~ October 2022 ~

Verkeerd Verbonden / Wrong Number by Marc Neys

On 28 October, 2022 by Marie Craven with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Videopoems
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Verkeerd Verbonden / Wrong Number is an hypnotic, author-made videopoem from renowned Belgian artist, Marc Neys. In slow, hushed tones he narrates his poem in Dutch. The English is given as text-on-screen and visually designed around a divided trio of screen-compartments. These also contain abstract images in flickering motion, with transient glimpses of recognisable people and objects, the whole rendered in unusual and shifting colours.

Marc is a marvelous experimental film-maker and composer. The graphic rhythms of the English text on the screen, and the way they interact with the sound of the voice in Dutch – both contribute to the deep mood, as does his sophisticated ambient sound design. The language of the poem is pared back, with a mysterious allegorical quality. The dramatic simplicity of word and image is strangely moving.

and they whisper softly
stories that are not meant for me

This is a new film from Marc Neys, uploaded only two weeks ago. Moving Poems has featured well over 100 videopoems from him since 2011.

“Hunger” and “What I Did” from The Echo Chamber by Michael Bazzett

On 27 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Book trailers, Videopoems
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From filmmaker Sherng-Lee Huang and actress Veronika Nowag-Jones, whom Huang calls “a stalwart of German cinema and stage,” these two trailers for The Echo Chamber by Michael Bazzett each feature a complete, short poem from the collection. US independent literary publisher Milkweed Editions has been producing video trailers off and on for the better part of a decade. As anecdotal evidence for their effectiveness, I ordered a copy of The Echo Chamber before I even finished posting this! Here’s the publisher’s page for it.

Hat-tip: Sean Thomas Dougherty on Twitter.

Call for poetry films: Spelt Magazine

On 26 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - calls for work, literary magazines and websites

Spelt Magazine cover image

Spelt, a UK-based literary magazine focused on rural life and the natural world, is open for submissions through 25 November for their winter issue. Here are the guidelines.

  • Include a cover letter in the body of your email. This should tell us a bit about you (and the poet/filmmaker if different), where your poetry films have been seen and why you think Spelt is a good fit for your work. Also include the title of your poetry film/s and the length in minutes and seconds.
  • Include in the body of your email YouTube or Vimeo link/s for up to two poetry films. (Include passwords if necessary.)
  • Your poetry film/s should not exceed 5 minutes.
  • If your poetry film is selected, we will require it to be captioned.
  • Please ensure you have copyright/permissions for all materials used.
  • Send your submission to speltmagazine@gmail.com
  • Please put POETRY FILM in the subject line of your email.

Poetry film editor Helen Dewbery also has a page of tips for beginning filmmaker-poets.

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Startling by Linda France

On 22 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Animation, Videopoems
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British filmmaker Kate Sweeney, whose work we’ve featured here in the past, collaborated with one of my favorite contemporary ecopoets, Linda France, for a poetry film in support of her tenth collection with Faber. Here’s the YouTube description:

A short film by Kate Sweeney, with poetry written and read by Linda France.

“I have taken to counting what I want to call ‘Startlings’. They are creatures who, sensing their species is facing extinction, feel the cell-tingling impulse to evolve and ensure their survival. Within their tissue and bones, hearts and minds, they enact the necessary transformation. For every Endling there is a Startling.”

To celebrate the publication of Linda France’s tenth poetry collection – influenced by her three years of writing the climate – artist Kate Sweeney has created a new film responding to Linda’s words.

Linda France’s residency as Climate Writer was supported by New Writing North, Newcastle University and Arts Council England. Startling was published in partnership with Faber Books.
Find out more about the residency and its projects: https://newwritingnorth.com/event/writing-the-climate/
Order a copy of Startling: https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571379026-startling/

sex & violence #4 : what’s inside a girl? by Kristy Bowen

On 21 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Videopoems
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I’ve featured a few of Chicago-based poet and publisher Kristy Bowen’s video poetry book trailers, but not this one yet, which was made in support of her 2020 collection with Black Lawrence Press, sex & violence. It might be my favorite of hers to date. Nobody knows better that the poet herself what kind of mood she was trying to create, and if she happens to have the graphic design skills and technical know-how to bring that to life in video form, as Bowen does, the results can be wonderful (even if, as here, also super creepy). She resurfaced the video recently on her blog as part of an annual #31daysofhalloween series.

