Diary of a Lost Girl, with Louise Brooks, screens in Brooklyn

The Diary of a Lost Girl, the now classic German silent film starring screen legend Louise Brooks, will be shown at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City on Sunday, June 20th. It promises to be a memorable occasion.

This special screening is part of the eleven day, multi-film, BAMcinemaFEST. The Diary of a Lost Girl will be shown on the Festival's closing night. The Irish rock group 3epkano - who performed their score to Metropolis to great acclaim at last year’s BAMcinemaFEST - will this year perform an original score to accompany G.W. Pabst’s once controversial 1929 film. Screenings are set for 4:30 and 8:00 pm in the BAM Rose Cinemas.

Priority tickets go on sale for BAM Cinema Club Members on Monday, May 17th. Public tickets go on sale on Monday, May 24th. More information, including ticket availability, can be found on the BAMcinemaFEST website.

The Diary of a Lost Girl marks the second collaboration between the great Austrian-born director and the legendary American actress. The first was Pandora’s Box, also from 1929. It is considered one of the great silent films.

The Diary of a Lost Girl tells the story of Thymian, a young woman forced by circumstance into a life of prostitution. The film was based on a book by Margarete Böhme, arguably one of the most widely read German writers of the early 20th century. Though little known today, The Diary of a Lost Girl was nothing less than a literary sensation when it was first published in 1905. One contemporary scholar has even called it “Perhaps the most notorious and certainly the commercially most successful autobiographical narrative of the early twentieth century.”

Pabst’s film version of The Diary of a Lost Girl stars Fritz Rasp as Thymian’s creepy seducer, and the dancer Valeska Gert as a sadistic reform school disciplinarian. The tragic Jewish actor Kurt Gerron, who appeared in many German films including The Blue Angel (1930) opposite Marlene Dietrich, also has a role in this second adaption of Böhme’s contested book.

When The Diary of a Lost Girl was released in Germany in October, 1929 it was subject to both critical scorn and attacks by the censors. For a period, the film was withdrawn from circulation until considerable cuts were made to its provocative story. Because of poor reviews and because it was a silent film released at the beginning of the sound era, The Diary of a Lost Girl was never shown in the United States until some three decades later. Since the late 1970s, it has been revived regularly.

3epkano is an experimental / instrumental post-rock seven-piece band / ensemble formed in Dublin, Ireland in 2004. They specialize in producing original and innovative soundtracks for films from the silent movie era. 3epkano has accompanied silent films at the Kilkenny Arts Festival, National Gallery of Ireland, Meeting House Square, Sugar Club, Savoy cinema and at the Triskel and Mermaid Arts Centres in Ireland. Their other performances include the village square in Penne d'Agenais in France and Lincoln Center in New York City. In 2007, they performed their score to Pandora’s Box at BAMcinemaFEST.

The June 20th screening of The Diary of a Lost Girl also marks something of a return to BAM for Louise Brooks (1906-1985). Before she became an actress, Brooks was a dancer and member of the world famous Denishawn Dance Company. Brooks spent two seasons with the group, which was founded by the pioneering modern American dancers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. It members included the likes of Charles Weidman and Martha Graham.

Brooks, then still a teenager, danced twice at the Brooklyn Academy of Music while on tour with Denishawn. The first time was on October 22, 1923. The company returned on April 5, 1924.

And now, more than 80 years later, Louise Brooks - dancer, actress, author and muse - makes yet another appearance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

For more info: More on the BAMcinemaFEST and the June 20th screening of The Diary of a Lost Girl can be found at www.bam.org/view.aspx?pid=2208. More on 3epkano can be found on their website at www.smilingpolitelyrecords.com/. More on silent film star Louise Brooks can be found on the Louise Brooks Society website at www.pandorasbox.com.

Thomas Gladysz is a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, so much so he founded the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and fan club devoted to the legendary silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television, and introduced her films around the country. Recently, he edited and wrote the introduction to the "Louise Brooks edition" of Margarete Böhme's classic novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl.

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