Monthly Archives: November 2016

Hölderlin’s Poetry Translated (I)

In late 2014, I became fascinated by Friedrich Höderlin’s latest poetry that he wrote after 1807, when he was declared insane. In that time, I translated quite a few of his poems into English, trying to preserve rhythm, rhymes and meaning, sometimes steering away from the original text in order to preserve their meaning as I perceive it. Thus, they are not actual word-by-word “translations”, but rather show my perception and interpretation of the poems, sticking close to what I perceive as their meanings.

Autumn (Der Herbst, Friedrich Hölderlin)
Translated by Alexander Tuschinski Continue reading →

My Desert Films (II): Zzyzx

Beside Gold. – which I covered in my previous post – there is another short film I did that is set in a desert. Its name sounds very strange: Zzyzx (pronounced: Zy-Zacks, it rhymes with “Isaac’s”, according to the person who came up with the name). What is the background of this small short film with its found footage look that’s so different from the more experimental Gold.? Continue reading →

My Desert Films (I): Gold.


Gold. One of my most experimental films, with an introduction by Miles Kreuger.

Deserts hold a special fascination for me. In 2011, a road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas sparked my interest in those surroundings. That trip felt magical: Traveling to Las Vegas (receiving an award for my film Mutant Calculator there), and then back to LA for the West Coast Premiere of my film Menschenliebe, it was my very first time in California and Nevada. Watching Mojave desert outside the car’s window – a landscape I had only known from films beforehand – made me feel like I was in an entirely new, fascinating and foreign surrounding. Continue reading →