~ Animation ~
Motionpoems fundraising campaign breaks $10,000 mark
I’ve included notes about the fundraising campaign for Motionpoems in several recent posts at the main site. The donation page is now reporting that they’ve raised $5,112 from 53 donors, exceeding their goal of $5000 — but why stop there? It’s great to see poets and artists working so hard to bring compelling videopoetry to the masses, and they deserve all the support we can give them. An article at mnartists.org tells the story of how Todd Boss and Angella Kassube teamed up in 2008.
(Update) Angela tells me via email that the GiveMN fundraiser will be done next week, and pointed out that they qualified for $5,000 in matching funds — “kind of amazing that we’ve had ZERO money for 2 years and suddenly we have $10,000” to support Motionpoems! And they’ve just been accepted into the Kickstarter fundraising program, as well.
Suddenly the future is looking very bright for professionally made American poetry films.
Leave It All Up To Me by Major Jackson
Another whiteboard animation for a Major Jackson poem by Bryan Hartzell (see also his version of “Migration“).
The Trees—They Were Once Good Men by Todd Boss
A stunningly beautiful animation by Emma Burghardt, who also animated “Old Astronauts” by Tim Noland. (Remember to support MotionPoems with a donation, if you can.)
Assault to Abjury by Raymond McDaniel
Raymond McDaniel reads a poem from his collection Saltwater Empire, which recently came under attack for its use of Katrina survivors’ words as “found poetry.” He defended himself here. It’s interesting that despite the huge volume of commentary both essays attracted, on the Poetry Foundation site and elsewhere, this video from his collection (albeit for a different poem than the lengthy one under attack) had been viewed just six times in the 19 months since it was posted on YouTube. It’s almost as if all the people criticizing McDaniel have never made even a cursory effort to familiarize themselves with his work.
Iemand moet de tafel dekken (Somebody has to set the table) by Joke van Leeuwen
Sometimes, a videopoem is so damn good, it doesn’t matter if you can’t understand a word of it. This is one such videopoem. Lucette Braune directed.
What I Wouldn’t Give by Amie Saramelkonian
Si Clark animates. According to an online bio, Amie Saramelkonian
lives in the South West of England with her husband and two cats. Until recently the majority of her publications have been in scientific and engineering journals. She writes predominantly poetry, but also writes shorts, has several unfinished novels and is currently working on a screenplay.
Sveta by Sergey Timofeyev
Diana Palijchuk is the animator, and Arthur Punte did the montage. I found a Facebook page for the author, and he is indeed Latvian — the first to be included on Moving Poems — though, I presume, an ethnic Russian (his poems are in Russian).
Stephen Fry Kinetic Topography: on language and pedantry
Couldn’t agree more! Animation by Matthew Rogers. Hat-tip: Open Culture.
Wanting Sumptuous Heavens by Robert Bly
Another MotionPoems production, designed and animated by Angella Kassube with a reading by the poet.
The Boys by Francesca Eva Ashcroft
“A blend of rotoscope animation, stop-motion animation, and live action video … Directed and animated by Tom McPhee. Written and spoken by Francesca Eva Ashcroft.” This was the first-place winner of the 2010 Poetry in Film competition.
Your Super Bookstore Recommends by Dean Young
Another “teleportal reading“:
When Dean Young came to the East Austin warehouse where we film our videos, the sky was threatening. By the time he got started, a biblical downpour was underway. You can hear the rain on the tin roof as he reads. Of course, as these things tend to go, it cleared up the second the shoot was finished. Still, we like the way the atmospheric sound plays off of Scott Gelber’s animation, which alters live footage of Dean reading in front of a green screen and layers it with gorgeous hand-painted imagery. Dean’s most recent book, a work of prose on poetry titled The Art of Recklessness, is available from Graywolf Press.
This is one case where a literal interpretation of the poem really works!
