Berlin and Beyond Film Festival - Commentary by Ana Elsner

:
Berlin & Beyond, the annual German Film Festival sponsored by Goethe-Institut, presented an impressive array of recent film productions from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Particularly noteworthy were the epic Ludwig II, directed by the late Peter Sehr, Two Lives, Germany's 2014 Oscar entry by Georg Maas, and Measuring the World (Die Vermessung der Welt), based on Daniel Kehlmann's 2005 bestseller.

After having read the book Die Vermessung der Welt and subsequently having watched the film, bibliophile Ana Elsner made these observations:

"The novel is a well crafted and highly imaginative amalgam of fact and fiction, written with a beguiling wit. Kehlmann calls his process "the inventing of truth". - In this semi-historical expose the author puts his own spin on chronicling and contrasting the lives of two brilliant and eccentric 19th-century German scientists, the naturalist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and the mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855), with a focus on how their life paths diverged in their individual approaches to the challenge of measuring the world.
As is rarely the case, the author of the book, Daniel Kehlmann, was also the screenwriter, resulting in the closest adherence of the cinematic version to the original dramatic tension and overall tenor of his book.
The cinematograph by Slavomir Idziak is beautifully executed and serves to effectively underline the narrative."

:

.
Among the Festival guests were composer Vincent Russo and international poet Ana Elsner.

"Screenwriting and writing poetry are all about generating pictures that play either in front of your eyes or in the mind's eye. These pictures can be brought to life through cinematography as well as through our own visualization of the imagery expressed in the spoken and the written word.
Whether received via one's optical nerve, or perceived by one's imagination, rich and vivid imagery is perhaps the most impactful of all communication and stirs us the most,"

said Ana Elsner in a conversation following the screening of Daniel Kehlmann's 'Die Vermessung der Welt'.
.
Vincent Russo, a friend of the poet, added: "Music also can convey powerful images just as film and poetry do. In my compositions I paint pictures using the tools of instrumentation and orchestration."
.
Ana Elsner summarized her appreciation of the Festival program,

"My compliments to Goethe-Institut, especially to Sophoan Sorn, Sabine Erlenwein and Jale Yoldas, on enriching the American cultural community by showcasing a panoply of outstanding films from the German speaking world at the 2014 Berlin & Beyond Film Festival.
My personal highlight was the opportunity to watch the film version of Daniel Kehlmann's 'Die Vermessung der Welt' ('Measuring the World'), a most successful adaptation of the original novel."

.

.
~ Go beyond Berlin:

* Click here to go beyond Berlin and
visit bilingual poet Ana Elsner on the web *

.
Other Links
^ Review
^ Vincent Russo
^ Ana Elsner
^ Goethe-Institut
.

International Tribute to Poet Susan Birkeland

:

Through the magic of the world-wide-web the works of San Francisco poet Susan Birkeland (January 18, 1961 - November 18, 2006) have recently been discovered by the organizers of the 2nd European Festival of Poetry which will be held in Antwerp in September. While surfing the internet German poet and festival co-producer Fred Schywek came across Birkeland's poetry. He and his partner Annmarie Sauer decided to include a tribute to Birkeland in this year's festival program in the form of a special audio recording of Susan's poems. Schywek and Sauer flew to San Francisco and arranged a three hour studio session. This recording will be played for the festival audience.


Susan Birkeland died of cancer at age 45. Her poems are given voice by some of the friends who were close to her in her lifetime and who treasure her memory, Bill Mercer, Ana Elsner, Jerry Ferraz, Nicole Savage and Clara Hsu. This special reading is a powerful manifestation of Susie's boundless spirit, sparkling personality and uninhibited creative force. Her poetry resonates with people across continents and nationalities, and beyond time.

~:~

Fellow poet and friend Ana Elsner paints this picture of Susie
:


SUSIE

A Portrait-Poem by Ana Elsner


The flash of an alluring smile,
perhaps accompanied by a soft, girlish giggle,
sucks you into her vortex.

Now playfully mischievous,
now profoundly compassionate,
she plays your heartstrings like so many piano keys.

And she knows it.
And she knows you, and you know her.

Pert and childlike, yet deliciously seductive,
that short, curly-haired quicksilver poet with the angelic face
delivers a high voltage charge straight to your gut.

Stripping herself naked of all pretensions,
the piercing honesty and singular directness of her poems
compel you to take stock of your own frailties and perceptions.

She takes you by the hand
and leads you through the labyrinth of human feeling,
month by month, January through December.

Now this bruised angel has taken flight and left us far behind,
we, who are still mired in our earthbound, self-perceived reality.

Yet, somehow, if you listen closely,
you hear an echo of her voice in your most secret mind.
And, somehow, if you pause but for a moment,
you can still feel the lightness of her touch upon your soul.


© Ana Elsner



Click to find out more about Susie and read her poems


: