Didn’t Do It For Love - Eva Norvind Tribute The film screening will be followed by a discussion between Naian Daeva (Eva Norvind's granddaughter) and Mexican writer/film critic Naief Yehya. The late Eva Norvind, aka Ava Taurel (born in Norway to Russian prince Paul Chegodayef Sakonsky and Finnish sculptress Johanna Kajuanus), was a larger-than-life figure, an unconventional and controversial sexual pioneer whose life incredibly intersects with many random places and very unusual facets: from being Mexico’s Marilyn Monroe; to studying film and alter human sexuality and health education at New York University (NYU); and ultimately becoming New York City’s most famous dominatrix. Norvind died at the age of 62, on May 14, 2006, drowned in the waters off the beaches of Oaxaca, Mexico. This special tribute presented by Cinema Tropical and the Deutsches Haus at NYU features a screening of Didn’t Do It For Love, the documentary film that renowned German filmmaker Monika Treut made about Eva’s life, as well as Born Without, the documentary film that Norvind directed (and that was completed by her daughter Nailea after Norvind’s sudden death) about handicapped Mexican street musician José Flores, that won the Best Documentary awards at the Mexico City and Vancouver Film Festivals. The program also features a special academic round table on Eva Norvind, her persona, career, and her legacy.
Directed by Monika Treut (Germany, 1997). Didn’t Do It For Love is a fascinating look into the incredible life of sexual revolutionary Eva Norvind, alias Mistress Ava Taurel, born Eva Johanne Chegodaieva Skonskaya, the daughter of a Russian prince and a Finnish sculptress in Trondheim, Norway. The film recounts the phases in her adventurous life-story: from the early success as a showgirl in Paris and Québec, as a Nordic Marilyn Monroe in the Mexican B-movies of the Sixties, and finally, as the most famous dominatrix in New York during the Eighties. Eva Norvind studied Forensic Psychology to be able to help sexual offenders as well as a way of searching for the dark secret of her own sexuality. It is the story of an odyssey through the wilderness of sexuality that has not yet reached its destination. An interview for Didn’t Do It For Love was even filmed here at Deutsches Haus.
Co-presented by Cinema Tropical, Scandinavia House and Deutsches Haus at NYU. Events at Deutsches Haus are free of charge. Please let us know which event you would like to attend by sending us an email to deutscheshaus.rsvp@nyu.edu. Space at Deutsches Haus is limited, please arrive ten minutes prior to the event. Thank you. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The second part of the Eva Norvind Tribute will be screened on June 13 at the Scandinavia House:
Born Without/Nacido Sin
Directed by Eva Norvind (Mexico, 2008). José Flores was born without arms and with stunted legs that render him only three feet tall, but his outsized personality makes his physical attributes the least interesting thing about this complex man. A Mexico City street musician, doting husband, and father of six (with a seventh on the way), Flores navigates the world with few concessions to his disability and with an unbridled appetite for life. As unconventional as he may seem, his history is even more unexpected; charismatic from an early age, he has been a respected occasional actor in Mexican art cinema, including appearances in Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain/La Montaña Sagrada (1973) and the seminal Cabeza de Vaca (directed by Nicolás Echevarría, 1991). Flores is also, improbably, a bit of a ladies’ man. For more information go to Scandinavia House.
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