Villa Aurora Events Archive
April 2013
Alexander Granach
Los Angeles
Alexander Granach - From The Shtetl To Hollywood
Dir. Angelika Wittlich, Germany 2012, 105 min. digital
IN PERSON: Director Angelika Wittlich
The remarkable story of an unlikely path from a poverty-stricken, rough-and-tumble childhood to success as a leading stage and film actor in Weimar Germany. This is the account of a daring, curiosity-filled, and perceptive Jewish child from Galicia who was seized with a passion for the theater at the age of 14 and overcame great odds to pursue his dream. After working with directors such as Brecht and Murnau, Alexander Granach was forced to flee Germany for Russia. In November of 1937, he was arrested during the stalinistic purges on the grounds of espionage activities, but a successful intervention of Lion Feuchtwanger on his behalf persuaded Stalin to release Granach who then fled to Zurich, Switzerland.
He eventually ended up in the USA where he began his American career in Lubitsch's Ninotchka. He died in 1945 at only 52, just as the war was drawing to a close and he was looking forward to a reunion with Lotte Lieven, the love of his life.
Q and A and reception for the director following the screening.
RSVP required: Please write an email to infola@villa-aurora.org. You will receive a confirmation.
Tickets: Free for Friends of Villa Aurora // $ 5 for General Audiences (at the door)
Location: 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 6:30 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!
FELLOWS & Friends at City Hall Berlin
Berlin
„How to find means of financial support for artists“ was the topic of a meeting of FELLOWS & Friends of Villa Aurora. Hella Dunger-Löper, Permanent Secretary, State of Berlin Delegate to the Federation, Commissioner for European Affairs, and Commissioner for Active Citizenship at the Berlin Senate Chancellery opened the event at City Hall (Rotes Rathaus) on April 8, 2013.
After Annette Rupp, executive director of Villa Aurora, introduced the Villa’s history and eplained its activities the 50-plus guests, Dr. Konrad Schmidt-Werthern, Department Head of „Cultural Management“, and Christiane Zieseke presented a general outline of the Federal and Berlin-based funding sources for the arts.
Dr. Konrad Schmidt-Werthern pointed out that the websites www.kulturfoerderung.org and www.kulturpreise.de. contain a wealth of information on Germany-wide fora for artists.
A variety of funding sources of the Senate Chancellery are listed at http://www.berlin.de/sen/kultur/foerderung/index.de.html.
The Senate Chancellery – Cultural Affairs and Art Center College of Design (ACCD) in Pasadena/Los Angeles award one scholarship per year in the area of fine arts. The fellowship allows the artist to spend 12 months as a graduate student at the prestigious school in Pasadena. More information at: http://www.berlin.de/sen/kultur/foerderung/internationaler-kulturaustausch/auslandsstipendien/index.de.html.
Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin was mentioned in the context of large-scale projects. Film-funding is available at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg .
Christiane Zieseke suggested to consult with members of the Senate Chancellery directly.
Eva Castringius and Marcel Bühler, former fellows at Villa Aurora, talked about the valuable impulses they experienced during their sojourn at Villa Aurora. They are determined to build on those during further stays in Los Angeles. They initiated a poll among the so far 264 fellows with the goal of identifying the need for residencies in Los Angeles and formulating common ideas and organizational strategies. The survey showed a major interest among many fellows to return to Los Angeles in the near future. Ideas on how to realize that were gathered, and will be discussed.
FELLOWS&Friends
Berlin
On April 8, 2013 at 7:00 p.m., FELLOWS&Friends of Villa Aurora will meet at the Rathaus Berlin (Louise-Schröder-Saal ). The new head of the Department for Cultural Affairs Dr. Schmidt-Werthern and Head of Unit Chistiane Zieseke will inform about and discuss different ways of finding funding for artistic projects.
Fellows of Villa Aurora will be able to add their thoughts having experienced the transatlantic network.
We would like to thank Secretary of State Hella Dunger-Löper for her suppport and are looking forward to seeing you on the 8th.
RSVP required: Please call 030-20623640 or write an email to infoberlin@villa-aurora.org
Location: Luise-Schröder-Saal, Berliner Rathaus, Rathausstraße, 10178 Berlin.
Music Memory Metamorphosis
Los Angeles
Viktor Ullmann:
Piano Sonata Nr. 7 (1944) &
"The Lay of Love and Death of the Cornet Christoph Rilke" (1944)
12 excerpts from the poem by Rainer Maria Rilke for speaker and piano
As Cinematic-Musical-Montage
Produced and directed by Gwyneth Bravo with the support of REZN8's founder Paul Sidlo and featuring live performances by Neal Stulberg and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert, this multi-media program presents composer Viktor Ullmann's final 1944 works—the Piano Sonata No.7 and his melodrama The Lay of Love and Death of Cornet Christopher Rilke — against a cinematic backdrop. In the spirit of early film and Erwin Piscator's experimental Berlin theater of the 1920s, the production re-imagines the theater and concert hall as a cinematic space where the live performance of these works takes place inside a cinematic framework, where a kaleidoscope of projected and slowly shifting montage images serves as a visual counterpoint to the poetry and music. Employing a postmodern compositional aesthetic, her film, which Robert Elias, President of the OREL Foundation, describes as "a moving and beautifully wrought immersive work of art," unfolds in thirteen, short movements and is comprised of a series of densely-textured images constructed from the superimposition and animation of a multi-layered and harmonically-conceived series of visual elements.
