Albert Serra in conversation with Alexander García Düttmann at Gower St

Join us on Friday 26th April for an evening with iconoclastic filmmaker Albert Serra discussing his first book in English, A Toast to St Martirià, with writer and philosopher Alexander García Düttmann.

Translated by Matthew Tree, A Toast to St Martirià is an improvised speech given by the cult Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra at the St Martirià fiesta in Banyoles, the town of his birth. Transmitting his subversive attitude and impulsive lust for life, it is a journey through his formative years and early relationships – established in the nightlife of his hometown – that have shaped his particular conception of cinema, art and life. Afterword by Alexander García Düttmann.

This is Albert Serra in his own words.

Albert Serra is a Catalan artist and filmmaker. His films usually depict European myths and literature. In 2001, he co-founded the production company Andergraun Films. His film Honor of the Knights was selected by Cahiers du Cinéma as one of the ten best films of 2007. For Story of My Death, Serra was awarded the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival in 2013. For The Death of Louis XIV, Serra received the Prix Jean Vigo in 2016. Pacifiction was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022.

Alexander García Düttmann was born in Barcelona. He studied philosophy with Alfred Schmidt in Frankfurt and with Jacques Derrida in Paris. He lived and taught in London for twenty years. Today he is Professor of Aesthetics at the University of the Arts in Berlin. He has published several books, including So What, or How to Make Films with Words (2023) and What Does Art Know? For an Aesthetics of Resistance (2015).

Divided is a publisher in Brussels and London. Not knowing is its unpower. At large we publish authors who cannot balance or resolve their contradictions, who struggle to make peace in the industry or genre or category or world in which they end up. There is resistance to categories and commodification. The experimental form of the writing comes out of need. There is no self-preservation if you want change.