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Cafe Amsterdam English -
Cultural Programme
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Lecture about Nikolai Roerich and UB in 1926-27 by Ernest von Waldenfels After a summer break of two months Cafe Amsterdam will take up the Wednesday lecture and film series again. Whereas last speaker beginning July has been American bestselling author Jack Weatherford, the new season will be opened by the German writer Ernst von Waldenfels. He will talk about the subject of his latest book, the charismatic Russian painter and guru Nikolai Roerich who spent the winter of 1926-27 in Ulaanbaatar. Roerich, then a world famous man, was in Ulaanbaatar to find a way to Shambala, a mysterious kingdom in Tibet that was supposed to be the abode of the "Mahatmas", the secret rulers of the world. But neither the Lamas in Ulaanbaatar nor the manifold Tibetans in the Mongolian capital could give him the exact location of Shambala. Undeterred he started to put together a caravan that was to bring himself, his wife and his son Juri, a Tibetologist, to the land of snows. Which was anything but easy at the time. Not only where the Soviet advisors, which pulled the strings in the then second socialist state of the world suspicious of the painter, Tibet was also closed to Europeans. How Nikolai Roerich pulled it off and how he managed to leave Ulaanbaatar in the spring of 1927 for Tibet will be subject of this lecture. And of course Ulaanbaatar of 1927, then a holy city where half the population were monks and also such colorful persons as Jacob Bljumkin, who had assasinated the German ambassador in Moscow in 1919 and by 1927 was head of the Soviet secret police in the Mongolian capital. Come to Cafe Amsterdam for this interesting lecture about Nikolai Roerich and Ulaanbaatar of 85 years ago. 
Ernest von Waldenfels |
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This week at Wednesday 16 May at 8pm no film in Cafe Amsterdam but as special event a talk and presentation by Dutchmen Fedde Jorritsma about his world cyclist trip which he started a year ago from Bali and about simple technologies for sustainable living. Below the introduction for coming Wednesday he wrote himself.
Fedde Jorritsma worked in a 4 year project in Central Asia as trainer & facilitator on appropriate technologies. He decided to share his
experiences by traveling by bicycle. In may 2011 he started to cycle
from Bali. On his way to Europe he provides workshops about
sustainable sanitation and renewable energy in a project called "the
turning wheel". So far Fedde conducted over 300 workshop-hours in
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and China, constructed more then 15
technologies, cycled about 8000km and had 5 flat tires.
(www.theturningwheel.org)
Sometimes we experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, as being
far away from our direct environment. The global economy is offering
us complex solutions which we don’t understand anymore. Appropriate
technology (AT) is technology that is designed with special
consideration to the context of its use – including environmental,
ethical, cultural, social, political, and economical aspects of the
community it is intended for (http://www.appropedia.org).
Everybody welcome to come this Wednesday for Fedde's very interesting talk and presentation to our cafe.
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Tomorrow Wednesday 9 May at 8pm we will show in Cafe Amsterdam the 2011 Dutch film "Sonny Boy" directed by Mary Peters and starring Ricky Koole, Sergio Hasselbaink, Daniel van Wijk and Frits Lambrechts. The film is an adaption of a Dutch bestseller which is based on a true story.
"Sonny Boy" is a personal story set against the twilight of Dutch colonialism and the rise of Nazism. After a prologue set in Suriname, the film jumps to the summer of 1928, when young Surinam student Waldemar is sent to The Netherlands to study. He rents a room in the home of Rika, a fierce woman who has just left her strictly religious husband Willem. Waldemar and Rika soon fall in love, much to the initial shock of Willem and her four children. History gets in the way of a happy ending, as Waldemar and Rika become owners of a boarding house and will use the empty bedrooms in the war to hide Jews.
This film is an old-fashioned Dutch epic which hits the right emotional notes. Lush cinematography, set and costume design also enhance the film. Filming took place in Suriname, Holland and Germany.
We will show the film in the original Dutch version with English subtitles.
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Wednesday 2 May will show at 8pm in Cafe Amsterdam the 2010 American western film "True Grit", directed by the Coen brothers. It is he second adoption of Charles Portis' novel of the same name, which was previously filmed in 1969 starring John Wayne. This version stars Jeff Bridges, Hailei Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper.
Storyline: Following the murder of her father by Tom Chaney, 14 year old farm girl Mattie sets out to capture the killer. To help her, she hires the toughest US marshal she can find, a man with "true grit", Reuben Cogburn, Against his wishes, Mattie joins Cogburn in his trek into Indian area in search of the killer Chaney. They are also joined by ranger LaBoeuf, who wants Chaney for his own purposes. The trio find danger and surprises on the journey and each has his or her "grit" tested.
"True Grit" was nominated for 10 Oscars and received universal critical acclaim.
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Today april 25 at 7.30 pm, we will show the film "The Help". The Help is a 2011 drama film adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name, adapted for the screen and directed by Tate Taylor. The film is an ensemble piece about a young white woman, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan, and her relationship with two black maids during Civil Rights era America (the early 1960s). Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a controversial book from the point of view of the maids (referred to as "the help"), exposing the racism they are faced with as they work for white families
Storyline: Set in Mississippi during the 1960s, Skeeter (Stone) is a southern society girl who returns from college determined to become a writer, but turns her friends' lives -- and a Mississippi town -- upside down when she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of prominent southern families. Aibileen (Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper, is the first to open up -- to the dismay of her friends in the tight-knit black community. Despite Skeeter's life-long friendships hanging in the balance, she and Aibileen continue their collaboration and soon more women come forward to tell their stories -- and as it turns out, they have a lot to say. Along the way, unlikely friendships are forged and a new sisterhood emerges, but not before everyone in town has a thing or two to say themselves when they become unwittingly -- and unwillingly -- caught up in the changing times.
Come to see this beautifully played film. 
Review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1454029/ Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ajv_6pUnI |
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