Posts By Dave Bonta
Of Wel (or shall it) by Marleen de Crée
Update July 2012: Now with a new translation by Annmarie Sauer.
The second of the two Marleen de Crée poems translated and voiced by Arlekeno Anselmo for a film by Swoon (see yesterday’s post for background on the poet).
Nog Niet / Not Yet by Marleen de Crée
Update, July 2012: Now with a new translation by Annmarie Sauer and credit for voice and concept to Katrijn Clemer.
This is the first of two new videopoems I’ll be sharing for work by a prominent Belgian poet. Marleen de Crée has published 15 poetry collections to date, garnering various prizes (the Maurice Gilliam Award, the August Beernaert Prize of the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature, and the prize of the Flemish Poetry Day). She’s also a visual artist who works in various media, and has had many individual and group exhibitions in Belgium and the Netherlands from 1964 to the present.
This information came via email from Swoon, the filmmaker here in collaboration with Arlekeno Anselmo, whom he credits with “Voice, idea & face” — and, critically, the translation. Those who know Dutch and prefer it without subtitles can watch the original version on Vimeo. As Swoon explained in his email: “For her last book ‘Het is niet de lava’ (It’s not the lava) I made 2 videopoems with a dutchspeaking voice. For a video-festival (FAFF 2011) I made 2 versions with subtitles (I don’t know if our translations do the poem any justice, but the festival prefered subtitles, so…)”
Dupont Circle, 3 A.M. by Raymond Luczak
Another sign-language “reading” by poet and filmmaker Raymond Luczak. He notes at YouTube that the music was composed especially for the video by John Stutte. The book is available from Sibling Rivalry Press.
The Forty Elephants (with poetry by Gérard Rudolf)
A new film by Alastair Cook “developed around a narrative commissioned by Alastair, written and read by Gérard Rudolf,” with cinematography by James Norton.
The project takes its lead from the Victorian street gang, of women and their children, who plagued the Elephant and Castle; it draws in the current landscape and it’s deteriorating edge, a farewell to the Heygate and Aylesbury estates; this is a dark trawl through threat and desire, driven by Gérard’s incredible words.
The Forty Elephants premiered on 8th April at Alastair’s fine art photography show at The Howden.
Videopoem contest deadline extended to April 22
Howie Good and I have decided to extend the deadline for Moving Poem’s first videopoem contest by one week, to April 22. Here are the guidelines. We’ve gotten some fantastic submissions already, and if we ended the contest tomorrow as originally planned, it would still be a success. But now all of you with poor memories or a tendency to procrastinate — my people! — have one more chance to participate as well.
Giddoo by Yahia Lababidi
“Sleepdancing (Giddoo)” is the latest collaboration between Belgian artist and composer Swoon and expatriate Egyptian poet Yahia Lababidi, and is as different from its predecessors as can be (while still remaining recognizably a Swoon video). The decision not to include a reading of the text in the soundtrack seems appropriate for the subject matter.
Chartres Blue by Kate Ruse
Kind of a video game feel but interesting nonetheless. Vasileios Matsoukas is the filmmaker. Kate Ruse is an English poet whose “Puritan Black” was featured here last June.
Words by Yahia Lababidi
I’m having a hard time keeping up with the videos Swoon has been making for Lababidi’s poems. This one incorporates Dutch sign language by Marjan De Cuyper and painting by Arlekeno Anselmo for a truly multimedia and multinational exploration of, and exploring through, language.
