WELCOME to Liberated Words Poetry Films, Bath
Sarah Tremlett / Agualuz Retratos, photoart Hernan Garcia Lanza, 2012
Reflections Welcome to the first of our poetry film screenings in our home city of Bath, with the invaluable support of Banes and Specsavers. We are very pleased to be screening at the same time as The Bath Literature Festival at The Little Theatre Cinema. Built in the 1930s it still retains all the atmosphere, magic and promise that has surrounded films since the early days of projected images. This seems to be a habit with poetry film screenings: Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin, though featuring a number of screens, is based in a similar ‘temple to the glory days of cinema’. (Interestingly, the Berlin Wintergarten Theatre was the location of the first movie projection ever in 1895.) Such intimate movie theatre settings have born close-witness to decades of pioneers of the silver screen. Here, as in Berlin, cinematic ghosts, like dust caught in the projector’s beam, seem to peer over our shoulders round every scuffed but gilded art deco pillar and faded red velvet curtain. It is as if all across the world the accumulated wonder, laughter and sadness harnessed within the walls of these cosy but legendary picture palaces, has kept a universal lantern alight for the creative mindsets of poetry filmmakers today.
This year as we reflect on commemorating the anniversary of the 1914-18 war, and on the ways we recount the past more broadly through poetry films, it is also heartening to think that Liberated Words is beginning to develop a history of its own. This is our fourth year. Whilst the Reflections screening was first shown last autumn, as part of Bristol Poetry Festival at The Arnolfini Art Gallery,( alongside our workshop with international poetry filmmaker Marc Neys and our panel discussion and screening at Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival) this screening includes a fascinating newly commissioned film from Bath Spa University by student Aaron Lembo.
1
Dart, Alice Oswald, filmmaker Marc Tiley. Liberated Words aims to bridge the gap between international and regional poetry filmmakers. We seek to bring to light poetry films from a diversity of sources – students at school and patients in hospital care to name but two. I am also really pleased to screen a number of works on subjects close to the sister cities of Bath and Bristol – the screening of our specially commissioned abridged and sublime version of Dart by filmmaker Marc Tiley based on Alice Oswald’s finely crafted epic eponymous poem on the West Country river; and perceptive interpretations of The High Hills Have a Bitterness by Gloucestershire poet, musician and First World War survivor – Ivor Gurney. Conversely, on the international front we have the very best films from across the world, all considering the theme of war, memory and reflection. In terms of the Reflections / Memory competition I had no idea that there could be so many interpretations of the theme. I would like to gratefully thank our judges: for best music or sound we have returning L.A. judges: spoken word with music poet Rich Ferguson and top filmmaker / music video maestro Mark Wilkinson (creators of the compulsive music-based poetry film Human Condition). And for judging best editing for poetic effect, 2013 award-winners and this year’s brilliant workshop organisers ecopoet Helen Moore and filmmaker Howard Vause. Also a BIG thanks to Colin Brown at Poetry Can, Bristol for giving us the chance to make this happen during Bristol Poetry Festival. Without any previous experience St Gregory’s Catholic College have produced some stunning films during their summer workshop, both in terms of age and ability (some of the younger filmmakers are only ten years old) and in depth of content. We would like to thank English teacher Tom Fieldhouse for his support for the project. In terms of working on the spot in a hospital setting generating ideas from scratch The Golden Bird Project is a highly innovative and sensitive film which has required much skill and vision to achieve – well done Helen and Howard, and the extraordinary talents of artist in residence Edwina Bridgeman and musician in residence Frankie Simpkins for making it work. And many thanks to Hetty, Diane and everyone at The RUH for helping making an idea a reality. This year the poetry films, as reflection upon reflection, have delved deep, bringing creative undercurrents to the surface, which I feel certain, we will recollect through their luminous ripples in years to come.
