Posts By Dave Bonta

Dave Bonta is a poet, editor, and web publisher from the Appalachian mountains of central Pennsylvania.

Motionpoems Season 8 premiere set for February 8 in New York

On 13 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - festivals and other screening events

The Minnesota-based, nonprofit poetry film production company Motionpoems will be premiering its new season of films in New York City for the first time this year. (Get your tickets here.) But that’s only one of the things that makes this sound so intriguing.

To start with, they’re calling Season 8 “Dear Mr. President.” And they’ve produced films for poems by some of the hippest and most popular poets in the U.S., with directors from around the world:

Led by executive producer Claire McGirr, Motionpoems decided to tackle issues that affect everyone.

The season features poems that tackle racism, LGBTQIA+ rights, immigration, women’s rights, gun control, educational & social welfare, judicial system reform, climate change, and news/media/social platforms.

Our poets include Tiana Clark, Natalie Diaz, Eve L. Ewing, Peter LaBerge, Robin Coste Lewis, Sussanah Nevison, Danez Smith, Maggie Smith,LeeAnn Roripaugh, and Nomi Stone.

Their poems were adapted to film by Dan Daly, Kate Dolan, Mohammad Hamad, Anais La Rocca, Savanah Leaf, Monty Marsh, Jane Morledge, Ty Richardson, Ryan Simon, Tom Speers, Jovan Todorovic, and Tash Tung.

These issues affect populations internationally. Therefore, our filmmakers are international too. Hailing from America, England, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Australia & Serbia, among others, this year our Directors are an eclectic collective of visionaries & artists.

Click through to reserve seats. The premiere is at the Anthology Film Archives, 32 2nd Avenue (at 2nd Street), New York, NY, and I’m told seating is limited. Between this event, and the New York-based Visible Poetry Project set to debut its second season of films in March, is it possible that the east-coast establishment arbiters of American literary taste will finally start paying attention to poetry film? Well, probably not, but we can always dream.

Standard Time by Daniela Seel

On 13 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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I was excited to see this film become available on the web last week, because it’s the one my jury mates and I chose as winner of the Weimar Poetry Film Award last year. Filmmakers Hanna Slak and Lena Reinhold adapted a text by the contemporary German poet Daniela Seel. Here’s the statement we released last May:

Standard Time is a timeless, self-referential meditation on the power of communication to transmute and, at times, distort. Its flawless blend of text, sound and images suggests a worldview both deeply rooted and universal, shamanistic and apophatic. It does what all great poems should do in suggesting more than it says and leaving the viewer’s mind abuzz with creative energy and new ideas. Addressing the poetic possibilities of time as it does, it can almost be seen as a film about poetry film itself.

I wrote all about our judging process in “2nd Weimar Poetry Film Award: A view from the jury.” Much more recently, the folks at Weimar have come out with a very effective video collage of interviews and other shots from the festival. And they’d probably like me to remind you that submissions to the 2018 award are still open until the 31st.

Cry of the Loon by Kai Carlson-Wee

On 12 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 1 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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An author-made poetry film by Kai Carlson-Wee that was a runner-up in the 2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

It occurred to me as I re-watched this that the opening sequence of loons calling with the title superimposed is a great example of a circumstance in which it makes sense to break the rule against straight-forward illustration in video- or filmpoetry: so few people nowadays can be assumed to know what a loon call sounds like, and it’s really helpful to know that if you want the full, melancholy effect of the poem. And I like how the images in the film and the text slowly diverge over the next couple of minutes: an uncoupling that seems appropriate for a poem about memory and mortality. Finally we reach the ending sequence — back out on the water with the loons — and learn that the filmpoem is For Roald Carlson (1925-2015). Beautifully done (and a good mate to the in memoriam filmpoem by George and Eleanor Hooker that I posted on Wednesday).

This is a traveling song by Kate Greenstreet

On 11 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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An author-made videopoem by Kate Greenstreet. As always, she was assisted by Max Greenstreet, listed in the credits as “right hand”. The text is poem #7 in her latest book from Ahsahta Press, The End of Something (where the poems rather than the pages are numbered), and the soundtrack incorporates the 7th track in Greenstreet’s EP drawn from the book, birds in the house. The video first appeared in Typo 28.

The End of Something is, by the way, a beautifully designed book which I read last month with great enjoyment, savoring the openness of the poems, full of imaginative leaps and half-unspoken truths that induce a kind of contemplative mood. This quality makes them ideal for multimedia adaptation, I think. Watch all four of the videopoems from the book, and download the EP, on the book’s website.

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Insight: i.m. Michael Hartnett by Eleanor Hooker

On 10 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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A filmpoem by Dublin-based photographer and director George Hooker for a poem by his mother, Eleanor Hooker. Insight was featured at Poetry Film Live, which included thumbnail bios, the text of the poem, and these process notes from the author:

George made this filmpoem for me as a Mother’s Day gift in April this year. He read the poem and then created a story board, with second by second plan for each ‘scene’. He enlisted the help of his brother and father and his girlfriend, Martina Babisova, an actress. The film was made on one cartridge of super 8mm film with only in-camera edits and no post-production. As 8mm film does not have a sound facility, George recorded the sound separately. He entered the filmpoem into the Straight 8 competition, who arranged to have sound added to the film in studios in London. The film was selected by an international jury and was premiered on July 9th 2017 at the Picturehouse Central, London as part of Straight 8’s UK premieres. The poem was first published in The Irish Times newspaper and subsequently in my second poetry collection, A Tug of Blue.

