David Amram – The first 80 years

In honor of jazz virtuoso David Amram and Allen Ginsberg, one of the key figures of the Beat Generation, a three-day festival is to take place at the ZKM from July 4 to 6. Alongside a European premiere and a further film screening, there will also be a concert with two famous jazz musicians and a BEAT BRUNCH with a poetry reading.
 

Program

The suporting film "Pull my Daisy" is the photographer Robert Franck’s first film in collaboratin with Alfred Leslie. All the important themes of the Beat Generation who sought to provide an alternative to the existing order with their poetic designs and lifestyles, are treated.
According to Allen Ginsberg, this short film is one of the first film manifestos, which show a new wave of films on the fringes of Hollywood productions, in which the actors present themselves as they were in real life: impartial and spontaneous.

On the same evening, the main film "David Amram – The first 80 years" celebrates its European premiere at the ZKM. It provides insights into the life and influence of David Amram, who produced music with Allen Ginsberg, shot films with Jack Kerouac, with whom he together brought into being the so-called Jazz Poetry Sessions, even when Leonard Bernstein’s second conductor directed the biggest orchestra in the world. However, David Amram is, first and foremost, a jazz great, who travelled the globe with musicians such as Bob Dylan, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie or Paquito D’Rivera, who composed numerous concert pieces and film music and even today, at over 80 years old travels the world as ambassador of creativity and peace. David Amram will be present in person at the event.