Search Results for: Ghayath Almadhoun

The City by Ghayath Almadhoun and What Gas by Marie Silkeberg

On 26 June, 2014 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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This innovative videopoem about the destruction of Damascus, The City, alternates lines from a poem by Ghayath Almadhoun, translated from Arabic by Catherine Cobham and read by female voices, and a poem by Marie Silkeberg, translated from Swedish by Frank Perry and read by male voices. The readers are people from the streets of Stockholm. Silkeberg composed the sound montage and Almadhoun the montage of found footage from the internet. He mentioned in a recent interview that the film has been screened in more than 150 festivals.

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The Celebration by Ghayath Almadhoun and Marie Silkeberg

On 6 June, 2014 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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This is of the best poems about war I’ve ever read (or heard). It’s by the Syrian-born Palestinian poet Ghayath Almadhoun, from التفاصيل (The Details), translated by Catherine Cobhamin, in a film adaptation that he made in collaboration with the Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg—a partnership described in a recent interview in Arabic Literature (in English). The English titling floats and disappears above a bombed-out city: Berlin. As Almadhoun describes it in the interview,

The material you saw, this is Berlin, and nobody saw it before. Not even the Germans. I have thirteen minutes from July 1945, forty-five days after the war, somebody filmed it.

Yes, National Geographic maybe they bought five seconds, and I think in the BBC documentary they bought around seven seconds, because it’s so expensive. Nobody knows how I got it, and I think if they saw it, they will take me to court. Because the owner of this material is one of the biggest companies in Hollywood. But still, I want the people to see this. No one has seen Berlin like this.

I use eight minutes of it in this film.

AL: And the poem?

GM: The poem is written about Damascus. But it has in the beginning something about Berlin. And I feel that there is no difference between destruction and destruction. Yes, the story of Berlin is different — they attacked the world, the world attacked them.

What’s happening in Syria is different. The destruction in Syria is more. If you look at the suburbs of Damascus, you will find that most of the buildings have fallen down. While in Berlin it was only the roofs. So I can compare the situation in Syria for example with Hiroshima or Dresden, only.

Do read the rest of the interview, which was especially interesting to me for its defense of poet-made films, as opposed to some of the very slick animations that are appearing online and at poetry film festivals these days:

Why should I only write my poem and wait until a professional can make a video? He always chooses classic and simple things because he’s not a poet.

I want the poets to make poetry films, and I and I want the focus to be on the poem. If the focus is on the film, then go to the short film.

The quality of the poem should be added to the question. The animations are really beautiful, and some of them are really expensive. I remember one of the films cost maybe one million dollars. They got a prize. For me, if I was on the jury, I would not give them a prize. Because the poem was really bad.

Almadhoun gets to say this, in my opinion, because he is both a masterful poet and a good filmmaker. I’m also grateful to him for making his YouTube channel public and the videos shareable. You can expect to see his other collaborations with Silkeberg here soon.

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Snö / Snow by Marie Silkeberg

On 8 September, 2015 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: ,

…a collection of snow figures to mourn the dead
the dead man of snow
the mourners of snow
the ground covered
while the refugee camps
are filled with freezing people
the tents bulge under the snow…

A new, multilingual videopoetry collaboration by Marie Silkeberg and Ghayath Almadhoun. Here are the credits from the YouTube description:

film by: Marie Silkeberg & Ghayath Almadhoun
poem: Snö by Marie Silkeberg, 2014
english translation: Frank Perry
arabic translation: Ghayath Almadhoun
camera: Marie Silkeberg & Ghayath Almadhoun & shared films from the internet
music: Hanna Hartman

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Your Memory is My Freedom by Marie Silkeberg

On 26 September, 2014 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
Poet: | Nationality: | Filmmaker: ,

Another innovative, harrowing videopoetry collaboration between Palestinian-Syrian poet Ghayath Almadhoun and Swedish poet Marie Silkeberg. This time the text and reading are Silkeberg’s, but they are both credited with the editing (“montage”) and camera work. Agneta Falk-Hirschman supplied the English translation. The music was “stolen from the Internet,” according to the credits, and the footage of the Syrian revolution is also “from the Internet.”

