Berlin-New York Dialogues Film Screening

Friday, 01/04/2008, 6:30pm

The screening will include:

"Hommage à La Sarraz"

1981, East Germany, black and white, 10 min. Director: Lutz Dammbeck First exhibited as part of a program of East German Underground Films, Dammbeck's expressionistic short relocates the Leipzig-based artists' circle known as "Herbstsalon" to La Sarraz palace in Switzerland. In 1929, La Sarraz was the venue of the legendary congress held by protagonists of a new, independent cinema to discuss issues such as individual expression and innovation versus working as an instrument of the state, the taste of the masses, and the relationship between art and life.

Followed by feature screening:

Die Architekten (The Architects)
1990, East Germany (DEFA), color, 97 minutes

Director: Peter Kahane

German with English subtitles

Daniel Brenner, a promising architect in his late thirties, is struggling to produce work under the Communist regime. Granted the opportunity to design a new urban development on the fringes of Berlin, he seeks out fellow idealists from his years in architecture school. Together they envision an innovative, unconventional design, which brings them into conflict with the authorities overseeing the project.

Written in 1987 but shot in September 1989, during the time of the demonstrations throughout East Germany that eventually led to the opening of the East German borders, the film was seemed already obsolete by the time it was released. From a contemporary perspective, the film resonates as both an exacting portrayal of the creative and personal challenges of working in East Germany, as well as a cautionary tale of idealism in the face of bureaucracy and conservatism.

Special feature screenings of films on architecture and Berlin will continue on the following dates at 6:30 p.m.: 01/11/08, 01/18/08, 01/29/08

In conjunction with the exhibition Berlin-New York Dialogues, a Film room will be installed in the South gallery, exhibiting ambient films exploring four decades of engagement by New York artists and architects in the Berlin cityscape.Featuring works by Gordon Matta-Clark, Jack Waters, Ken Kobland, and Matthew Buckingham.

Berlin/NY Film Room equipment sponsorship thanks to Matrix Arts Collective.

Organized by: Center for Architecture
Sponsored by:
Underwriters: Digital Plus, RFR Holding
Patrons: Eurohypo, IULA-International Urban Landscape Award
Lead Sponsors: Carnegie Corporation of New York, Tishman Speyer Properties
Supporter: The German Consulate General New York
Friends: Aucapina Cabinetry, bartcoLighting, Getmapping, Osram Sylvania, The Matrix Art Collective
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Thanks to the generous support of the Alfred Herrhausen Society the exhibition will travel to the DAZ in Berlin in March 2008.

Location: Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place (Directions)

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