~ May 2017 ~
Felis by Josh Jacobs
In some ways I feel it’s more difficult to make a super short videopoem than it is to make a long one, but animator Liah Honeycutt pulls it off. She notes that this is
The third installment in my visual poem collaboration with Josh Jacobs. This piece explores the themes of distance (in time and in physical space) and apathy, and attempts to capture the empty nostalgia that comes with looking back on bad memories after the pain has worn off. I decided on a very analog approach to the execution after being inspired by Josh’s original portfolio layout, opting to let the imperfections show through and stand as a metaphor for the human experience.
Programs used:
After Effects
Premiere ProMusic:
Come Down by Sylvan EssoSpecial thanks to Dean Velez.
Misc. Church Sermon #6 by Malcolm Friend
Malcolm Friend‘s poem was turned into a film by Matthew Ericson for the Visible Poetry Project.
Call for submissions: 5th Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film Competition
The Cork, Ireland-based Ó Bhéal reading series have just announced on Facebook that
Submissions are now open for the 5th Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film Competition, in association with the IndieCork Film Festival AND we are thrilled to announce that esteemed Cork filmmaker Shaun O Connor will take part as one of this year’s judges (the other being a poet, TBC v soon!). Follow the link for submission guidelines & to view previous winners’ poetry-films.
The deadline for submissions is August 31, and the screening will be during the IndieCork festival (October 8-15). Past winners have hailed from Australia, the U.S., the Netherlands and Portugal. Check it out.
As a Child of Immigrants by Homa Zarghamee
This remix videopoem by Christina Ellsberg for the Visible Poetry Project incorporates a text and recitation by poet and economist Homa Zarghamee and historic footage from the Library of Congress.
Strangers (Die Fremden) by Rose Ausländer
A film interpretation of a Rose Auslander poem by the documentary filmmaker Lisa Seidenberg. I’ll be traveling to Europe soon myself, and this videopoem is helping me psych myself up for it.
Reading the English Wikipedia entry on Ausländer, I was struck by this factoid:
In the spring of 1943 Ausländer met poet Paul Celan in the Cernauti ghetto. He later used Ausländer’s image of “black milk” of a 1939 poem in his well-known poem Todesfuge published in 1948. Ausländer herself is recorded as saying that Celan’s usage was “self-explanatory, as the poet may take all material to transmute in his own poetry. It’s an honour to me that a great poet found a stimulus in my own modest work”.
Without the image, Celan’s poem wouldn’t have been nearly as powerful. Quite a “borrowing.”
Hate for Sale by Neil Gaiman
Buy my hate. You’ll come right back for more.
Hate for sale. Enough to start a war.
Hate the rich, the brown, the black, the poor.
Hate is clean. And hate will make you sure.
The Visible Poetry Project‘s final video for National Poetry Month was a real corker: a topical, satirical poem by the great Neil Gaiman recited by Peter Kenny in the soundtrack for a beautifully done stop-motion animation by Anna Eijsbouts.
