13034: Slavin: Jorgen Leth Film Retrospective in New York (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: PSlavin@unicefusa.org

Starting next week in New York, Jorgen Leth, Denmark's Royal Honorary
Consul to Southern Haiti, is being honored with a film retropsective at
Scandinavia House. Several of his Haiti films will be screened, including
the United States premiere of "Dreamers," an immediate classic about the
talent, motivation, and imagination of many of Haiti's greatest painters of
the 20th century. The documentary, a series of interviews with Haitian
painters living in Haiti, includes a conversation with Andre Pierre, who
gives a Miles Davis-esque performance.

More information follows.

Patrick

http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/programs.html#fi

Scandinavia House
The Nordic Center in America
58 Park Avenue
(between 37th and 38th St.)
New York, New York 10016
Telephone: 212-879-9779
E-mail: info@amscan.org

Film Program

Tickets: $8 ($6 ASF members). ASF Members may make phone reservations by
calling 212-847-9746. Non-members may purchase tickets in person at
Scandinavia House before screenings or up to one week in advance of
screenings during public hours (Tuesday through Saturday, 12:00 to 6:00
p.m.).

DIRECTORS FROM THE EDGE

This series of retrospectives offers a special opportunity to see the work
of five of the most influential directors making films in the Nordic
countries today. Danish director Jørgen Leth kicks off the series in
September. All films are in English or subtitled in English.

DENMARK: JØRGEN LETH
One of Denmark's most well-known and internationally recognized filmmakers,
Jørgen Leth makes feature films but is best known for his documentaries,
which range in subject from the nature of love to the Tour de France
bicycle race. This retrospective presents highlights from Leth's four
decades of innovative, idiosyncratic, and powerfully poetic filmmaking.

Jørgen Leth will be present on September 12, 13, 14, and 15 to introduce
the evenings' films, and on September 13 he will discuss his work in
conversation with Henning Camre, Director of The Danish Film Institute and
a frequent cinematographer of Leth's films.

Special thanks to the Danish Film Institute, the Royal Danish Consulate
General in New York, Marianne Christensen, Kjeld Kornum, and Karoline Leth.

Thursday, September 12, 6:30 p.m.

A SUNDAY IN HELL (EN FORÅRSDAG I HELVEDE)
* Introduced by the director. Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1976).
Cinematography by Dan Holmberg. 111 min. In English.

This mythic and spectacular dissection of bicycle racing as a ritual
expression of human victory and defeat is Leth's most celebrated work. The
Sunday is April 11, 1976, when the classic and grueling annual bicycle race
from Paris to Roubaix was held. Hell is the cobblestone roads in Northern
France where the champions of the sport battle for victory.

Friday, September 13, 6:00 p.m.

NEW SCENES FROM AMERICA (NYE SCENER FRA AMERIKA)
* WORLD PREMIERE! Introduced by the director. Written and directed by
Jørgen Leth (2002). Cinematography by Dan Holmberg. In English. 35 min.

Using the famous tableau-like style from the award-winning documentary 66
Scenes From America (1981), Leth and cinematographer Dan Holmberg return to
mythic Los Angeles, the spectacular Southwest, the Wild West, and the
ever-vibrant New York, trying to define and contextualize "Americana" via
cinematography and stills. This sensual portrait of objects and people
(famous and not) is a worthy follow-up to the classic documentary released
20 years ago. Once again, Leth places living icons in landscapes and looks
at the art and artists who create American dreams and reality. With cameo
appearances by Rudi Stern, Mark Kurlansky, Patrick Slavin, and Dennis
Hopper, among many others.

THE PERFECT HUMAN (DET PERFEKTE MENNESKE)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1967). Cinematography by Henning
Camre.
In English. 13 min.

This elegant and humorous film-in the guise of a serious anthropological
treatise-spotlights "The Perfect Human," a model of the modern Dane created
by our wishful thinking.

THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS: PILOT (DE FEM BENSPÆND: PITCH)
Directed by Jørgen Leth and Lars von Trier (2001). In Danish with English
subtitles. 3 min.
The initial conversation about a new project, a collaboration between Leth
and von Trier, in which von Trier lays out the rules of the game.

* Discussion with Jørgen Leth and Henning Camre
Following THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS: PILOT, Leth will discuss his work in
conversation with Camre, Director of The Danish Film Institute and a
frequent cinematographer on Leth's films.

Friday, September 13, 8:00 p.m.

FROM HEART TO HAND (FRA HJERTET TIL HÅNDEN)
Written and directed by Tomas Gislason (1994). In Danish and English with
English subtitles. 92 min.

A portrait of Jørgen Leth-poet, journalist, obsessed bard of bicycle sport,
but first and foremost a film director. "My children are in Denmark, and I
live in Haiti" is Leth's simple way of introducing himself, but as he goes
on to discuss his art, his life, and his motivation as well as his demons,
the film creates a compelling portrait of a complex contemporary artist and
personality.

Saturday, September 14, 2:30 p.m.

MOTION PICTURE
* Introduced by the director. Written, directed, and edited by Jørgen Leth
and Ole John (1970). No dialogue. 20 min.