2
For this year’s festival we have tried to show the range and reach of poetry films. The inclusion of the school and community workshop material shows that poetry film is not merely for the artistic and intellectual elite, and we are planning to extend our programme of school and community based workshops for 2015−6. We want Liberated Words to be inclusive and accessible. The theme of ‘Memory’ was connected to the anniversary of the First World War and we wanted to ask the question, why should we remember this event at all? What relevance does a war begun a hundred years ago have on our lives today and what events should we remember and which ones should we forget. We were fortunate in that we were kindly given the rights to screen interpretations of the Ivor Gurney poem, ‘The High Hill Have a Bitterness’. Of all the First World War poets, Ivor Gurney seemed the most appropriate for this theme, his own mind damaged by his experiences in the trenches. His favourite landmarks and places are scarred by his recollections of horror; he cannot separate the present from the past. In Liberated Words our selected poetry filmmakers explore ‘Memory’ with creativity, flair and bravery. The heart breaking films of grief when a loved one is absent; the disappearance and altering of memory through mental illness or dementia; the persistence of memory, revealing those thoughts and feelings which are difficult to eradicate and the personal collections of memories which define our humanity. We have featured well-known poetry filmmakers who produce work to a high specification and blend sound, image and words with dexterity, but we have also chosen emerging artists whose energy and emotional insight transcends technical skill. I hope that you will be as moved and awestruck as we have been. Lucy English
3
REFLECTIONS & MEMORY JUDGES Best Music and Sound
RICH FERGUSON AND MARK WILKINSON
Pushcart-nominated poet Rich Ferguson has shared the stage with Patti Smith, Wanda Coleman, Exene Cervenka, T.C. Boyle, Jerry Stahl, Bob Holman, Loudon Wainwright, Ozomatli, and many other esteemed poets and musicians. He has performed on The Tonight Show, at the Redcat Theater in Disney Hall, the New York City International Fringe Festival, the Bowery Poetry Club, South by Southwest, the Santa Cruz Poetry Festival, the DocMiami International Film Festival, and with UKbased poetry collective One Taste. He is also a featured performer in the film, What About Me? (sequel to the double Grammy-nominated film 1 Giant Leap), featuring Michael Stipe, Michael Franti, k.d. lang, Krishna Das, and others. He has studied poetry with Allen Ginsberg and fiction with Aimee Bender and Sid Stebel. In addition, he has been published in the LA TIMES, Opium Magazine, has been widely anthologized, spotlighted on PBS (Egg: The Art Show), and was a winner in Opium Magazine’s Literary Death Match, LA. His spoken word/music videos have been featured internationally. Ferguson is host of the Blog Talk Radio podcast Poetiscape, and is a regular contributor and poetry editor to the online literary journal, The th Nervous Breakdown. His poetry collection 8 & Agony has been published by L.A.’s Punk Hostage Press.
4
Mark Wilkinson Director/Cameraman Mark Wilkinson recently directed music videos for Danielle Barbe, Semi Precious Weapons and Miss Derringer as well as spoken-word artist Rich Ferguson who appears on the next 1 Giant Leap project. Concert and performance video directing credits include: Shakira, Phoenix, Silversun Pickups, Weezer, Katy Perry, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sean Kingston, Norah Jones, and many others. As a director, editor and post-wizard, Mark has over a decade of experience working on music videos and promotional films for artists Michael Jackson, Ice Cube, BG, Ozomatli, AFI, Finch, Big L, Wyclef Jean, Brooks & Dunn, Delta Goodrem, Junkie XL, Emmy Rossum, and most recently Rebekka Bakken, The Police, ACDC, Chris Botti and Sting. Described by Kevin Thomas in the Los Angeles Times as “a deep-digging and personal filmmaker,” Mark has written two award-winning short films screened at international festivals and made his feature film debut with Dischord, an art-house thriller. Called “a great independent film and a spectacular debut from filmmaker Wilkinson,” by Chris Gore of Filmthreat, Dischord enjoyed an extensive festival run before its release, collecting a total of 10 Grand Prize Awards including: Best Director, Best of Fest, Best First Feature, Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay (press-Videoscope). Mark also wrote and directed two award-winning short films which were also screened at festivals internationally. The Next Big Thing (press-Cinefantastique). a science fiction piece about virtual-reality gone awry, won a Saturn Golden Scroll Award from the Science Fiction Academy and has since been declared a “transgressive cinema classic” by British sci-fi fanzine rumourmachine.com. Mark’s most recent film Biting Personalities which he made with his teammates in the 2007 SoCal Cinema Slam 72 Hour Competition won Best Film, Best Screenplay, Audience Award and was screened in the Sundance Digital Pavilion in 2008. In addition, Mark maintains an active career directing live theatre. Recent productions include Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest at Theatre Palisades; a regional production of Mojo (press-Boston Globe); Jez Butterworth’s high-octane thriller set in 1958 Soho, London; Sheila Callaghan’s hilarious and poignant play Scab and Three Lefts by Christina Bunner. Mark is also one of the founding members of the Alchemy Arts Ensemble, a theatre and film company committed to arts education and community outreach. Mark directs commercials for clients that include Warner Bros., Hoover, Hamilton Beach, DIRECTV, Visa, Procter & Gamble and many more.
