Acclaimed filmmaker Ari Folman to be featured at April 23 Artspeaks event

Updated April 19: Gretchen Helfrich, JD'09, associate at Mayer Brown LLP and former host of the WBEZ talk show 'Odyssey,' will lead the April 23 public conversation with Ari Folman.

Award-winning Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman will join Prof. David Levin [1] for a public conversation at 7:30 p.m. April 23 as part of UChicago’s Artspeaks [2] 2012 series.

The event will take place in the 474-seat Performance Hall at the [3]Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, [4] during the preview period of the new building. Folman will share a glimpse into the teeming cinematic imagination that brought moviegoers Waltz with Bashir [5], the 2009 Golden Globe-winning documentary that revolutionized the aesthetic possibilities of animation.

Folman’s latest project, The Congress, freely adapts Stanislaw Lem’s 1971 sci-fi novel The Futurological Congress and stars Robin Wright Penn and Jon Hamm. Folman’s other films include Comfortably Numb (1991) and Saint Clara (1996), which he both wrote and directed. Folman has written for several successful Israeli TV series, including Saturdays & Holidays, Parashat Hashavua and the award-winning In Treatment (BeTipul), which was the basis for the acclaimed HBO series with Gabriel Byrne.

Levin is professor in Germanic Studies, Cinema & Media Studies, and the Theater and Performance Studie [6]s [6]. In June 2011 he was appointed the inaugural director of the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry [7], a new collaborative center for artists and scholars. From 2007-10, he was co-director of the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities [8].

Now in its eighth season, the Artspeaks series engages internationally renowned artists from varying disciplines in creative conversations with the University of Chicago and the community. Combining public presentations and workshops, the Artspeaks programs offer a rare encounter with eminent talent in an intimate setting. Previous seasons have included visits by photographers, painters, musicians, authors and filmmakers, including notable figures such as Dame A.S. Byatt, Uri Caine, Atom Egoyan, Oskar Eustis, Leon Fleisher, David Henry Hwang, Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris, Peter Sellars, Anna Deavere Smith, Kara Walker and John Zorn.

Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 students with valid ID. To reserve tickets in advance, call 773-702-8080 or visit the box office, Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., 5720 S. Woodlawn Ave. Tickets can be purchased at the door if available. A reception with the artist will follow. Visit artspeaks.uchicago.edu [9] for more information.

Artspeaks is made possible by the University of Chicago Arts Council and the Office of the President.