As always, visit her YouTube channel for more. The latest trailers are in support of a collection due out on Halloween called Automagic.

Remnants by Valerie LeBlanc & Daniel Dugas

On 20 October, 2022 by Marie Craven with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Videopoems
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A few weeks ago I shared a trilogy of videopoems from Canadian film-makers Valerie LeBlanc and Daniel Dugas, made during their time as artists in residence at the historic Deering Estate in Florida. This video, Remnants, is another of several made during their time at the Estate.

From a film-making view, I particularly like in Remnants the simple effectiveness of writing the poem on the spine of books. There is as well a quiet, contemplative quality that often arises in videopoems without voice, just text on screen and sound design from natural ambiences. The twin-screen of this film then calls for attention to two panels of adjacent text, the poem on one side and old book titles on the other.

Most if not all of the videopoems I have seen from Valerie and Daniel are author-made films arising from their long-time collaboration as artists. More from their Deering Estate residency are here.

ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin, 3-6 November 2022

On 19 October, 2022 by Jane Glennie with 0 Comments - festivals and other screening events

The Zebra Poetry Film Festival has announced its four-day program. The biggest and longest running festival, this year Zebra received around 1,200 films from over 90 countries. The program committee selected 25 films for the international competition, and around 100 films for the ‘Prism’ programme. ‘Prism’ offers an insight into the sheer diversity of the poetry film scene spread across eight themes:

  • Ecopoetry
  • Dealing with poetry
  • Myth and fairytales
  • Internal and external conflicts I & II (two parts)
  • Time travel
  • Mental cinema
  • Feminist voices
  • Interrelations

The festival also offers a program focussed on films from Ukraine, a retrospective of Maya Deren, a masterclass, symposium, and interpretations of the festival poem ‘The Haircut’ by Georg Leß.

For full details see https://www.haus-fuer-poesie.org/en/zebra-poetry-film-festival/zebra-poetry-film-festival-2022/programzebra/

Click on the image below for a PDF of the program.

La Caracola / The Conch by María Papi

On 14 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems, Videopoems
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This film by Argentinian María Papi had its premiere at the 2015 Berlin Feminist Film Week. The description on Vimeo notes that it

explores the movement of intrinsic relations between two presences that give rise to life: Water and Vulva. By exposing what is hidden, the harmony of femininity is restored.

It is powerful, as well as vulnerable and touching, to see genitalia on screen without pornographic intent. That said, this is probably not content suitable for classroom use in public school.

Papi’s approach seems personal and subjective most of all, with secondary thoughts about female gender and sexuality in general. We particularly liked the starkness of the text, just singular words. Marie felt that this underscores the film’s focus: more on body than intellect. The soundtrack is interesting as well, crafting different textures from the sound of water. These seem to speak to the visuals when they become purely abstract and textural themselves. The rhythm is slow, almost contemplative, possibly reflecting the pleasant feelings experienced while filming herself naked in a river, as described in an interview with Papi about the making of the film in CinéWomen, where it was the International Selection for 2015-2016. (We’d excerpt it, but Scribd doesn’t permit copy-and-paste, so you’ll just have to click through — or, if you read Spanish, check out the translation of the interview on Papi’s blog.)

See Vimeo for the full credits list.

10th Winter Warmer festival, Ireland and online, 27th November – programme

On 14 October, 2022 by Jane Glennie with 2 Comments - festivals and other screening events, online event

Ó Bhéal’s 10th International Poetry-Film Competition is happening on Sunday 27th November 2022 at Nano Nagle Place in Cork, Ireland, and will also be live-streamed via their website, Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube as part of the 10th Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer festival.

