Workshops and Film Series to Honor Durrenmatt

“In Memoriam: Friedrich Durrenmatt,” a series of workshops and films honoring the late Swiss writer who died last December, will be held Oct. 12-14 at USC and presented by the Max Kade Institute.

“End of the Game,” a 1976 film based on Durrenmatt’s novel “The Judge and the Hangman” and directed by Maximilian Schell, screens Oct. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Norris Theater. The cast includes Jon Voight, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Shaw, Donald Sutherland, Martin Ritt and Durrenmatt himself.

“Friedrich Durrenmatt, Portrait of a Planet” (1984), directed by the writer’s widow, Charlotte Durrenmatt-Kerr, screens Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. in Room 108 of the George Lucas Instructional Building. The first part of the nearly four-hour film will run from 2 to 4:30 p.m., followed by a workshop, with an intermission with snacks from 5:15 to 5:45. The final part of the film will then be screened.

Durrenmatt-Kerr will lead a workshop, “How I Envision Portrait Films,” at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 14, at which time her portrait film of director Jules Dassin and his wife Melina Mercouri will be screened. At 5 p.m., Durrenmatt-Kerr will lead another workshop, in German, on her late husband’s plays from the standpoint of a stage director. A reception will follow.

The Friedrich Durrenmatt tribute is part of “Culture and Diversity: Switzerland After 700 Years,” which the Max Kade Institute is sponsoring with other organizations. Information: (213) 743-8066.