Audre Lorde-The Berlin Years
Newsletter April 2016

Wir kündigen die Audre Lorde Berlin City Tour an!

Audre Lorde, die berühmte afro-amerikanische Dichterin, Autorin und Aktivistin, hat von 1984 bis 1992 jährlich Wochen und Monate in Berlin gelebt. Hast du Interesse an der Zeit, die Audre Lorde in Berlin mit Kameradinnen und Freundinnen verbracht hat? Möchtest du die Orte besuchen wo sie gewohnt und an denen sie unterrichtet hat? All dies kannst du mit der Audre Lorde Berlin City Tour erleben – einer digitalen Tour in deutscher und englischer Sprache, die du auf deinem Computer oder smart phone unternehmen kannst. www.audrelordeberlin.com

Im Anhang ist die Ankündigung für alle, die an Audre Lorde und an Berlin interessiert sind! Bitte weiterleiten an Freund_innen, Kolleg_innen, Listen!

Die ersten Reaktionen auf die City Tour sind enthusiastisch – hier einige Beispiele:
Herzlichen Glückwunsch zur Fertigstellung der Audre Lorde City Tour, einer lebendigen und beeindruckenden Zusammenstellung von Audre Lordes Stationen und Wirken in Berlin und eine wahre Fundgrube für Wissenschaftler_innen und Lehrende, die kin- und außerhalb akademischer Strukturen Audre Lordes Werke, ihre Philosophie und ihren vielfältigen Einfluss auf verschiedene Menschen and nachfolgende Generationen weiter vermitteln. ~ Dr. Marion Kraft, Bielefeld, Deutschland

I’ve just posted this on the FB page: A wonderful initiative, a beautiful website and what a wealth of photos, memories and live history! Congratulations to the makers, this is a real gem! ~ Ana Marija Sobocan, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

This is wonderful news and a fitting tribute to a great writer. ~ Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Harvard University, US

…There is wonderful footage contained and invaluable information. It definitely supports and enriches the already existing films and archives of Audre Lorde in the world…Thank you ever so much! ~ Asma-Esmeralda AbdAllah-Portales, Hannover, Germany

…This is awesome! I am currently teaching an undergraduate course in German on Berlin. I will definitely share this with my students an ask them to write a paragraph reaction to it. ~ Prof. Priscilla Layne, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC, US

Merci Dagmar, je viens de regarde le “city tour”, très intéressant! Je fais circuler l’information. ~ Suzette Robichon, Paris, France

Es gibt noch weitere erfreuliche Nachrichten:

Der Film “Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992” ist 2015/16 auf vier weiteren Festivals gelaufen: in Glasgow, UK, in Jakarta, Indonesien und in Lagos, Nigerien, und er erhielt zwei Gold Awards als bester Dokumentarfilm bei den Festivals in Jakarta. Dies bedeutet, dass der Film bei 68 Festivals gezeigt wurde und sieben Preise erhalten hat! (Einzelheiten auf der Webseite www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com)

The film “Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years 1984 to 1992” was screened at four more festivals in 2015/16 in Glasgow,UK, in Jakarta, Indonesia and in Lagos, Nigeria and it received two Gold Awards as best documentary at the festivals in Indonesia. This means that the film has been shown at 68 festivals and has received seven awards! (Details on the website)

There have been numerous screenings – we know only of the 17 which we were informed of, and they took place in Italy, Belgium, the UK, the US, Austria, Germany and Nigeria. Special, not only for us, was the screening at the Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, US on March 26 – to our knowledge the first screening at a synagogue. Ika Hügel-Marshall and I attended. About 200 people came, and the film received a standing ovation!

Further news center on two new publications on Audre Lorde. Last July, the anthology Audre Lorde’s Transnational Legacies, ed. Stella Bolaki and Sabine Broeck, was published by the University of Massachussetts Press (the publisher of the Showing Our Colors. Afro-German women speak out, the English edition of Farbe Bekennen. Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte). The book investigates Lorde’s worldwide academic and activist influence. (It includes an article on the making of the film.)

http://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/audre-lorde%E2%80%99s-transnational-legacies

Gloria I. Joseph’s great bio/anthology The Wind is Spirit: The Life, Love and Legacy of Audre Lorde is of a more personal nature. Joseph combines her own voice with many others. The book was launched in New York by her and the publisher villarosa media on Lorde’s birthday February 18 and has received strong positive responses. (www.villarosamedia.com)

I want to close this newsletter with the words of the singer and performer Shishani Vranckx:

Dear Dagmar, we met at Massimadi Festival 2014 (Festival des films et des arts LGBTQ in Brussels). Earlier this month I performed at an event in Amsterdam, honouring Audre Lorde’s work. I knew of Audre’s work through the movie screening (Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years) at Massimadi. I felt a resonance in her life through mine. I forgot about it. Now, with the show I had to prepare two of her poems and interpret them, and I’ve been glued to every publication of her since,  and I’m continuing my “work” – as we all should – together. 
I hope you are well, and I’m sending lots of love.
~ Shishani

You can see/hear Shishani’s beautiful rendition of Audre’s poems “Dream/Songs from the Moon of Beulah Land iV” and “A Litany for Survival” at the event Grote Denkers: Audre Lorde. She performs at the very beginning and the very end. Here the link - scroll to Zondag March 6: http://www.debalie.nl/de-balie-tv/

May Audre’s words continue to energize and encourage people worldwide!

Dagmar Schultz

Click HERE to purchase your North American DVD (NTSC) today.
The European DVD (PAL) is available from www.jcp.de. The DVD is in English with subtitles in German, French and Spanish.