schadenfreude
after a month of procrastination and insecurity, i submitted a proposal to start a film club at the GI. i wrote this pretty lengthy (4 paragraph) e-mail to uwe and karin and, though immediately convinced they'd shoot it down (in the hallway, when asked if he had got my email, uwe told me "keine Zeit!"), they were, apparently, into the idea. the germans, at least the middle-aged americanized ones i regularly interact with at work & over e-mail, are pretty good with the backhand. each e-mail always reads supportive and always starts out with a "so excited about your excitement!"-type epithet, but there's a total sense of negative suggestion as well. the initial response i got for the idea was basically, "great idea and great enthusiasm", followed by "you'll have to do all the work getting the films as well as promoting (flyers, image & text for the website/newsletter). just so you know, we've had a film group in the past but it died out from dwindling attendance. when we show dvds here, no one comes. maybe you can mobilize more people!". she also asked for a screening list for the year, which i submitted last night:
September:
Chinesiches Roulette - (1976)
Oktober:
M (1931)
November:
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schonheit (1938)
Dezember:
Das Versprechen (1995)
Januar:
Benny's Video (1992)
Februar:
Sunrise (1927)
Marz:
Jeder fur sich und Gott gegen alle (1974)
April:
/
Der Fangschuss / Der Junge Torless(1976) / (1966)
Mai:
Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)
Juni:
Die Dritte Generation (1979)
this morning's response was just as dissembled. "wow, interesting list! the one issue is the leni riefenstahl: we have an unwritten agreement to never show any of her movies at any of the Goethe Institutes. could you think of a substitute for that one? i've got a few of the rest in the library - how do you plan on getting the titles? you know we have no budget to buy them?". first off, the question of whether leni riefenstahl is or is not a nazi aside, the goethe institut is the german government supported cultural pseudo-branch of their u.s. embassies. they're responsible, primarily, for promoting the german arts, language, and culture throughout the world (that sounds pretty nazi, but it's not like that). they run a ton of courses and programs throughout schools and museums and theaters, and it's ridiculous that they'd put an absolute ban on the screening of any german artist. i totally wanted to send back something that worked in the phrase "those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it" but realized that something like that wouldn't have any effect unless it were written in one's own moonblood. besides, who the fuck cares? i told her i'd show some romy schneider movie or something and she said, "Fraulein schneider is always a delight to watch!". UGH. whatever - i am just going to serve a ton of wine and i'll probably end up making posters of screen shots with speech bubbles drawn in. Mist!
KUNST IST FREIE!
September:
Chinesiches Roulette - (1976)
Oktober:
M (1931)
November:
Olympia 2. Teil - Fest der Schonheit (1938)
Dezember:
Das Versprechen (1995)
Januar:
Benny's Video (1992)
Februar:
Sunrise (1927)
Marz:
Jeder fur sich und Gott gegen alle (1974)
April:
/
Der Fangschuss / Der Junge Torless(1976) / (1966)
Mai:
Good Bye, Lenin! (2003)
Juni:
Die Dritte Generation (1979)
this morning's response was just as dissembled. "wow, interesting list! the one issue is the leni riefenstahl: we have an unwritten agreement to never show any of her movies at any of the Goethe Institutes. could you think of a substitute for that one? i've got a few of the rest in the library - how do you plan on getting the titles? you know we have no budget to buy them?". first off, the question of whether leni riefenstahl is or is not a nazi aside, the goethe institut is the german government supported cultural pseudo-branch of their u.s. embassies. they're responsible, primarily, for promoting the german arts, language, and culture throughout the world (that sounds pretty nazi, but it's not like that). they run a ton of courses and programs throughout schools and museums and theaters, and it's ridiculous that they'd put an absolute ban on the screening of any german artist. i totally wanted to send back something that worked in the phrase "those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it" but realized that something like that wouldn't have any effect unless it were written in one's own moonblood. besides, who the fuck cares? i told her i'd show some romy schneider movie or something and she said, "Fraulein schneider is always a delight to watch!". UGH. whatever - i am just going to serve a ton of wine and i'll probably end up making posters of screen shots with speech bubbles drawn in. Mist!
KUNST IST FREIE!