There are 30 shortlisted films, divided between two screenings at 11.30am and 1pm (UTC). Films were chosen from 173 submissions, and the shortlist represents 17 countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, Ireland, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, The Netherlands, Ukraine, UK, USA, Wales and Zimbabwe.

The selected films and the full programme can be previewed at https://www.obheal.ie/blog/competition-poetry-film/poetry-film-shortlist-2022/

This year’s judges Colm Scully and Paul Casey, will select one winner to receive the Ó Bhéal award for best poetry-film, designed by glass artist Michael Ray. The winner will be announced directly after the shortlist screenings at Ó Bhéal’s 2022 Winter Warmer festival.

3 Erasures at War by Matt Mullins

On 12 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Kinestasis
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An author-made videopoem from earlier this year by Matt Mullins, who probably needs no introduction here. As someone who’s dabbled in erasure poetry myself, I was impressed by how well he handled that. There’s quite a lot of free footage of the 1934 New York World’s Fair at the Prelinger Archives, which I’m guessing might be what gave Matt the idea for the videopoem in the first place, but regardless, I think he made good use of it, taking a kinestatic approach for a pleasing contrast with the longer screen-times of the text elements. The soundtrack glues it all together, incorporating Hendrix’s rendition of the US national anthem from Woodstock.

Zoom workshop on “Poetry Film: How to Say What You Really Mean” with Helen Dewbery

On 8 October, 2022 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - workshops and courses

Spelt Magazine cover image

British filmmaker Helen Dewbery, co-editor of Poetry Film Live, is also now Poetry Film Editor for Spelt Magazine, a new print and online journal “celebrating and validating the rural experience” and offering online courses through the Spelt Nature Writing School. Accordingly, Helen is offering a two-hour Zoom course called Poetry Film: How to Say What You Really Mean on the 29th of October.

Following on from the popularity of Helen’s previous Spelt workshop, we’ve invited her back to run another workshop in her new role as Spelt Poetry Film Editor. In this two hour workshop Helen will help you with the practicalities of making a poetry film and the ways in which the medium can be used to enhance the poem.

This workshop is open to any level of writer, from those who have never tried to make a poetry film, to those who want to expand their knowledge.

This is a zoom based workshop which will run on Saturday 29th October 11am to 1pm (UK Time)

The cost is £17.00

You will be emailed a zoom link the day before the workshop.

Spelt remains unfunded and as such if this course does not sell the requisite number of places to go ahead it may be cancelled.

This course has one bursary place attached to it for a writer in receipt of benefits.

If you have any questions, please email speltmagazine@gmail.com

About the facilitator

The facilitator for this course is Helen Dewbery. Helen Dewbery has taught poetry film extensively, in person and online. Her poetry films have appeared internationally at poetry festivals, where she has also presented talks and curations. For seven years she delivered a programme of poetry film events at Poetry Swindon Festival, including events in the community and an outdoor projection. Helen’s work has included the poetry film collection ‘Nothing in the Garden’, the Wild Whispers transnational project and the poetry film magazine Poetry Film Live. She is an associate of the Royal Photographic Society.

Here are the links to register for the workshop and watch Helen’s poetry films at Moving Poems. And finally, a heads up: the next submissions window at Spelt will be open to nature-based poetry films.

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Call for work: Living with Buildings IV

On 8 October, 2022 by Jane Glennie with 0 Comments - calls for work, festivals and other screening events

Living With Buildings is a quarterly festival of films that explore themes of people, poetry and place to understand how we live within the built environment of cities and urban spaces.

Submissions for the fourth edition are now open for films of up to 5 minutes, until the deadline on 6th November.

https://filmfreeway.com/LivingWithBuildings-IV

The event will take place in Coventry, UK on 23rd November 2022. Living With Buildings is presented by the Disappear Here poetry film project – and is rooted in Coventry, a city famed for its ringroad and modernist architecture, and its reinvention as a city rising from the ashes and ruins of arial bombing in World War Two.

The event is happy to consider work originating from all around the world.