Side Programme

Monday, February 29th, 18:00, Salon uporabnih umetnosti Maribor

Matthias Göritz (1969) is a German novelist, poet and translator. Among other languages, Göritz also translates from Slovene (Šteger, Pahor).

His novel Dreamers and Sinners, published in 2013 by the reputable C. H. Beck publishing house, tells the story of a young journalist who gets the opportunity to interview a key personality of German film - an ageing, somewhat mysterious producer who has, plagued by an illness, put all his money and ideas into a film project called Gleiwitz, after a Polish town where the Germans tried to act out the beginning of World War II. The lead female role would supposedly be taken by Nicole Kidman and the film would be directed by Ridley Scott. However, the project hits a snag and the media are fishing for dirty details, while the old man plays cat and mouse with the interviewer, who is also not as disinterested as he had seemed. In spite of everything, the great secret of the producer's life gradually unfolds, and he and the journalist slowly establish a special kind of confidential relationship that results in a surprising twist. Göritz's tense and dynamic dialogue-based novel full of references that are always clever and sometimes amazingly entertaining tells a vivid story about fathers and sons and examines the problem of art at the crossroads of the forces of business, mass viewership and the truth.

The event will be hosted by Urška P. Černe.