Director and producer Farrokh Asadi presents his film in U.S. premiere screening

North Central College will host the U.S. premiere of “Judith,” an epic film adaption by Farrokh Asadi of Bertolt Brecht’s play “The Jewish Wife,” on Feb. 24.

Asadi, who’s also the director and producer, will be on campus to introduce and discuss the film at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, in Smith Hall at Old Main. The free screening is cosponsored by the College’s German program, German Club and Film Club.

“Judith” made its world premiere in Brazil at the 13th International Brecht Symposium in May 2013. Originally from Iran, Asadi gained experience with epic theater starting in 1968 with his production of Bahram Beyzaie’s “Four Boxes,” which subsequently was banned by the Iranian government. Asadi embraced the work of Brecht because of the writer’s political, social and anti-war commentary as well as his epic style. Several of his productions were banned in Iran in the 1970s and 1980s, including Brecht’s “Fear and Misery in the Third Reich” and Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People.” After Asadi’s immigration to the United States, he founded in 2005 the critically acclaimed Epic Players of Chicago Theatre, a nonprofit, culturally diverse, nonpolitical, nonbiased and nonreligious group of theatre lovers dedicated to the aesthetic and scientific nature of the theatre.

Gregory Wolf, North Central’s Dennis and Jean Bauman Professor in the Humanities and professor of German, first connected with Asadi (left) two years ago while working with a student on an essay about Asadi’s production of Brecht’s play “Fear and Misery in the Third Reich.” That essay was ultimately published in the journal “Communications from the International Brecht Society.” The two have stayed in touch because of their mutual interest in Brecht and epic theatre. After the world premiere of “Judith,” they worked to bring the film to campus. During winter term, Wolf is teaching a film class in German where many of the important films they screen deal with German history.

Click here to learn more about the film.