Slovenian Cultural Centre in Berlin to be inaugurated
A special inauguration ceremony at the Kino Babylon cinema will feature a cultural programme, at which works by some of the authors based in Berlin and Slovenia will be performed for the first time.
The highlight of the event will be a play by Slovenian director Diego de Brea based on the silent film Als ich tot war (When I Was Dead), by acclaimed German director Ernst Lubitsch.
"It is a play based on Lubitsch's first silent feature-length film, which had been considered lost for a long time, until it was found in Slovenia in 1994," said head of the Slovenian Culture Centre Gregor Jagodič.
The play will be performed by an ensemble of the Ljubljana SNG Drama theatre and will, just like the film, be silent and accompanied by the piano.
The centre, which was launched in June this year, has its headquarters at the Slovenian Embassy in Berlin and organises events in various locations around Germany.
According to the head of the centre Jagodič, its main concern is the promotion of Slovenian culture and the country's artists.
He told the STA that the centre was still in its early phases, but he had already been able to establish a wide network of contacts.
The centre cooperates with governmental and non-governmental organisations and is planned to establish a partnership with the Vienna-based Slovenian cultural centre SKICA, he said.
The centre's programmes are approved and funded by the Ministry of Culture, which, according to Jagodič, strives to make Slovenia become the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2021, but also aims to promote Slovenia in all other areas of art, including music, performance art and media art.
In December, the centre is planning to host guest performances by Ljubljana University's Tone Tomšič Choir and the String Chamber Orchestra of the Ljubljana Academy of Music, among others.
The centre will also launch an exhibition of photographs by Urban Cerjak, as well as a reading of German translations of Slovenian literary works, organised by the Berlin-based Slovenian arts and culture society Periskop.