~ 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.

The Lost Boy by John Glenday

On 22 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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This is Sonatorrek (Loss of Sons), Filmpoem 30 by Alastair Cook, with sound by Luca Nasciuti.

The work is based on Glenday’s Uncle Alexander, who was in the D’ Battery 307th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery and died in the Battle of the Sambre on November 4th 1918, the same battle as Wilfred Owen. Glenday’s Grandfather, who was a blacksmith, signed the papers allowing his son to go into the Forces before he was of age.

The footage is used under a Creative Commons licence from archive.org

For more on John Glenday, see the Scottish Poetry Library website.

Transfiguration by Steven McCabe

On 19 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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In this new videopoem by Steven McCabe, the text is presented in silent-film-style title cards, and in three different versions in succession: the first in English, the second in French and the third in Spanish. (Pierre L’Abbé is credited with the French translation and Beatriz Hausner with the Spanish.) Especially for monolingual English viewers, it’s interesting that repetition does not necessarily lead to increasing familiarity, but rather a kind of defamiliarization. As with certain K-pop music video mega-hits on YouTube, not knowing what all the words mean can actually add to the charm of a short film sometimes.

Speaking of music: Brenda Joy Lem did the fantastic drumming in the soundtrack. In a blog post introducing the video, McCabe writes:

We originally filmed and recorded the drumming over two years ago for a different project which never saw the light of day. In the meantime I become interested in juxtaposing silent footage with live action. I realized we could use silent movie title cards for the poetry and not compete with the sound of drumming. The poem Transfiguration was originally published in my 1999 collection Radio Picasso (watershedBooks). My poetry videos can be found @ http://www.youtube.com/mccabesteven

Three Motionpoems screenings upcoming in Minnesota

On 19 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 2 Comments - Animation, festivals and other screening events

Via their email newsletter, I just learned about two upcoming events from Motionpoems in Minneapolis/St. Paul: a double screening of a dozen new poetry films on April 24th, and a screening of poetry films by Minnesota authors on April 29th. The full details are currently posted at www.motionpoems.com, though for archival purposes, let me also link directly to the image file.

I’m sure Angella and Todd will eventually post their 2013 films to Vimeo, probably one a month as they have in the past, but if you’re anxious to see them all now and on the big screen, then clearly you need to get to the world premiere screenings on April 24th!

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Frozen by John Osborne

On 17 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/63594884

And now for something completely different: a sci-fi short based on a poem by the young British writer John Osborne, directed by Tarek Elshawarby with a screenplay by Sebastian Brogden.

Night, Primal by Erin Miller

On 16 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/64002183

This is a “hypothetical commercial for A Room of Her Own Foundation,” according to the description at Vimeo. Poem and recitation by Erin Miller; film by Courtney Miller.

Nidon (Condemned) / נידון by Haim Lensky

On 11 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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A new poetry film from Israeli director Avi Dabach. According to the Wikipedia,

Haim Lensky (1905–1942 or 1943), also Hayyim Lensky, was a Russian poet who wrote in Hebrew. He wrote the bulk of his verse while imprisoned in several Soviet labor camps from 1934 onward.

Morning Sex & Blueberry Pancakes by R.W. Perkins

On 10 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/57708721

R.W. Perkins‘ latest videopoem was recently featured at Atticus Review:

A woman contemplates how her life’s ambitions have seemed to mature as she sits alone on her back porch.

Morning Sex & Blueberry Pancakes could easily be described as poetic leftovers. The poem crafted from scraps, nearly discarded verse edited from a longer wordier poem, while the film itself is a remix project taken from black and white public domain T.V. commercials, assumed to be produced in the 60s and early 70s.

On May 4th 2013 Morning Sex will make its big screen debut at The Body Electric Poetry Film Festival to take place at the Lyric Cinema Cafe in Fort Collins, Colorado. The event, hosted and directed by Perkins, will be Colorado’s first poetry film festival and will feature poets and filmmakers from all over the world.

You can read about all the selections for the film festival on their website.

Common Presence by René Char

On 9 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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In this film by Maxime Coton, Char’s text in English translation is presented on the screen in dialogue with the translator, Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody, who responds in the soundtrack — a novel approach to videopoetry that I haven’t seen before.

Lost at first in the crowd, a voice from the past emerges, in silence. A poem of René Char, poet and member of the resistance. Then another, younger, voice responds, filled with doubt and hope. By the glimmer of ephemeral points of light a conversation develops between these two voices, between master and disciple. Together, they evoke the necessity of creating, of rebellion, of transmission.

direction, editing, mixing : Maxime Coton
cinematography, color grading : Miléna Trivier
translation and english voice : Nathaniel Rudavsky-Brody
music : Nico Muhly
credits : Stéphan Samyn

a BRUITS asbl production in coproduction with CPC asbl (Anouchka Dewarichet, Annick Ghijzelings)

Journey up the amazon by Martha McCollough

On 8 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Author-made videopoems
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Martha McCollough says of her latest videopoem: “It’s about shopping. And death.”

This Is Just To Say by William Carlos Williams

On 5 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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http://vimeo.com/62503304

Nic S. blogged some process notes about the making of this video:

The reading had been up at Pizzicati of Hosanna for a while and is only 20 seconds long, so I knew I was looking for something very short in terms of video. There are still some wonderful Equiloud clips I haven’t used yet and it took me just a second of flipping through those to know that his gorgeous 28-second door-opening loop was exactly the kind of image/metaphor I was looking for, once I slowed the clip speed down by about half.

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A Drinking Song by William Butler Yeats

On 4 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Another of Othniel Smith’s videopoems made with free classic film footage from the Prelinger archives and free audio from Librivox. What makes this one work for me, oddly enough, is the lack of music juxtaposed with the dancing scene.

Animatopoeia by Khara Cloutier

On 3 April, 2013 by Dave Bonta with 0 Comments - Videopoems
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Graphic artist Khara Cloutier calls this “a tongue-in-cheek look at semiotics, animal behavior and mimicry. Starring Atticus as ‘The Bird’.” I call it a videopoem.