Neal Stulberg, Recitation
Steven Vanhauwaert, Piano
Paul Sidlo, Technical Production & Design
Gwyneth Bravo, Producer & Artistic Director
For more information and tickets, please go to the following website: http://musicmemorymetamorphosis.brownpapertickets.com/
Admission: Members & Students $10, General Admission $25
Location: Villa Aurora, 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 6:30 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!
Two Who Dared
Los Angeles
Villa Aurora, Artemis Joukowsky III and Robert Lemelson present
Two Who Dared - A documentary by Artemis Joukowsky III (USA, 2012, 76 min., digital)
Q & A and reception for the filmmaker after the screening.
This film tells the story of Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp and his wife Martha who, just days prior to the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, left their young children in Wellesley, Massachusetts to help save thousands being persecuted in Eastern Europe.
Who were these American heroes? What drove their willingness to put the well-being of strangers over that of themselves and their family?
Waitstill and Martha were also involved in the Feuchtwangers’ escape from France. They are two of only three Americans who have been honored as “Righteous Among Nations” by Yad Vashem.
Two Who Dared has received a number of awards in 2012 including the Special Jury Prize from the Amsterdam Film Festival; Official Selection, River’s Edge Film Festival, and Redemptive Storyteller Award, Redemptive Film Festival
The screening at Villa Aurora is part of a grassroots, community-based effort, at synagogues, churches, theaters, and schools; in cities world-wide!
For more information visit www.TwoWhoDared.com
Free for members. General admission $5.
Location: 520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272
Street parking is available on Los Liones Drive. Shuttle service begins at 7 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!
Welcoming Reception
Villa Aurora (520 Paseo Miramar, Los Angeles, CA 90272)
Participants
Fine artist Dirk Stewen was born 1972 in Dortmund. He lives and works in Hamburg. After art school he worked as a commercial photographer. Camera work has long been part of his repertoire. In some series, photographic paper is drenched in black ink and exposed to light to create mottled surfaces. Stewen also works with pages taken from antiquated art catalogues, posters, confetti of all sizes and colors, streamers, book covers, and sometimes with industrial prefab wood or metal. Blotting with Indian ink, folding, embroidering, layering one kind of paper on another, printing or copying onto it. He combines the emergent work into ensembles, collages or mural sculptures that cautiously extend into the surrounding space.
During his scholarship at Villa Aurora Dirk Stewen would like to analyze the vegetation of the Californian West Coast. In an artistic way he compares the plants of his own cultural background and its "transplanting" to America. Questions like "What happens with art in exile?" and "In which way can aesthetic be an escape or a safety zone?" will lead him through cultural and natural landscapes.
Dirk Stewen will give an introduction into the way he works and show some images from his last exhibitions in Bregenz (Austria) and New York.
Feuchtwanger Fellow Sviatlana Kurs
Belarusian writer and journalist Sviatlana Kurs (Pseudonymes Eva Vieznaviec, Sviatlana Adziniec) was born in the countryside around Minsk. Ms. Kurs studied philology and graduated from the Belarusian State University in 1994. From 1994 on, she has worked as a journalist for the Belarusian State Radio, newspaper "Svaboda", Radio 101.2, Belarusian Helsinki Committee, Radio Racyja, Transitions Online, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty European Radio for Belarus.
Sviatlana Kurs writes about Belarus in its European context. Her work revolves around topics such as "assimilating evil", "countering platitude", "mixing witchcraft and magic of daily routine", "treating alcoholism religiously and moving forward as an end in itself".
Her works are translated into Polish, Ukrainian and Czech.
On April 30th, Ms. Kurs will read her short story "The Archivist's visit" in both Belarusian and English.
Composer Tom Rojo Poller was born in 1978 in Osnabrück, Germany. He lives and works in Berlin. Tom studied composition in Berlin (University of the Arts) and London (Royal College of Music) and also holds an M.A. in Literature, Philosophy and Musicology from Humboldt University Berlin. His music is often based on references to literature and philosophy. Recent works follow an explicitly experimental approach, trying to explore conceptional issues such as the relation between language, text and music. During his stay he would like to continue on a multi-part project called "Die Unheimlichkeit der Zeit" [The Uncanniness of Time], composing one piece that is based on rehearsal recordings of Stravinsky and Schoenberg as well as researching for a multimedia work about Sunset Boulevard. On the evening of the Welcoming Reception he will perform on the former piano of Ernst Toch two of his pieces: The early "Three Pieces for Piano" and "Zeit ist nicht gutmütig" from the aforementioned "Unheimlichkeit" project.
If you would like to know more about Tom's work, please follow the link!