| Theatre Cinema / April 2012 |
 Films by Brigitte Kramer and Jörg Jeshel 5 / 12 / 26 April Cinema Room, Grotowski Institute, Rynek-Ratusz 27 Admission free Thu 5 April, 6pm Passion – Endstation KinshasaGermany 2010; 90’; directed by Jörg Jeshel and Brigitte Kramer and based on Alan Platel’s and Fabrizio Cassol’s play pitié!; choreographed by Alain Platel; performed by Les Ballets C de la B; music score by Fabrizio Cassol; original music by Johann Sebastian Bach, St Matthew Passion; produced by nachtaktivfilm, Unitel Classica and Les Ballets C de la B / Polish subtitles The Belgian dance company Les ballets C de la B was on tour for one year with a piece entitled pitié! The tour took them to major capital cities including Paris, Berlin and Tokyo. After more than hundred performances, the sensational tour concluded in Kinshasa, Congo. Alan Platel’s play is based on St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach, with Jesus played by Black singer Serge Kakudji. It turns out that African audiences are unfamiliar with Bach’s great work and European modern dance. Yet, after years of unrest and political instability, the country is now aspiring to new cultural horizons and exchange. In this poignant film, footage from the guest performance of a European theatre is intercut with present-day images of the capital of Congo. Thu 12 April, 6pm In conversation with Brigitte Kramer and Jörg Jeshel – directors of the films about dance theatre screened as part of Theatre Cinema in March and April Chaired by Anna KrólicaThu 26 April, 6pm Urban BalletGermany 2008; 52’; directed by Jörg Jeshel and Brigitte Kramer; performed by Akram Khan Company, Meg Stuart, Dave St-Pierre, Semperoper Ballett, Olivier Dubois; produced by nachtaktivfilm Urban Ballet is a documentary that sums up the 20th Tanz in August, a modern dance festival held in Berlin. The film shows radical choreographic experiments on theatre and urban stages. Classic ballet, hip-hop, modern dance and urban dance performers dance in unusual urban settings. We see short scenes, solo performances, group routines; diverse genres are interwoven with emotion and forms of expression that the film does not comment on. Brigitte Kramer (born in 1954 in Constance) studied political science, German and theory of music in Marburg/Lahn. She worked as a dramaturg at the Schauspielhaus Theatre in Frankfurt and was a reporter at ZDF (until 1995). Between 1995 and 1997 she was responsible for preparing and producing films at Documenta X. Since 1997 she has been an independent filmmaker making both documentaries and feature films. Her collaborators have included Luc Bondy, Hans Neuenfels, Michael Klier, Gabor Altorjay, Oliver Hirschbiegel and Charles Burnett. Jörg Jeshel (born in 1943 in Berlin) trained as a cinematographer at the Berlin State Optical School (SFOF). Jeshel makes features, television films, series, documentaries and music videos. He has worked with Kaspar Heidelbach, Mischka Popp, Doris Dörrie, Sasha Waltz and others. In 1992 he won the German Cinematography Award for Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue and two Grimme awards – for Kopfleuchten (2000) and for Schwarzwaldhaus 1902 (2003). Kramer and Jeshel have made many films together. They co-run a production company called nachtaktivfilm. In collaboration with the Nuremberg House in Kraków  |