5
Judges for Best Editing for Poetic Effect & Workshop Organisers St Gregory’s Catholic College and Art at the Heart, The Royal United Hospital
Helen Moore Helen Moore is an award-winning ecopoet and community artist/activist based in Somerset. Her debut collection, Hedge Fund, And Other Living Margins, published by Shearsman Books in 2012, was described by Alasdair Paterson in Stride Magazine as being “in the great tradition of visionary politics in British poetry.” Her second collection, ECOZOA, is forthcoming. Helen’s essays and reviews also appear in a range of international publications, including Permaculture Magazine; and she has extensive experience in leading creative workshops within continuing education, schools and community arts programmes. In developing a new artistic sensibility in response to ecocide, Helen has explored other art forms too. In 2011 she directed the Web of Life Community Art Project to raise awareness of mass extinction. ‘Greenspin’, a videopoem exposing the language of corporate rd advertising and ‘greenwashing’, made in collaboration with Howard Vause, won 3 prize in the Liberated Words International Poetry Film Festival 2013. FFI: www.natures-words.co.uk
Howard Vause
Howard is an artist and performer. He lives in Frome, Somerset. He creates multimedia for international theatre, is an award winning animator and his illustrations can be seen in everything from fantasy novels to organic cook books. In 2011 his audio work featured in a major exhibition at the Bluecoat Gallery in Liverpool. A first collaborative videopoem (“Greenspin”) with ecopoet Helen Moore, won a gong during 2013’s Liberated Words Festival. Howard often works in education and in 2012 cofounded Frome Media Arts CIC to promote the use of creative technology for all people. He admits to never having outgrown his childhood fascination for the macabre and describes his work as playful, grotesque and true.
6
WINNING FILMS judged at Liberated Words three-day festival Bristol, 2014 Best Editing 1st Kathleen Roberts and Dave Richardson On A Prophet 2nd Suzie Hanna and Tom Simmons Proem: to Brooklyn Bridge 3rd Daniel H. Dugas Standard of Truth Howard Vause: ‘Helen (Moore) and I agreed that the editing of On a Prophet had both simplicity and emotional complexity, was truly compelling and that all it's elements formed a stunningly integrated whole. Proem is an animation tour de force - in a class of it's own really - and we both loved Standard of Truth for it's quirkiness and narrative restraint’.
Best Sound / Music 1st Suzie Hanna and Tom Simmons Proem: to Brooklyn Bridge 2nd Lorenzo Scacchia In Droplets 3rd Marc Neys, Stevie Ronnie and Nic Sebastian If grief were briefly to disappear Mark Wilkinson / Rich Ferguson: ‘We made our assessment based on the effectiveness and aesthetic quality of the piece as a whole. Some factors we considered were: Was the spoken word moving intellectually or emotionally? Did the visuals enhance or elucidate the meaning of poem? Did the images evolve over time, thereby increasing the ideas communicated? Were the images thoughtfully produced and carefully considered? Did the sound design enhance or distract from the spoken word? Regarding the winning piece: We found the visual treatment in Proem to be arresting and original; clear in its intentions and unified in its design as it evolved visually throughout the piece. A balanced and elegant pairing of spoken words and moving pictures.’
