Uite cum ne mai rotunjim / See how we complete ourselves by Doina Ioanid

Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker:

Marc Neys (A.K.A. Swoon) writes in a blog post about this video that it grew out of a face-to-face meeting with the author, Romanian poet Doina Ioanid, at the Felix Poetry Festival in Antwerp earlier this year.

After the festival I asked her and her translator Jan Mysjkin if I could make a video for one of my favourites of her performance […] The images of this piece were taken from ‘Lost landscapes of Detroit’ (Prelinger Archives) and I re-edited them, adding an extra layer of colour and light.
The result is a short (moody) piece.

The reading is by the author, the English translation is by Jan H. Mysjkin, and there are two other versions, one with Dutch titling and one with French.

To me, the ability to present a poem in multiple languages is one of the best and most under-appreciated uses for videopoetry/filmpoetry, which is itself already something of a translation. I’ve always loved bilingual editions of poetry with the original language on the facing page, but it’s so much better to be able to hear the original while seeing an English version, the two linked and in some ways brought closer together by a filmmaker’s vision (usually including a good soundtrack, as here).

3 Comments

  1. Reply
    swoon 20 September, 2013

    Thanks Dave. A small remark, translations (French & English) were by Jan H. Mysjkin.

    • Reply
      Dave 20 September, 2013

      OK, thanks. I’ve corrected that. I guess I got that other name from your blog post.

  2. Reply
    Swoon 20 September, 2013

    Tahnks, yes, he was the Original English translator, but these versions were by Jan.

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