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Angelofania / Angelophany by Sergi García Lorente

On 9 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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Text and film by Sergi García Lorente (be sure to click on the CC icon for English subtitles). Paula Berrido Aceña is the actress. García Lorente notes on his website that he “studied Audiovisual Media in order to connect audiovisuals with poetry, to emphasize word’s beauty by visual and audio impulses.” On his About page, he writes:

Poetry is everywhere. Poetry’s beauty lies encrusted under wounds’ shallowness. So we have to scratch the scab and let us bleed. That’s what I try to do with poetry, photography and cinema. There’s too much beauty inside every single thing. It doesn’t matter how hard or high or intense is poetry’s commotion; my will is to catch those endless emotions and impress them through something I’d like to call art.

I was struck by this choice of words, since Poetry Everywhere was the name of one of the first large-scale poetry video projects in the era of YouTube and Vimeo, launched by the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation back in 2008. The notion of films that could be available to people anywhere in the world with a fast internet connection was then still an exciting novelty.

But enough of my old-man rambling. I thought this video made for an interesting follow-on to the previous three videos I’ve shared, all also made by the poets themselves, and each also depicting or representing female desire in some way. Those poet-directors were women, though, and the contrast in choice of images is striking. I don’t mean to pick on Mr. García Lorente; the tension between titillation and aesthetic epiphany has obviously been at play in the treatment of nudes throughout Western art history, and this is a well-done film. But it’s interesting to see how many more aesthetic possibilities emerge when the made becomes the maker.

Call for entries: ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival 2018

On 7 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - calls for work, contests, festivals and other screening events

ZEBRA 2018 call for entries banner

If it’s an even-numbered year, you know that it’s time to start planning for the world’s biggest and most influential poetry film festival, ZEBRA. Their website has yet to be updated from 2016, but a call for entries has indeed been issued; you can find it on FilmFreeway in both German and English. I’ll take the liberty of pasting in the English version:

In 2018 the Filmwerkstatt Münster, in cooperation with Haus für Poesie, will host the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin. The festival will be located at Schloßtheater, a repertory cinema in Münster.

Awards & Prizes

The prizes are endowed together with € 12.000. A programme commission is going to nominate the films for the festival and the competition. An international jury will choose the winning films.

The prizes that will be awarded are (i. a.):

  • ZEBRA Prize for the Best Poetry Film, donated by Haus für Poesie
  • The Goethe Film Prize, donated by the Goethe-Institut
  • ZEBRINO Audience Award – Best Film for Children and Young People
  • The Audience Award

Rules & Terms

The ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin 2018 is inviting entries for the competition for the best poetry film. Eligible for submission are short films based on poems.

The Festival is also inviting entries of films based on this year’s Festival poem, “Endless wall-to-wall carpet (of the VIP foyer)” by Ann Cotten. The directors of the three best films will be invited to Münster to meet the poet and have the opportunity to present and discuss their films. You can find the poem together with a sound recording and various translations at https://www.lyrikline.org/de/gedichte/unendlicher-spannteppich-des-vip-empfangsraums-8387#.WkYsv1XiZEY

The closing date for entries for all competitions is the 1st May 2018. All films submitted are automatically considered for all selection processes.

Deadline: 1st May 2018 (date as postmark)

Rules of Entry

1. The organizer of the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin is the Filmwerkstatt Münster in cooperation with the Haus für Poesie.

2. Eligible for submission are poetry films with a maximum length of 15 minutes that were finished after 1st of January 2015. The ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival reserves the right to show films longer than 15 minutes in duration. All films submitted must be visual realisations of one or more poems. There are no language restrictions. Admissible formats are: DCP, Blu-ray, DVD as well as mp4 or mov files with a resolution of at least 720p or 1080p. All films that are not in English must have English subtitles.

3. The closing date for entries is the 1st May 2018 (date as postmark). Entries must be accompanied by a video file (preferably MPEG-4), Blu-Ray or DVD of the film for preview, a completed entry form, a digital film still (JPEG or TIFF, 300dpi), a translation of the poem into English or German, a short summary of the content, a biography of the poet and a biography and filmography of the director. All texts must be provided in digital form. Video files, DVDs or Blu-rays for preview purposes must be delivered within the period of submission (by the 1st May 2018) and will be retained for storing in the festival archives. The preview copies will only be returned at the express wish and expense of the sender.

4. A programme committee will select the films for the competitions and recommend films for other sections of the programme. All films submitted will automatically be considered for all selection processes. An international jury, consisting of at least three members, will choose the winning films. Those involved in the production or commercial exploitation of any of the competition films may not be part of the jury. The audience will vote the winners of the Audience Award and the ZEBRINO Prize.