7
REFLECTIONS & MEMORY Liberated Words at The Little Cinema, Bath th
18:00 – 20:00 p.m. March 5 , 2015 LIBERATED WORDS WORKSHOPS, COMPETITION ENTRANTS AND PRIZEWINNERS
P.M. 18:00
Introduction Memory: St Brendan’s Sixth Form College, Bristol St Gregory’s Catholic College, Bath Bath Spa University creative writing, acting and film students The Golden Bird Project, young and elderly patients, Royal United Hospital, Bath Dart – specially commissioned, revised version from the poem by Alice Oswald, by filmmaker Marc Tiley Poetry films based on The High Hills Have a Bitterness, poet Ivor Gurney
_________________________________________________________________ 18:35
Short Interval Reflections & Memory Poetry Film competition finalists Memory and War Experience Memory and Psycho-Geography Memory and Personal Relationships Community Memory - History Memory and Place Memory and the Mind
20:00
End
N.B. There will also be a fully comprehensive programme from our three-day major festival last autumn in Bristol available as a special offer with The Little Theatre Cinema programme. This includes details of our panel discussion on Poetry Film and Form, details of other festivals and films screened during Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival. Programme for The Little Theatre Cinema £2 Little Theatre Cinema programme plus comprehensive Bristol Festival programme £3
8
REFLECTIONS & MEMORY Schools’ Poetry Films
St Brendan’s Sixth Form College (Bristol, UK) Numb 02:45 (2014) ‘This is me (Marnie Rose Davidge) and Laila Rumbold Kazzuz’s video for film studies AS at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College. We had to make a film that was roughly 2:30 mins long and edit it and film it completely by ourselves and I did the music myself too. Granted it seems very depressing at first glance but this is supposed to represent how everyone is different in this world and we thought we’d show a side of someone that people don’t tend to see, to maybe make them understand. This film comes from a very deep and emotional place in both me and Laila’s hearts and minds and we hope others will be able to relate to it in the same way as us, or a completely different way. We just hope it makes you think and wonder. Roles: Laila actress / Marnie camera work / Laila+Marnie editing / Marnie Original score
St Brendan’s Sixth Form College (Bristol, UK) All the World is Grey, 02:08 (2014) Samuel Perry-Falvey, Chester Ellis, Ryan Snailham, Poem: Jake Hawkes, Voice: Adam Ranson
9
St Gregory’s Catholic College (Bath, UK) Map, 01:40 (2014) An interpretation of the poem Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers by Katy S / Katie Weathers / Rosa BezCryer.
St Gregory’s Catholic College (Bath, UK) Digging, 01:43 (2014) A poetry film interpretation of Mametz Wood by Owen Sheers. by: Tobie Donovan, Navya Jose, Charlotte Macarthur and Carla Tarallo.
St Gregory’s Catholic College (Bath, UK) White Crosses, 02:49 (2014) Successive generations of descendants of a WWI soldier seek to find his grave; inspired by Owen Sheers’ poem Mametz Wood. made and written by: Rose Burroughs / Charlotte Bush / Mariya George / Emily Howard / Aleks Jagodzinska / Carla May / Aimee Savage / Katie Seaborne / Jayme Sims
10
Bath Spa University, (Bath, UK) Mesmorism, 03:00 (2015) Produced by creative writing, art and acting students, Mesmorism first explores the brutal, savage memory of the Great War before contemplating the artistic and literary movements which have formed so much of our popular culture. Ultimately the film reflects through a dreamy memory a former lover under the moon. A disturbed individual laments. director: Aaron Lembo scriptwriter: Aaron Lembo editor: Laurie Cant and Christina Freeth music: n/a cast: Richard Lewis art work: Harry Hancock
11
The Golden Bird Project 05:30 (2014) Workshop leaders: poet Helen Moore & filmmaker Howard Vause with resident artist Edwina Bridgeman, resident musician Frankie Simpkins and patients from The Royal United Hospital, Bath Drawing on a Russian folktale about the relationship of an elderly woman and a golden bird, who helps to save a forest threatened with destruction, this poetry film draws on creative sessions with adults with dementia at the Royal United Hospital, Bath, where the story was introduced with linked objects and then recounted. Made in collaboration with Frankie Simpkins (RUH musician in residence) and Edwina Bridgeman (RUH artist in residence), the film features a new narrative poem written by Helen Moore and animation by Howard Vause. Reflections on the Golden Bird Project at the RUH, Helen Moore
