Looks so good! Opening-night movie as GERMAN CURRENTS Film Festival returns

Film
Madame Houpflé (Maria Furtwängler) in Confessions of Felix Krull (2021 Los Angeles is somewhat unsteadily getting back onto its feet as the international capital of film that it is. And here comes the German Currents Film Festival. We’re electrified! The return of in-personal screenings (there is also a virtual option for stay-at-homes) is frankly joyful. ...

Sasha Waltz ‘Kreatur’ in U.S. premiere at German Currents Film Festival

Dance · Film
The acclaimed German dance company, Sasha Waltz & Guests, will celebrate the US premiere of its critically hailed dance film, Kreatur, as the closing night event of the German Currents Film Festival, presenting outstanding German, Austrian and Swiss Films in Los Angeles. The annual festival now in its 12th year runs from October 19 – ...

Fascinating: Tino Sehgal mid-August @ LACMA

Dance · Visual arts
Highlights of the intriguing menu of performance happenings that comprise the European Union-sponsored “Getting to Know European Dance” are two outings by conceptual dance artist Tino Sehgal. Both are being staged at LACMA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in mid August. Born in London in 1976, the Berlin-based Sehgal constructs situations that challenge ...

Get to know European dance, courtesy of the EU Delegation to the U.S.

Dance · Theater
A fascinating trio of works of avant-garde German choreography and performance is being presented around town, soon, sponsored by the Getting To Know Europe program, awarded by the Delegation of the European Union to the United States and hosted by the Goethe Institut of Los Angeles, and its savvy director Fareed Majari. This virtual mini festival ...

Meg Stuart: female brutalism tinged by vulnerability

Dance
At left, a portrait of the expatriate choreographer Meg Stuart who is visiting Los Angeles this week. Her bravura solo, “Hunter” will be  performed at REDCAT this weekend. Many choreographers in Los Angeles will find Meg fascinating and real. I am personally very attracted by her distinctive brand of female brutalism — mixing raw emotion ...

‘German Currents’ Film Festival reaches 10-year mark

Film
It’s a decade, this year, for the annual German Currents film festival in Los Angeles, co-sponsored by The Goethe Institute and the American Cinematheque. Fittingly, the program has been expanded to include 10 Los Angeles premieres, peppered with conversations with prolific German directors, writers and actors. Award winning director Wolfgang Becker (“Good Bye Lenin!”) will ...

The vampire lurches to a live score: NOSFERATU @ Villa Aurora

Film · Music
Markus Horn, known for his intense symbiosis of film and music made clear in his score for Fritz Lang’s Metropolis has done it again. With Nosferatu he presents his second soundtrack to a German silent classic, which opens this year’s San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. Now the house on haunted hill gets its turn. ...

Four walls hold haunting memories in “An Apartment in Berlin”

Architecture & Design · Film
“An Apartment in Berlin” feels like just the right movie to see after our Sunday visit to the Skirball Center’s Light and Noir, a highly affecting exhibit which through multimedia recounts the lives of emigres and exiles who fled European anti-Semitism and wended their way to Los Angeles to contribute brilliantly in the film industry. ...

Visit Spain, Czech Republic, both on Wilshire Boulevard

Film
Two European films, both from a similar era, will enjoy screenings soon, along the Wilshire corridor: “Goya” at the Goethe Institut and “Closely Watched Trains” at the Academy. Having attained boundless wealth and iconic status as a painter in the court of King Carlos IV, Goya falls head over heels for a beautiful princess while ...

Koplowitz driven underground with “Red Line Time” 1

Dance
We received an intriguing note from our friend Stephan Koplowitz, the Bessie-bearing, Guggenheim-garnering, Alpert-awarded choreographer, who is also Dean of Dance of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts. Despite all of Steve’s awards and accolades he’s apparently being driven underground. And he seems to like it! Writes Steve: I’m proud to say ...