Master puppeteer debuts new Don Quixote film at Purdue
"Don Quixote," is the second installment in Steven Ritz-Barr's "Classics in Miniature," a series of 30-minute films based on great works of literature and featuring puppets. Ritz-Barr, a master puppeteer who contributed to "Batman Returns," "Men in Black" and "Aliens Resurrection," will debut his new film "Don Quixote" on March 3 at Purdue University.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A master puppeteer who contributed to "Batman Returns," "Men in Black" and "Aliens Resurrection" will debut his new film "Don Quixote" on March 3 at Purdue University.
"Don Quixote," is the second installment in Steven Ritz-Barr's "Classics in Miniature," a series of 30-minute films based on great works of literature and featuring puppets. "Faust" was the first film in the series.
The film's showing, which is free and open to the public, is 7 p.m. at the Lafayette Theater, 600 Main Street, and will include a question and answer session with Ritz-Barr. This is the first time the film will be shown to the public. A reception will follow the screening at the Holiday Inn Select, 515 South Street, Lafayette, and DVDs of the film will be sold for $20.
Purdue professor Howard Mancing and graduate student Mass Giorgini, who are working on a film history of Don Quixote, consulted with Ritz-Barr, and also prepared a Spanish script for "Don Quixote." Mancing and Giorgini also will present a brief overview of Don Quixote in film during the March 3 event. Mancing is a Don Quixote expert and is president of the Cervantes Society of America, as well as author of "The Chivalric World of Don Quixote" and "The Cervantes Encyclopedia."
Ritz-Barr will be at Purdue from March 1-5 to visit classes and speak with students and faculty. He studied puppetry arts from Jean-Loup Temporal in Paris while studying at L’Ecole Jacques LeCoq in 1980. He also has worked on "Team America: World Police" and "Muppets Tonight," and has performed thousands of his own live shows for children.
Ritz-Barr's visit is sponsored by Film Video Studies, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Latino Cultural Center, College of Liberal Arts, Ivy Tech, Comparative Literature, the Department of English, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and Latin American and Latino Studies.
"Don Quixote," which was published by Miguel de Cervantes more than 400 years ago, is believed to be the world's first novel. The story, which is featured in dozens of movies, plays and other books, is about an idealistic old knight-errant who is obsessed with chivalry.
Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu
Sources: Howard Mancing, 765-494-8398, mancing@purdue.edu
Mass Giorgini, massgiorgini@purdue.edu
Lynda Lester, contact for Steven Ritz-Barr, 818-901-1717, lelester@aol.com