“Uprooted” poetry film screening in Bristol, 23 March

On 10 March, 2019 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - festivals and other screening events

There’s a brand-new poetry festival in Bristol this month called Lyra. Lucy English is one of the co-directors, so you know there’s got to be at least one poetry film screening. And sure enough, there is. Here’s the description from the full programme [PDF]:

UPROOTED POETRY FILM SCREENING

Filmmakers for these short poems include Ghayath Almadhoun and Marie Silkeberg, Jan Baeke, Alfred Marseille, Maciej Piatek and poet Hollie McNish.
ARNOLFINI FRONT ROOM
Time: 12:00 – 1:00pm
Price: Free

Uprooted is a curated poetry film screening by Liberated Words co-directors, poet Lucy English and videopoet Sarah Tremlett, reflecting on the lives of refugees and migration, and how artists can illuminate and fulfill important roles. Three types of film will be shown: those centred on war zones, those in transit and the views from those both welcoming and ‘settling’ in a new country. The films show how artists can bring another view of the refugee crisis beyond how it is portrayed in the media.

These regional poetry festivals around the UK are really turning into a good venue for poetry films. If you’re able to get to Bristol in two weeks, the whole event sounds grand.

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Upcoming poetry-film and videopoetry events

On 21 June, 2015 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - festivals and other screening events


June 27 in Berlin
Lyrikmarkt (Poesiefestival Berlin)

Darüber hinaus werden die besten historischen und internationalen Poesiefilme, unter anderem von Paul Bogaert, Kristian Pedersen, John Albert Jansen, Marie Silkeberg, Ghayath Almadhoun, Eleni Gioti, Hubert Sielecki, Man Ray, Paul Desnos und Gerhard Rühm zu sehen sein.


July 6-11 in London
Ross Sutherland’s “Standby For Tape Back-Up” at the Soho Theatre

After a hard-drive crash and a near death experience, Ross Sutherland found himself house-bound with only one thing for company: an old videotape that once belonged to his granddad.

Over the months that followed, Ross memorised every second of the tape. Slowly, he learnt how to manipulate the images into telling the story of his life. The videotape allowed Ross to open a dialogue with his late grandfather, and eventually helped him confront the illness that had nearly ended his life.

The true story of one man’s journey into synchronicity and madness.


July 11 in Penzance, UK
PoetryFilm Penzance
“A screening of poetry films curated and presented by Zata Banks” at the Penzance Literary Festival in Cornwall.


July 16 in Reykjavik
PoetryFilm Reykjavik
“A screening of poetry films and live performances curated and presented by Zata Banks” at Mengi.

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Oslo Poetry Film 2015 schedule online

On 24 January, 2015 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - festivals and other screening events

I’ve never been able to find much information in English about the annual poetry film festival in Oslo, which is coming up next weekend. In part, that’s because their website is kind of messed up (to use the polite term); I’m unable to scroll down and read the rest of the content in either Firefox or Chrome. Fortunately, I’ve just discovered that they also have a Facebook presence (not linked to from the visible part of the website). An event listing reproduces the schedule in full, which I’ll paste in below for the benefit of the Facebook-phobic. This looks like a terrific festival, with lots of useful talks to supplement the screenings. Wish I could attend.

Oslo Poetry Film 2015:
Festival for Digital and Visual Art
31.01 – 01.02.2015
KUNSTNERNES HUS, OSLO
–Free entrance–

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PROGRAM:

SATURDAY, 31.01.2015

13.00 – 13.45
The Counter Machine to the Machine of Language: How can poetic language be translated to cinema? Talk by Alice Lyons (USA/Irland).

14.00 – 14.30
Found in translation: Poetry between writing, sound and image. Niels Lyngsø (Denmark) reflects on poetry videos by Iben Mondrup, based on poems by himself. Screenings of tungenosser (2011, 03:43), rødmandblåmand (2011, 03:55), Besat af de tre tyranner (2013, 04:15), Slår flapperne ud (2013, 01:24).

14.30 – 15.00
The making of a music movie: Kajsa Gullberg (Sweden/Denmark) on her music video MIN KITTEL ER FOR KORT, 2014 (03:45) – a collaboration with poet Mette Moestrup and musician Miriam Karpantschof.

15.15 – 16.00
Highlighs from Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2014 – presented by director of ZEBRA Poetry Festival, Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel (Germany). Screenings of In the Circus of You, 2013, text by Nicelle Davis, video by Cheryl Gross (06:08), The Aegean or the Anus of Death, 2014, text by Jazra Khaleed, video by Eleni Gioti (07:21), Bacteria, 2014, text by Paul Bogaert, video by Paul Bogaert and Jan Peeters (06:18), Photon, 2014, text by Simon Barraclough, video by Jack Wake-Walker (04:52), The Thing With Feathers, 2014, text by Jinn Pogy, video by Rain Kencana, Jalaudin Trautman and Miguel Angelo Pate (04:00), and Walking Grainy, 2013, video by Francois Vogel (02:20).