Drawing on my experience of running story sessions with older adults with dementia, I’ve seen how tactile objects can offer a stimulating opener for group work. Handling the objects provides participants with sensory engagement, which helps to ground them in the present moment. And by choosing things that connect with the story I’m about to tell, there’s a ‘bridge’ into what will follow. I very much owe the success of this approach to Paula Crimmens’ book, Storymaking and Creative Groupwork with Older People. Often the objects stimulate discussion – in the case of The Golden Bird Project, four furry toy birds, which when squeezed make their respective songs, provoked plenty of conversation about garden birds, which Howard patiently filmed. Encouraging participants to express associations that arise with the objects can also facilitate self-expression in new/unexpected areas, mining memories and experiences, which were perhaps long forgotten. In making this poetry film, our objects also offered a strong visual dimension, and suggested the use of animation. The contribution made by Edwina Bridgeman (RUH artist in residence), who had used the same story as a stimulus for developing artwork on the children’s ward, added a wonderful intergenerational aspect to the project, with the creation of a set and the figures of Babka, the old lady, and the golden bird itself. Clearly a poetry film needs a poem at its core, and so an important part of the process in post- production was my writing of a narrative poem drawing on the original Russian folktale. I spent some time researching Russian forests and the creatures that inhabit them, and wanted to make the narrative more contemporary, substituting the building of a king’s palace for modern-day mineral exploitation. Howard and I decided to frame the poem with elements of the story and the context of the hospital ward and its patients. The rest of the filmmaking process was then down to Howard’s intuitive approach, weaving together the sound and visual components in a tapestry that references the participants without putting them centre stage, and which brings out the magic at the core of the story.
12
DART
Marc Tiley (UK) Dart, 09:50 (original 2013, new, abridged version 2014) A premiere of the edited version of the film Dart by Marc Tiley from the poem by Alice Oswald. Over a decade ago, poet Alice Oswald began recording conversations with the people who live and work along the river Dart in Devon. In her subsequent book-length poem these records formed the characters in a sound-map of the river, a song-line from the source to the sea. By combining words from the poem with actual observations of life along the Dart, this film follows the varying character of the river itself, flowing from its mysterious source on Dartmoor to the sea at Dartmouth and beyond. Marc Tiley is a filmmaker working largely in documentary (BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, Discovery Channel) and was director of the feature-length music film, Anda Union, which premiered at the London Film Festival in 2011. Alice Oswald is a multi award-winning British poet whose books include, Memorial, Woods, Etc. and The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile. Note: this version is a shortened version of the full-length film which is 24 minutes in duration.
Interpretations of The High Hills Have A Bitterness by Ivor Gurney
Helen Dewbery (UK), 01:22 (2014) This film brings out the sense of loss: loss of self, the environment and industry. The quarries of the Mendip Hills, many of which are long gone and are now geological sites of Special Scientific Interest, are places to reflect on the ‘soul helpless gone’. The active quarries are used for road construction and other building work. It doesn’t take an expert to realise that they too will one day run out.
13
Helen is an associate member of the Royal Photographic Society and works in collaboration with poets to produce film poems and collections and images. www.elephantsfootprint.com
Diana Taylor (UK) 01:03 (2014)
Diana Taylor, Director of Redcliffe films: Diana has been working with Bristol Poets since 2010 and has produced over 50 poetry films. The films have been shown at the International Film Festival Barcelona, the Portabello Film Festival London, and the Zebra International Poetry Film Festival Berlin, the BBC Big Screen, and the national Hansel of Gretal festival. In Bristol the films have been shown at the Colston Hall, the Watershed, the Arnolfini, the Harbourside Festival and the Bristol Poetry Festival.
