Free Screening of Latest William Kentridge Film at Held at World Financial Center

Acclaimed South African artist William Kentridge will dominate New York City's arts calendar in the coming months with works at MOMA and the Metropolitan Opera, but there's only one major venue where audiences can see his work for free.

On March 21st and 22nd, arts>World Financial Center will screen Sounds from the Black Box, Kentridge's most recent animation work and the latest in his long series of collaborations with South African composer Philip Miller.

A follow-up to and expansion of Kentridge and Miller's renowned "9 Drawings for Projection" project, Sounds from the Black Box combines the artist's stunning animations with scores by Miller, which will be performed live by the New York City-based Ensemble ?.

The screenings coincide with a major Kentridge exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (Feb 24-March 17) and a Kentridge-directed-and-designed production of Shostakovich's The Nose at the Metropolitan Opera (March 5-25).

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, William Kentridge began his "Drawings for Projections" series in 1989, introducing what would become his trademark technique of animating sequences of charcoal drawings that are rubbed out and sketched over on one piece of paper. He has since established himself as one of South Africa's top artists, and his work has been exhibited in major institutions throughout the world.

"William Kentridge's enormous impact on the current arts season is a testament not only to his multiple talents, but also to the universality of his vision," said Debra Simon, Artistic Director of arts>World Financial Center. "We're proud to be offering New York audiences a chance to experience his extraordinary work for free."

Philip Miller is a South African composer and music producer who creates music and sound for television, video, live performance, and film, including director Philip Noyce's 2006 feature film "Catch a Fire." Ensemble Pi is a socially conscious new music group dedicated to performing the works of living and undiscovered composers.

arts>World Financial Center is New York City's largest year-round showcase for free visual and performing arts. Now in its 22nd season, it is the East Coast's largest presenter of free, year-round performing and visual arts. Other season highlights include a three-week run of New York Classical Theatre's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark to be performed throughout nearly 3.5 acres of the sprawling World Financial Center, and the Bang on a Can Marathon, an annual 12-hour marathon of mind-boggling, genre-bending music that's been hailed as "the country's most provocative and consistently entertaining new-music event" by the Village Voice.

World Financial Center, www.artsworldfinancialcenter.com, is the leading showcase in Lower Manhattan for visual and performing arts, presenting the work of emerging and established artists. The artistic process is made accessible in a free, open and interactive manner to workers, residents and the broader public of cultural consumers. Since 1988, year-round and free to the public, Arts World Financial Center has presented interdisciplinary arts programming with an emphasis on commissioned works, site-specific installations and premieres.