic, English and German, he has gained reputation for his translations of Henri Michaux, René Char, Samuel Beckett and Jean Genet into Arabic.

This event is a collaboration with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

RSVP required: Please call 310.573-3603 or write an email to infola@villa-aurora.org

Admission: Free

Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 13 pm and will start from Los Liones Drive, off Sunset Boulevard two blocks North-East of Pacific Coast Highway.

Please do not park on the Topanga State Park Lot!

On September 12, recently selected Villa Aurora fellow Volker Harry Altwasser will be featured at Kulturbrauerei in their series „Literarische Freiheit“ (literary freedom) He will read from his hot-off-the press novel „Ich, dann eine Weile nichts. ein Theaterroman.“ (Me and nothing else for a while. a theater novel. Published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin)

Volker Harry Altwasser, was born in 1969 in Greifswald. He trained to be an electrician and worked as a stoker with the East German railroad, a sailor in the National People’s Army and a private on the frigate „Bremen“ where he failed to be promoted to Private First Class, due to the fact that he „missed“ his ship in Las Palmas.

From 1998 to 2002 he studied at the German Literary Institute of the University of Leipzig. He published several books among them being his debut novel „Wie ich vom Ausschneiden loskam“ (How I Kicked the Habit of Clipping), 2003 . Other titles include „Letzte Haut“ (Last Skin) (2009) , „Letztes Schweigen“ (Last Hush) (2010) und „Letzte Fischer“ (Last Fisherman) (2011), which made the long list for the German Book Award. In 2001, Altwasser won the Italo Svevo Award.

„Ich dann eine Weile nichts. ein Theaterroman.“ Failure a Triumph – A German Hamlet

The novel is the literary awakening of Bogislaw (1580- 1637), the last duke of Pomerania. Altwasser gives that tragic character from a glorious dynasty his own voice. In front of a thoroughly reconstructed backdrop, he creates the psycho gram of a failing man and, with surprising hints to Shakespeare and Schiller, he traces a breathtaking arc. The „grand story teller, fisherman of men“ (so Thomas Hürlimann) courageously stages an audacious theater play, imbedded in a litany of desperation and reflection on ruling and the power of weakness. Bogislaw, who wanted it all, ends up losing even himself.

With this novel, Altwasser sets foot onto new literary territory, the borders of which stretch from Schiller to Artaud.The series „Literarische Freiheit“ is organized be Johan de Blank und Michael J. Stephan in collaboration with Kulturbrauerei.

Location: SODA Salon at Kulturbrauerei, Knaackstr. 97, 10435 Berlin

A Temporary Art Project at the Residence of the Ambassador of the United States of America to Germany, Philip D. Murphy and Tammy S. Murphy

Robert Bechtle / Tom Blackwell / Chuck Close / Robert Cottingham / Don Eddy / Richard Estes / Audrey Flack / Ralph Goings / Sabine Hornig / Christian Keinstar / Ron Kleemann / Richard Mclean / James Rosenquist / Jon Salt / Ben Schonzeit / Tilo Schulz

This art project is a collaboration of the Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy in Berlin, the Deutsche Guggenheim and the Villa Aurora Forum Berlin. Both cultural institutions are based in Berlin and have a strong focus on transatlantic exchange for many years now.

The participating artists on the one side are former artist’s fellows of the Villa Aurora in Los Angeles and on the other side have exhibited at the Deutsche Guggenheim, some of them with commissioned works for the exhibition space in Berlin, respectively in the exhibition “Picturing America”.

At the heart of BEYOND THE FRAME lies the quest to transcend the horizon and open new perspectives. Grappling with venues, colors, moods and patterns on either side of the Atlantic alleged well-known facts rise from their set frame and allow the genesis of new ones.

We would like to thank all artists, galleries and private lenders.

PRIVATE RECEPTION

1886 is a historical screenplay based on the autobiography of Albert Parsons retelling the Haymarket bombing in Chicago in May, 1886. The story centers around a group of labor activists – among them a young carpenter and a newspaper publisher from Germany - who fought for the eight-hour work day and the end of child labor.

The fight for equality and justice make this story accessible and very timely. It captures the current worldwide zeitgeist of the disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

2012 marks the 125th anniversary of the executions of those Chicago Anarchists.

Director Noam Gonick, Screenwriter Thuc Nguyen and Villa Aurora present a Table Read with passages from the screenplay.

Refreshments shall be provided

Seating is limited!

rsvp to 1186VillaAurora@gmail.com