Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize

Each year, a filmmaker whose work presents an example of the artistic quality and moral bravery embodied in Andrzej Wajda's own films is selected by a jury to become the recipient of the prize. We look for people who have demonstrated great bravery and determination, or who show early promise. We also look for people who have been neglected or underappreciated.

In 1999 the ACF Freedom Prize was awarded to Andrzej Wajda in Berlin, and thereafter was named after him. Recipients to date: 2000 - Kira Muratova, Ukraine/Russia; 2001 - Jan Svankmajer, Czech Republic; 2002 - Andreas Dresen, Germany;

2003 - Alexander Sokurov, Russia; 2004 - Marcel Lozinski, Poland; 2005 - Bela Tarr, Hungary

This year, the Freedom Film Festival highlights winners Andreas Dresen and Jan Svankmajer.

ANDREAS DRESEN
Born in 1963, Dresen was first a trainee at the DEFA film studios before attending the state-run Konrad Wolf Film School in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He attended from 1986 to 1991, as his country was convulsed by protest, the Wall fell, and Eastern society and culture was absorbed into West Germany.

Dresen infuses his films with a sense of curiosity about everyday people and the intricacies of daily life. His second feature, "Night Shapes," (Nachtgestalten) was nominated for the German Film Prize in 5 categories, winning the Silver prize for Best Film, as well as a Golden Bear for Best Actor at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival.

When asked whether he considers "Nightshapes" a political film, Dresen says, "First and foremost, we're telling a story about people and what befalls them. And if you do that effectively enough, the result is always political in some way or another? I believe there's a considerable demand to recognize something of our own reality on the cinema screen? in recent years the social situation in our country has changed a lot-society is drifting apart and becoming more strongly polarized; this is what the stories we tell in our films should be about?"

JAN SVANKMAJER
Born in Prague, in former Czechoslovakia, Jan Svankmajer has spent nearly half a century producing art that is inventive, individual and bold. While his name may still not be widely known to the general public, his influence can be seen in the mass media today, from the latest television programs, music videos and advertisements to blockbuster films such as "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Toy Story" and "Alien Resurrection". The more than 20 short films and four features he has made since the 1960s have collectively won over 30 international festival prizes and honors. However, it was only in the mid-1980s that Svankmajer's films have emerged from the Communist bloc to find a wider audience outside the film festival and arts circuits.

Svankmajer's films are populated with a multitude of different "actors" from human beings to dolls, vegetables, pencil sharpeners, toy blocks, socks and even stuffed corpses of animals. Macabre and violent, but also witty and thought provoking, his films conjure up various fantastical images to illustrate some very jarring truths about society, a fact not always appreciated by the authorities.

Film Schedule
Goethe Institut-Los Angeles
5750 Wilshire Boulevard
Admission free

Thursday May 19
7:30pm NACHTGESTALTEN (Night Shapes), 2001.
Dresen's films are informed by the experience of life in the DDR-east Germany-and a gentle humanism that opens a window into the hearts and minds of ordinary people facing-yet not always surmounting-life's challenges. 104 min.

Thursday May 19
7:30pm THE DEATH OF STALINISM,, 1990. A bust of Stalin is cut open on an operating table, leading to an elaborate animated depiction of Czech history from 1948 (the Communist takeover) to 1989 (the Velvet Revolution). 10 min.

Friday May 20
7:00pm DIE POLIZISTIN (The Policewoman), 2000.
A wry, sad comedy of real urban life. For Dresen, portraying the human condition with compassion and insight is itself a political act. 95 min.

Friday May 20
9:00pm ALICE,1989.
Jan Svankmajer's strikingly original interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale. 84 min.