Appearing for the first time in the United States, acclaimed Catalan filmmaker Pere Portabella will take part in a two-day event entitled “Pere Portabella: A Catalan Master Filmmaker in New York (At Last)” at New York University’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, 53 Washington Square South, Thursday and Friday, September 27 and 28. The event, which is co-hosted with NYU’s Catalan Center, is free and open to the public; for more information, call 212.998.3650; or visit www.nyu.edu/kjc.
Portabella, who is known for his avant-garde films and whose work has been shown very rarely in the U.S., will be present for the opening session of this event. On Thursday, September 27, at 4 p.m., Portabella will be in dialogue with film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum. This discussion is moderated by Mark Nash, Royal College of Art, London, and co-curator with Laurence Kardish, The Museum of Modern Art, of the Portabella film series running concurrently at MoMA.
On Friday, September 28, three events focus on Portabella’s work. At 1 p.m., a roundtable, “Portabella in Context,” will feature artist and filmmaker Marcelo Expósito and Santos Zunzunegui, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain. At 3 p.m. a talk by Fèlix Fanés, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, titled “Portabella in the Catalan Context,” will focus on the films in the framework of the Catalan arts. And at 4 p.m., a dialogue between Portabella and Richard Peña, director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will discuss the creative process in his filmmaking.
This event is in English, Spanish, and Catalan. Simultaneous translation will be provided. It is co-sponsored with NYU’s Center for European and Mediterranean Studies, and presented in conjunction with The Museum of Modern Art, where the Portabella film series, featuring the U.S. premiere of his latest film, is on view between September 26 and October 6. Visit www.moma.org for further information.