... i thought this could be of interest to the members of this list ...
apologies for cross-postings!
ULMERFEST: DISCOVERING EDGAR G. ULMER –
EUROPEAN|AMERICAN FILMMAKER
One of the most versatile and resourceful filmmakers in movie history, Edgar
Georg Ulmer, worked in a bewildering variety of genres, countries, and
languages.
Edgar G. Ulmer was one of the most famous native sons of Olomouc. He was
born in 1904 to a German Jewish family and went on to become one of the most
important filmmakers of the 20th century. He died in Los Angeles in 1972.
Until recently, his biography listed Vienna as his birthplace. Few people
know the fact that he was born in Olomouc - we have found at last the actual
house where was born!
There have been many film festivals world-wide honoring him; in September
2006, we have organized the first academic conference dedicated to his life
and work hosted at Palacký University in Olomouc.
One of the most versatile and resourceful filmmakers in movie history, Edgar
Georg Ulmer, worked in a bewildering variety of genres, countries, and
languages.
Ulmer was born in Olomouc, to a German Jewish family which later moved to
Vienna; originally a student of architecture, he started in the film
industry as a teenager and, serving mainly as a set designer, went back and
forth between Berlin and Hollywood during the early 1930s. After directing
the classic horror film, The Black Cat (1934), Ulmer decided to become
independent from Hollywood and relocated to New York City, where for five
years he directed an assortment of independent “ethnic” features—including a
quartet of Yiddish-language films that have since become classics. (Jewish,
but not Yiddish-speaking, Ulmer worked with many of the leading actors and
writers of New York’s Yiddish theater.) He was one of the most
multi-cultural filmmakers of his time; in addition to his Yiddish films, he
directed the film _Moon Over Harlem_ (1939) with black actors, and two
Ukrainian-language films made in Canada, _Natalka Poltavka_ (1937) and
_Cossacks Across the Danube_ (1939). In 1941, Ulmer returned to Hollywood.
There he continued as an innovator across genres, making the definitive film
noir, _Detour_ (1945), and the classic science-fiction film _Man From Planet
X_ (1951). His last movies were produced in Europe, in several languages.
Ulmer could be considered an underground auteur, as his talent went largely
unrecognized during his lifetime. Ulmer has since taken his place among
cinema’s legendary figures—an inspiration for the French New Wave of the
1960s and a precursor of the American independent film movement, as well as
an innovative and unique stylist in his own right.
The Ulmerfest will take place in Olomouc from Sept 14 - 17 in the Konvikt,
the Department for Film and Media Studies at Palacký University. This event
is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Jewish Museum
Prague, and the Goethe-Institut Prag. Speakers include Ulmer's daughter
Arianné Ulmer-Cipes, and Sharon Pucker Rivo, Executive Director of The
National Center for Jewish Film.
For info, registration, accomodation, send a mail to Bernd Herzogenrath at
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Deadline for registration: June 20, 2006.
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