5. The jury’s verdict will be taken by simple majority. The discussions and the votes will proceed in confidentiality.

6. The prizes are endowed with a total of € 12.000. The sponsor will present the winning director with a cheque or by bank transfer for this amount.

7. All entrants will be informed via e-mail of the results of the call for entries in mid-July 2018. Please make sure that your e-mail address is correct and legible. No enquiries about the selection process will be answered before mid-July 2018.

8. Submitting the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin is free of charge!

9. By submitting your film, you confirm that the film may be shown at the Festival. The film may no longer be withdrawn once the entry form has been sent off. The sender is required to obtain permission from any third parties involved in the production to agree to the film being screened at the festival.

10. The transportation costs of the film copy to the festival will be charged to the sender. There will be no screening fee for submitted films that are selected for the competition.

11. For the duration of the festival the film will be insured at copy value. Insurance protection begins with the arrival of the copy at the festival office and ends on its leaving. If a copy should be damaged, the sender must register that damage within one month from the end of festival. The festival will assume the cost of repair to a maximum amount equivalent to the manufacturing costs of a copy in the same format.

12. By arrangement with the owners of the rights, the Filmwerkstatt Münster and the Haus für Poesie will show selected Festival films as part of non-commercial selection screenings following on from the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin.

13. Registration for participation at the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster|Berlin 2018 will be deemed to entail acceptance of these rules of entry. The festival management is entitled to decide on any case not covered by the guidelines and to permit exceptions in special cases.

Click through to submit.

Conversation with Poetry Film Live editors

On 6 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - craft, filmmaking, opinions, theory

Last summer, I met with Helen Dewbery and Chaucer Cameron, the editors of Poetry Film Live and co-producers of many poetry films themselves, for a wide-ranging discussion that lasted several hours. Helen has just edited and released an 11-minute video from that conversation:

I’m told that at least one more selection from our conversation might be in the works. In the meantime, I believe there are still some openings for the two-day workshop Helen and Chaucer are leading in Poole on 13-14 January.

inexhaustible wealths of feeling by Shabnam Piryaei

On 6 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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https://vimeo.com/249761533

The latest “mediapoem” from poet and filmmaker Shabnam Piryaei. In lieu of any other description, Piryaei simply shares the text of the poem:

I can’t mark the first loneliness, the elongated pause, inkless and imagining magnolias. Or the first guilt, terrain of peaches overripe and trespassed with rigid fingers. Or the first haunt, a gas station bathroom swarmed with flies, slack spirits dangling from their mouths. Or the first love, tide of hyacinth, tide of red mud, chorus of elderly song. Or the first love, inebriated child wandering along snowy tracks. Or the first love, holding you by the wrists, shaking you like a bell.

This just appeared in my Vimeo feed yesterday, but I thought it was too good a companion for Friday’s and Thursday’s videos to hold it in the queue.

My Lover’s Pretty Mouth by Cindy St. Onge

On 5 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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This author-made videopoem by the Oregon-based poet Cindy St. Onge is

the first in a series of Japanese/English poems that are part of process which is reflective and purgative. Soundtrack created with Garage Band, footage sourced from Videoblocks and Shutterstock, and edited with Movie Maker.

Read the text (in both languages) at St. Onge’s blog.

Intrigued, I contacted Cindy to ask if she’d like to say anything more about her process. She wrote:

These poems that are coming through are what I call ‘telegraphed,’ in that there is little contrivance involved until the revision happens. The meaning of “…Mouth” wasn’t clear to me until I had completed the video.

The poems are rooted in my difficult relationship with Japanese culture, after being married to a Japanese man many years ago. The mystery, to me, is the sudden and spontaneous telegraphing. Honestly, I don’t understand it. At this point, I’m just trying to be a good conduit for the poems, and if I get closure, even better.

As for the bilingual process, the poems were drafted in English with a smattering of Japanese, and I realized as I recited one of the poems that I loved how the Japanese sounded, how the word felt in my mouth, and determined to translate the whole poem — as an experiment. I haven’t spoken Japanese in 25 years, so I had to research most of it, relearning the language, really. As the translation got underway, the Japanese shaped the English revision of the poems, so there was this back-and-forth construction happening. It’s riling up memories, but it’s very satisfying at the same time.

Lowing by Jessica Rigney

On 4 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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A poetry film directed and with music by the author, Jessica Rigney. The text was published in Salomé, a new “online literary magazine for emerging female writers,” as part of their Body issue (July 2017). It’s interesting seeing such perennial literary themes — sex, fertility, female body as landscape — treated from an entirely female point-of-view. When I watched this for the first time, it seemed at once very familiar and entirely new.

Sea Grapes by Derek Walcott

On 3 January, 2018 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Director Keenan Wetzel calls this “A modern representation of the ancient struggle between obsession and responsibility based on the poem ‘Sea Grapes’ by Nobel prize winner Derek Walcott.” The actor is Mark Colson, and Jake Bianco was the cinematographer.

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