19.00 – 19.30
Reading standing up – Poetry, in the 21st century, should be read standing up with the same glancing disdain as advertising, billboards, logos and street signs. Talk by Derek Beaulieu (Canada).

19.30 – 20.00
Formal Possibilities for the Poetry of the Internet: Steve Roggenbuck (USA) on his favorites among image-based poetry, video-based poetry, and plain text as distributed in social networks. What kind of poetic exploration can we expect in the future?

20.30 – 21.00
Screenings: Ursula Andkjær Olsen (Denmark): Maske (2:50) Solcreme, 2015 (2:50). Kristian Pedersen (Norway): Pipene, 2013 (03:15), KUUK (Norway): HOR, 2014 (4:45).

21.00 – 21.30
SHAPESHIFTING POETRY: Different Ways to Communicate Poetry – Žygimantas Kudirka aka. MC Mesijus (Lithuania) presents his film Hands off the blue globe, 2013 (4:23).

22.00. – 23.00
Readings: Derek Beaulieu (Canada) Niels Lyngsø (Denmark), Marie Silkeberg (Sweden), Ursula Andkjær Olsen (Denmark), Steve Roggenbuck (USA) and Žygimantas Kudirka (Lithuania).

23.30 – 23.50
She´s a show – concert with Mette Moestrup (Denmark) and Miriam Karpachof (Denmark).

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SUNDAY, 01.02.2015

13.00 – 13.45
Strategies for Building Poetry Audiences Online. Steve Roggenbuck (USA) provides practical, usable strategies for how we can build audiences for poetry projects on the Internet.

14.00 – 14.30
New media and distribution: Reaching out through new media. Experiences and hypotheses from the publisher’s point of view. Talk by Harald Ofstad Fougner (Norway).

14.30 – 14.50
Poesi på G is a innovatory free poetry app. One poem a day for a month, is read by famous artists, comedians, actors and sportsmen- and women. Presentation by Sara Paborn (Sweden), who created the app.

15.00 – 16.15
Presentations: Scott Rettberg (USA/Norway) on the project TOXI-CITY, 2014, Marie Silkeberg (Sweden) on two collaborations with fellow poet Ghayath Almadhoun, The Celebration, 2014 (8:53) and The City, 2010 (07:00), Terje Dragseth (Norway) on his and Rolf Asplunds video POEMA NAPOLI DEL 2, 2012 (05:04).

18.00 – 18.30
Screenings: Vidar Dahl/Jøran Wærdahl (Norway): Byttedagen, 2013 (4:15) and Erkjenning, 2011 (3:05), J. P. Sipilä (Finland): #002_out_of_the_forest (sleight of tree) (2:56), #004_a_tourist (sleight of tree) (2:50) and #006_lost (sleight of tree) (1:25).

18.30 – 19.00
It was mine – short film in production. Is there really such a thing as coincidence? Director Kajsa Næss and compositor Kristian Pedersen will screen scenes and explain their thoughts around the making of their work in progress, It Was Mine, based on a short story by Paul Auster.

19.15 – 19.45
Steve Roggenbuck (USA) presents make something beautiful before you are dead, 2012, (3:25) and other works.

19.45 – 20.15
Screening of Bella Blu 2012, (23:00) by Terje Dragseth (Norway).

http://oslopoesi.no/film

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Close readings/viewings at The Third Form

On 1 January, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - literary magazines and websites, theory

This month’s “Third Form” column by Erica Goss features close readings of three videopoems: Profile by R.W. Perkins, The City by Marie Silkeberg and Ghayath Almadhoun, and I-poem 6 by Pablo Lopez Jordan. A couple of snippets:

Jordan is a filmmaker, not a poet, but he states that “to use a poem as a script for a video is a great exercise of liberation. When you work with a poem, the structure is more open and increases the chances of experimentation.”

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“I wanted to show little things from ordinary life; words make those insignificant things grow in importance,” Jordan said. The poem appears as text on fragments of torn paper at the bottom of the screen, where it becomes part of the visual collage of shadows, graffiti, trees and sky. Jordan writes that he stayed away from high definition for this video, preferring what he calls a “domestic camera.” This gives the video a handmade look, like that of a very well-done home movie. This was to honor the poem, which Jordan describes as “very emotional, bright and totally real.”

Read the rest.

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