14
REFLECTIONS & MEMORY Competition Finalists Memory and War Experience
Robert Peake (USA) One Stop, 02:42 (2014) M/S* th
A film-poem by Robert Peake, with music by Valerie Kampmier, commemorating the 70 anniversary of the D-Day landings. Robert Peake is a British-American poet living near London. His poetry has received commendations and nominations in a number of contests and his newest short collection is The Silence Teacher (Poetry Salzburg, 2013). His previous short collection was Human Shade, (Lost Horse Press, 2011). His full-length collection The Knowledge is expected in early 2015 from Nine Arches Press. Robert studied poetry at the University of California, Berkeley and the Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program at Pacific University, Oregon. director / scriptwriter / editor Robert Peake music: Valerie Kampmeier
Hala Georges (Syria) From my Car’s Window, 04:00 (2014) This film is a personal and nostalgic response to my home’s suffering. From inside my car I observe the streets of London while listening to Syrian folk music and remembering my home town: Damascus. It is a nostalgic personal response to my reality as an exiled artist who can’t visit home anytime soon and who is constantly worried and wondering about her family’s future. director: Hala Georges scriptwriter: poetry by Nizar Kabani, re-edited by Hala Georges music: Syrian Folk by Lena Shamamyan
15
Tamsin Taylor (UK) Resonance, 03:00 (2014) This poem centres on extracts from the World War II war letters 1940−1945 of Sergeant Edmund Quigley, RAF (from private collection). Tamsin Taylor is an Oxford-based contemporary artist. Her work explores the relationship between emerging technologies and more traditional forms of communication. She seeks to explore, create, and imagine dialogues between the past, present and future. Tamsin developed an interest in the language of communication during her degree course in Graphic Design (UCA). Subsequently she completed a Masters in Contemporary Art and Music with distinction (Oxford Brookes University). Her recent work predominantly uses sound, text and video to create installation work in response to her research into the temporality and fragmentation of memory. The film ‘Resonance’ is part of this on-going work. director: Tamsin Taylor
Memory and Psycho-Geography
Meriel Lland (UK) Soulbird, 03:02 (2014) E* Without need of recipe, Pollyanna bakes perfect bread to share with seagulls. She and her husband throw the loaf for the birds. The familiar ritual conjures their past and momentarily transcends the adriftness of emerging dementia. Soulbird takes as inspiration the old coastal community’s belief that gulls manifest the spirit of lost sailors. This immigrant couple who once found a language together now navigate unmapped waters and their own alien ‘tongue’. They find each other only in glimpses; ghost selves sometimes passing, sometimes touching. This response to conversations with those experiencing memory loss celebrates connection despite the fragmentation of thoughts. Country and place of production: UK; Staffordshire/Cheshire/South Wales. All material original. Old family photos from artist’s personal archive. Director / scriptwriter / editor / voice Meriel Lland; music Meriel Lland & smallestdogintheworld studio.
16
Sheila Packa & Kathy McTavish (USA) My Geology, 03:00 (2014) As a child, Sheila Packa grew up on the vein of iron and taconite in the Iron Range in northern Minnesota. The iron mines fed the demand for industrialization and munitions during WWI. The poem is from her poetry book, Night Train Red Dust. Kathy McTavish designed the video with her software, the graffiti angel, a film generator that uses open source web technologies to generate a mobile of projections from a database. The abstract images are of an old railroad bridge, the Oliver Bridge, in Minnesota. The music is cello and saxophone. Sheila Packa is a writer who strives to re-create the flows of the northeastern Minnesota landscape, and borrows metaphors that express the pattern of change in individual stories and narrative poems: the erosions, floods, migrations, lightning strikes, industrialization, excavation, mining, roads, and harbours of her environment. As a widely published poet she has won numerous awards and taken part in many media performances and exhibitions as well as teaching the craft of writing. Kathy McTavish is a cellist, composer, and multimedia artist who has received numerous awards. In live performance, installation and online environments, she blends improvisational cello, found sound, text, data and abstract, layered, moving images. Her recent work has focused on creating generative methods for building multichannel video and sound environments. poet & editor: Sheila Packa composer & film-maker: Kathy McTavish sound: includes sound samples of clarinet and soprano sax in the mix which are from Pat O’Keefe and Adam Tickle.
