~ Nationality: U.K. ~
Heavy Water by Mario Petrucci
A tantalizing (if that’s the word) excerpt from a 52-minute documentary by David Bickerstaff and Phil Grabsky. “Based on Mario Petrucci’s award-winning book-length poem (split over two books), ‘Heavy Water: a film for Chernobyl’ tells the story of the people who dealt with the disaster at ground-level: the fire-fighters, soldiers, ‘liquidators’, and their families.”
Welsh Landscape by R. S. Thomas
A poem by the great 20th-century Welsh poet R. S. Thomas. Documentary filmmaker Robin Davies-Rollinson writes on the Vimeo page,
I shot some footage in Ceredigion, West Wales, earlier this week — and all the time, I was hearing in my mind R S Thomas’s poem “Welsh Landscape.”
…so here it is, with the voice of the poet himself.
Archaeology by Gaia Holmes
Another fine Comma Film video of a poem by Gaia Holmes, this time by Lisa Risbec, with narration by Jo Bryan. There’s a kind of Russian doll effect at work here: a film within a film, and a book within that, and animation enclosed by live action, and letters in envelopes. Archeaology indeed.
Drops of Rain by Gerard Manley Hopkins
According to the Vimeo page, this is
A video poem using the text of poet Gerard Manley Hopkins from a journal entry he wrote in 1866. Video by Jym Davis. Featuring William Haun and Kenny Jensen. Filmed at Fontana Dam in North Carolina.
Davis, Haun and Jensen make up the collective known as Interlace Video, which focuses on experimental music video. Also, check out Jym Davis’ website.
The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake
This video really adds to my appreciation of the William Blake poem. I’m not sure who put it together, but it’s one of a number of video poems from the Catalan literature site Blocs de Lletres (whence the Catalan subtitles).
Claustrophobia by Gaia Holmes
http://youtu.be/1WadwzbOW2o
Another Gaia Holmes video poem from Comma Film, this one by Charlotte Caetano, with narration by the poet.
New Word Hawda (New Word Order) by Linton Kwesi Johnson
Poem by Linton Kwesi Johnson, read live at the 16th International Festival of Poetry in Medellin, Columbia in 2006
Nothing by John Cooper Clarke
Poem by John Cooper Clarke
Film by C. Flannery with narration by Robert Bulsara
Another brilliantly simple video poem from Comma Film.
Video Kid by Chris Woods
http://youtu.be/3yv9dmdUDSE
A video poem on the perils of video! The poem and narration are by Chris Woods; the film is by Charlotte Caetano. Yet another fine production from Comma Film. (This appears to be a revised version; the original video is here.)
“Methought I saw my late espoused Saint…” by John Milton
Sonnet 23 by John Milton
Recited by Ian Richardson, from the 1984 TV series “Six Centuries of Verse,” directed by Richard Mervyn
