~ Videopoems ~
Videopoetry, filmpoetry, cinepoetry, poetry-film… the label doesn’t matter. What matters is that text and images enter into dialogue, creating a new, poetic whole.
After the Robins by Angela Readman
This is Alastair Cook‘s Filmpoem 31. He writes:
After the Robins is a magnificent tour de force of a poem by the English poet Angela Readman; Readman grew up in Middlesbrough and following university in Manchester relocated to Newcastle upon Tyne to complete a film studies MA. She completed a masters in creative writing at the University of Northumbria in 2000 and won a Waterstones prize for her distinctive poetry and prose. Her words are incredible, I think.
This film comes at a difficult time and is dedicated to my late Godfather, a real and bright presence in my young life.
The poem is read by my brother in life, Gérard Rudolf; the haunting lilting music composed by yvonnelyonmusic.com; I’m very pleased to say I’ll be working with Yvonne over the coming year with our filmpoem.com/absentvoices/ project. Please do think about following twitter.com/AbsentVoices for updates.
For more on Angela Readman, see her Wikipedia page.
Moon in the Window by Dorianne Laux
http://vimeo.com/66443184
Artwork (for the accompanying poster) and animation are both by Alison Farone of Glyphix design studio.
The 2013 edition of Traveling Stanzas is a collaborative project between Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center and Glyphix design studio. This series combines the creative talents of KSU Visual Communication Design students with student writers (grades 3–12), health care providers, patients, veterans and professional writers to encourage dialogue about the connection between art and medicine, writing and healing.
Much appreciation to Dorianne Laux who graciously allowed us to us her poem “Moon in the Window” as inspiration for a poster design and poetry animation.
32 Warhol by Dena Rash Guzman
A film by Jerimiah Whitlock. Dena Rash Guzman writes in a blog post:
My poem “32 Warhol” is now a beautiful poem film. A story about childhood, art and hunger, the film was shot by filmmaker Jerimiah Whitlock, and was translated to German and narrated by Hong Kong based poet, editor, and publisher Bjorn Wahsltrom. I am awed by Jerimiah’s vision and production. The result reminds me of director Wim Wenders.
The poem itself was written on a farm in the Oregon woods, where I live, and the film itself was shot and produced in Colorado. The German translation and narration was provided by a Swede then living in Shanghai, China. The world is such a huge and tiny place.
The film made its debut at The Body Electric Film Festival in Ft. Collins, Colorado last month. We have plans to have it screened across the world.
The poem itself, previously published on Ink Node, appears under the title “Life Cycle” in my forthcoming book of poems Life Cycle from Dog On A Chain Press. That will be available in June.
In the post on Vimeo, Whitlock includes the following artist’s statement:
Poetry is traditionally disseminated by the written word or the act of the poet reading to an audience. By creating video poems that not only share the written word but illustrate it in layers of sound, visuals, vocals, and even translations to other languages, the artist hope to help put to rest the idea that poetry is dead. Indeed, it is a form or art that can live as anything from sculpture, to performance, to film. Poetry is one of our oldest known forms of structured communication. Our hope is to see it grow older by bringing it to wider audiences in modern ways. Poetry deserves the eternal life. One day we hope to see an elaborate library dedicated only to poetry in all its modern forms, including shelves and shelves of video poetry. Let no one hunger for verse.
The Shipwright’s Love Song by Jo Bell
A new film by Swoon, who blogged some process notes. Here’s a snippet:
Reading this poem I immediately knew (felt) what I wanted for this video.
I had images made last year (visiting old boats with Alastair Cook) in Antwerp (left screen) and earlier this year on St. Andrew’s beach (right screen)
The images were ‘tested’ on several tracks.
‘Maximum Suspicion‘ worked the best with the images, but I still needed a voice.Nic S. (still the most spot-on reader I know) was willing to participate and she provided me with a great recording almost the same day.
This is Swoon’s entry in the Liberated Words Poetry Film Festival Competition‘s “Four by Four” contest, in which filmmakers are invited to make a video of three minutes or less in response to one of four poems, “The Shipwright’s Love Song” among them. Jo Bell is — I love this — “the UK’s Canal Laureate, appointed by the Poetry Society and the Canal and River Trust.”
Monster by Chris Woods
Bob Moyler directs.
100% recycled cardboard sewn together. Monster is a short film commissioned by Comma Film as part of the Version Film Festival 2009. Based on a poem by Chris Woods.
Woods is the author of the Comma Press collection Dangerous Driving.
There Is No Word by Tony Hoagland
A poetry film by Dan Albright and Jordan Meltzer, with an original score by Meltzer. The Tony Hoagland poem originally appeared in Poetry magazine, and this video was featured recently at The Fluid Raven.
THERE IS NO WORD is the official film adaptation of Tony Hoagland’s poem of the same name that explores the subtle, impossible-to-describe experience of a good friendship changing to a mere acquaintanceship.
Here’s what Tony Hoagland has to say about the film:
“your sense of image is beautiful and intuitive, and there’s a sweet rawness to the story telling which seems brave to me; especially when talking about male friendship-so, good for you and thanks for the honor.”[…]
Made for the 2013 Evelyn Horowitz Video Poetry Competition at Emerson College, Boston, MA.
Poppies In July by Sylvia Plath
This is Little Poppies, a student work by Libby Parfitt and Paris Daley, “based on the naturalistic sculpture and black and white photography of Richard Long.”
I’m sorry but I’ve witnessed what’s under your suburban bruises by Meg Tuite
Meg Tuite reads her poem in this collaboration with Swoon (Marc Neys) for the inaugural issue of Awkword Paper Cut [auto-playing audio alert]. Marc blogged about the making of the film. A snippet:
Something in the combination of her words/voice and these sounds led me back to a movie I used in another video, FF Coppola’s ‘Dementia 13’
I picked out a few scenes and faces and started editing. Looked for the right movements that I could feature as some kind of recurring visual chorus.
In the end I added a layer of lights and colours.
Love? by Julie Gard
Words are a fugitive, ghostly presence in this film by Kathy McTavish. For more poems by Julia Gard, see her website.
Demain, dès l’aube… / Dawn of Tomorrow by Victor Hugo
http://vimeo.com/65694129
Directed by Nick Ramey and Lauren Armantrout, who note in the Vimeo description:
In Victor Hugo’s famous poem, demain des l’aube, many have formulated their own adaptation of the plot. Subtitled in English, while the poem is read in French, this story involves the consequences of commitment in a relationship. The notion that love lasts forever couldn’t be further from the truth in this heartbreaking short.
Hugo’s poem has its own page on the French Wikipedia.
