Description/Abstract: From Turf Cottage to the Cover of TIME, the Dramatic Life of Holger Cahill, is a fresh new documentary about the life of Sveinn Kristjan Bjarnarson, aka Holger Cahill, who emigrated from Iceland to North America and arrived in New York at the age of 27 where he changed his name, age, and birthplace. He later became acting director of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and in 1935 was appointed by FDR to be national director of the Works Progress Administration - Federal Art Project. Cahill served as Head of the US Contemporary Art Exhibit at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and he was an authority on American Folk Art. Holger Cahill's work shifted the center of the art world from Paris to New York.

Filmmaker Hans Kristjan Arnason has produced, directed, and narrated a breathtaking story which includes interviews with surviving family members, friends, and others: Jane Ann, Cahill’s daughter; Reid White, Cahill's nephew and family friend; and Wendy Jeffers, art historian. The full version debuted with rave reviews at the Gimli film festival in Manitoba in late July, 2009, and the Reykjavik International Film Festival in September 2009.

Hans Kristjan Arnason is the former Director for Public Theatre, Reykavik and co-founder, Director, and Chairman of the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation (including Channel 2). He has lectured in Business Administration and Economics and served as Honorary Vice-Consul for the Netherlands in Iceland. "HKA" is a producer of TV programs (including 20 bio-docs), writer, publisher, tour guide, and owner of Gallery dAda Iceland. He co-authored the national bestseller To Love is to Live with Gunnar Dal, renowned novelist and philosopher, and he has published biographies of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, arctic explorer; COD, "the fish that changed the world"; and Evelyn Stefansson. Presently Hans is Director of the Movement for Active Democracy in Iceland and a fellow/member of numerous other societies, including the Red Cross, Amnesty International, American-Scandinavian Society of New York, and the Consular Association of Iceland.

Mr. Arnason will be joining Teachers College on Monday, November 23 to share his research, drawn from the Archives of American Art, a division of the Smithsonian Institution. He will be accompanied by Sigridur Halldorsdottir Laxness, author, translator, and daughter of Halldor Laxness who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. Hans Kristjan Arnason will be introduced by H.E. Hjalmar W. Hannesson, Ambassador for The Republic of Iceland to The United States of America, previously Iceland's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, as well as Iceland’s ex-ambassador to China and Canada.

Also joining the event will be John Allegrante, recently appointed Deputy Provost, Professor of Health Education and Chair of the Department of Health and Behavior Studies at Teachers College, who was a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Public/Global Health in 2005 and a Fulbright Scholar and Acting Dean in 2007 at Reykjavik University; and Kristine Roome, anthropologist and Assistant Dean of the College who does research and frequently lectures on arts, culture and international affairs. Along with John Allegrante, she has lectured at Reykjavik University and shares a mutual friendship with Hans Kristjan Arnason.

This event is jointly sponsored by the Gottesman Libraries; Office of the Provost; Department of Health and Behavior Studies; and Film and Education Research Academy (FERA), a research, publishing, and teaching collaborative at Teachers College.

Also be sure to see the related news display on Holger Cahill in the Everett Cafe to the tune of Icelandic folk music as performed by Wadsworth Strings.

Where: 306 Russell