A poem by Cavafy

Readers of this newsletter might remember that we spent a very special Ramadan in Alexandria last November, tracing The Old Poet of Durrell's Alexandria Quartet in this worn-out city by the light blue sea.
Our friend Mahmoud Aboudoma, inspiring leader of the People's theatre, gave us the pleasure of reciting one of Cavafy's poems: "Grey".

Nicholas (Wakeham) who went there with me and our third camera friend Piri (Koman), has edited a short "teaser" for our future viewers and producers out of the beautiful material his camera captured. Please share it with us.
English translation of the verse follows below. A Swedish version is subtitled to the film.
"With love and light", as the Alexandrian greeting says!

Carl Henrik

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"GREY"
Looking at a half-grey opal
I remembered two beautiful grey eyes
I had seen; it must have been twenty years ago…

For a month we loved each other.
The he went away, I believe to Smyrna,
to work there, and we never saw each other after that.

The grey eyes - if he is alive - must have grown ugly;
the handsome face must have spoiled.

Dear Memory, preserve them as they used to be.
And, Memory, bring back to me tonight all that you can,
of this love of mine, all that you can.

Constantine P. Cavafy (1917)

 

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ARTWORK
Writer and filmmaker; latest novel "Passé simple" 2001, latest film show "Sniper" 2003;

See Films and Books on this site for complete listings, News for shows and readings.

STUDIES, RESEARCH, LECTURES
Professor of Art and Technology, Artistic coordinator, K3, Malmö University.

See News for current lectures and projects.

THE "SHIFT" AND "IMAGINEERING" E.A.T. (Sweden) PROGRAMS
5-year SHIFT (Skiften) program launched in 1998 to promote studies in attitudes and expressions in the arts related to important shifts in times and manners, to support concrete field cooperation between Academia and Art, to launch the international SHIFT LECTURES.

Experimental "IMAGINEERING" program launched in 1999 to promote a joint postgraduate study and research program between artists and engineers, in the tradition of the Swedish-American E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) initiated in the middle 60's. Courses start September 2, 2002.

On top of these cultural-exchange and training programs, an
innovative arts research project - E.A.T. (Sweden) - was launched in early 2003 to find new paths for doctoral research, combining artistic projects and process with stringent analysis and theoretical development. A test group of 12 art workers and researchers will, in a cooperation between K3 and the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm, work out such a project. Dr. Henrik Karlsson, established investigator of the theme, will advise the group.

See further www.skiften.com and www.k3.mah.se

MY BACKGROUND
Born 1937 in Motala, Sweden. Master of Arts, Uppsala and Stockholm Universities 1961. Writer, journalist and filmmaker since 1965, film and media producer. Director of the Swedish Cultural Center (CCS) in Paris 1988, Counselor at the Swedish Embassy. Director of Cultural Projects Abroad at the Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen 1996. Artistic Director of K3, Malmo University 1998. Married to Elisabeth Secher Svenstedt, producer at the Jewish Theatre of Stockholm. Four children: Eva, Fredrik, Carl David and Amelie. Residence in Malmö.

FURTHER ACTIVITIES
Union activist in FilmCentrum and Swedish Writers' Union. Counsellor to the Danish Cultural Fund (Cinema, Dance and Drama). Columnist of Sydsvenska Dagbladet (Malmö). Partner and co-founder of the Swe-Danes Moving Image Research group (MIR).

See News for current programs.

DISTINCTIONS
Counselor to the Danish Government: Kulturfonden, 2002

Officier de l'Ordre des arts et des letters, Paris 2001

The Swedish Academy Special Award, Stockholm 2000

South African Government Cultural Exchange Award ("Shuttle -99")

Special Diploma of the Swedish Inmates' Association

http://www.svenstedt.nu