An experimental study in movement, framing, and the synchronicity of sound
and image. Using the Danish tennis player Torben Ulrich as an example, Leth
investigates the nature of film in a carefully-choreographed dance of
serves, shot exercises, and double-exposed or slow motion scenes.

PETER MARTINS - A DANCER (PETER MARTINS - EN DANSER)
Directed by Jørgen Leth (1978). Written by Ole John. Cinematography by Dan
Holmberg.
In English. 54 min.

A late 1970s look at Danish ballet star Peter Martins's art and an
assessment of what makes him unique and highly lauded on the international
stage of ballet.

Shot inside theNew York City Ballet, the film features Suzanne Farrell,
Heather Watts, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins among other performers
and colleagues.

Saturday, September 14, 5:00 p.m.

GOOD AND EVIL (DET GODE OG DET ONDE)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1975). Cinematography by Henning
Camre.
In Danish with English subtitles. 81 min.

Chosen by Lars von Trier to represent Danish film in the touring exhibition
"15x15: European Cinema Heritage," the film is a pseudo-documentary about
nothing less than "Life." Divided into categories such as "Faces,"
"Bodies," "Things," "Necessary Deeds," "Good Thoughts," "Bad Thoughts,"
etc., the film consists of schematic scenes of everyday happenings played
out with a few props in an empty studio.

Sunday, September 15, 2:30 p.m.

THE PERFECT HUMAN (See above on September 13.)
* Introduced by the director.

MOMENTS OF PLAY (DET LEGENDE MENNESKE)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1986). Cinematography by Dan Holmberg.

In English, Creole, Portuguese, and Spanish with English subtitles. 77 min.

Nine chapters of loosely-connected scenes seek to define the act of playing
as a cross-cultural phenomenon and a human condition-neither naïve nor
childish-for which one never grows too old. This image-rich traveling film
was shot in Bali, Brazil, England, Haiti, Spain, the U.S., China, and in
Denmark with Leth's own children.

Sunday, September 15, 5:00 p.m.

NOTES ON LOVE (NOTATER OM KÆRLIGHEDEN)
* Introduced by the director. Directed by Jørgen Leth (1989). Written by
Leth, with Ann Bierlich and Jonas Cornell. Cinematography by Henning Camre
and Dan Holmberg.
In Danish with English subtitles. 90 min.

A somewhat dark film about the nature of love made during a writer's block
crisis. Loosely-structured scenes and recurring themes such as "touch" are
held together by repeated images. Especially poignant is the documentary
material from the Trobriand Islands miming the famous photographs by
anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski, who was seeking documentation of the
nature of love.

Tuesday, September 17, 6:30 p.m.

LIFE IN DENMARK (LIVET I DANMARK)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1971). Cinematography by Henning
Camre.
In Danish with English subtitles. 37 min.

The film gives an idea of what small, exotic Denmark looks like, what the
Danes look like, and how they behave. Nearly 100 Danes are represented in
the film, including a racing cyclist, a Minister of Finance, a popular
actor, and 13 unmarried women from a provincial town.

SØREN ULRIK THOMSEN - POET (JEG ER LEVENDE - SØREN ULRIK THOMSEN)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1999). Cinematography by Dan Holmberg.

In Danish with English subtitles. 40 min.

In this meeting of kindred spirits, poet and director are both connoisseurs
of human nature and storytellers of the first order. Together they open the
viewers' senses to their fascinating world of pictures, rhythm, and words.

Wednesday, September 18, 6:30 p.m.

66 SCENES FROM AMERICA (66 SCENER FRA AMERICA)
Directed by Jørgen Leth (1981). Written by Ole John. Cinematography by Dan
Holmberg.
In Danish and English with English subtitles. 42 min.

Leth's most celebrated film to date made the list of the best 100
documentaries of the 20th Century. Presenting a series of tableau-like
scenes-from Andy Warhol eating a hamburger and giving play-by-play coverage
of what is happening, to John Cage and more anonymous Americans "doing
their thing"-the film is a highly personal and subjective impression of
America.

DREAMERS (DRØMMERE)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (2002). Cinematography by Dan Holmberg,
Alexander Gruszynski, Teit Jørgensen, and Bo Tengberg. In English. 45 min.

A portrait of Haitian painters that celebrates their inexhaustible
creativity and optimism. They are shown as dreamers, mystics, and
storytellers in a country where spiritual forces play an active role in
everyday life.

Wednesday, September 18, 8:15 p.m.

HAITI. UNTITLED (HAITI. UDEN TITEL)
Written and directed by Jørgen Leth (1996). Cinematography by Tomas
Gislason, Alexander Gruszynski, Dan Holmberg, and Jørgen Leth. In Danish,
Creole, and French with English subtitles. 78 min.

A personal documentary about Haiti, Leth's adopted home, where reality
resembles fiction and often borders on the surreal. Leth and his crew have
witnessed dramatic events over a five-year period in a country where death
and horror are part of everyday life and voodoo plays an important part in
politics, but the film captures indelible moments of sensuality and beauty
as well.