Susanne Wiegner (Germany) One moment passes, 03:00 (2011) One Moment Passes is a 3-D animation of a poem by Robert Lax; a meditative game with the subject time, with is, was and will be symbolized by a car ride in the film (the past in the rear mirror
17
and the future in front). There exist three different time layers: the past in the rear mirror is slowed down; the car ride as forward and reverse are placed on top of each other to create the very moment of presence. Suzanne Wiegner studied architecture at The Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at Pratt Institute in New York City. She works as an architect and 3-D artist in Munich. In addition, for several years she has been creating 3-D computer animations dealing with literature and virtual space and has won several international awards: La Parola Immaginata, Bergamo, 2011 and the Ballon Prize at Crosstalk Videoart Festival, Budapest, 2012. director / scriptwriter / editor Susanne Wiegner poem and voice by Robert Lax
Memory and Personal Relationships
Rhian Edwards (Wales) Tiptoe, 02:12 (2013) This is a poem based on the theme of memory; in particular the importance or lack of importance and impression one leaves on a former lover. Director / editor: Simon Huntley Scriptwriter / cast: Rhian Edwards
Marc Neys (Swoon) If Grief were Briefly to Disappear, 04:20 (2014) M/S* 3rd BEST SOUND / MUSIC 18
This film was created as a competition entry for the spring 2014 Awkward Paper Cut writing contest to write a poem (to accompany a video by Marc Neys) of 500 words or less of prose, poetry or flash fiction. Marc is one of the leading award-winning poetry filmmakers, having made numerous films, collaborating with poets and artists worldwide. Poem: Stevie Ronnie / Voice: Nic Sebastian / Concept, camera, editing and music: Swoon ‘The video was made for a writing contest of Awkword Paper Cut. We invited writers to write a poem to a film I made. With the winning poem I created a “new” edit of the film.’ Marc Neys ‘The words were written in direct response to Swoon’s video. I watched it several times without writing anything down at all and then lines began to appear.’ Stevie Ronnie Process Notes − Footage: The woman in the video is my mother, holding a bust made by my sister of my dead father. Originally the footage was shot for a video about ‘Roots’ (Heimat). I had made shots of my mother in places that were significant in my youth: our old driveway, my favourite forest, the place I secretly smoked my first cigarette, my first school, etc. Soundscape: It’s a re-edit of a scape I made after reading James Salter’s All That Is, about an older man looking back on his life and (lost) loves. The Voice: Nic Sebastian blogs at Very Like a Whale and Voice Alpha, and is the author of Forever Will End on Thursday and Dark And Like A Web. Nic makes videopoems in her spare time and was the founder and voice of the now-archived poetry audio journal, Whale Sound.
Diana Taylor (UK) & Martin Rieser (UK) Let Down A Line, 01:24 (2014) Director of Redcliffe Films Diana Taylor worked in BBC television for twenty years as a film editor and assistant producer. She began making films with Bristol Poets in 2009 and since then her poetry films have been screened at short film festivals in Barcelona, London and Zebra, 2012.
Martin Rieser has worked in the field of interactive art and literature for many years. He was research Professor between the Institute of Creative Technologies in The Faculty of Art Design and Humanities at De Montfort. He is now visiting Professor at the Pervasive Studios UWE and Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University. His art practice in mobile, internet art and interactive narrative installations has been seen around the world including Cannes; Holland, Paris; Vienna, Thessaloniki, London, Germany, China, Taiwan, Milan and Australia. He has published numerous essays and books on digital art including New Screen Media: Cinema/ Art/Narrative (BFI/ZKM, 2002), and has re-edited The Mobile Audience, a book on locative technology and art from Rodopi.
19
Irina Nedelcu (Rumania) 1277 1749, 03:00 (2013) From the poetry of Emily Dickinson; man grapples with the cycle of life: he begins his journey only to find himself right where he started. Life begins with the day after forever and goes full circle. director: Irina Nedelcu & Bogdan Lazar scriptwriter: Irina Nedelcu editor: Stefan Todor music: Mario M. cast: Simon Ginty, Emma Cohen
Keith Sargent (UK) Late, 05:14 (2014) E* ‘My father was dying of cancer, I was in London and he was in Kent, a 45 mile distance; this would normally take one and a half hours. On the 8th of August at 8.30 a.m. I received a call from my Mum who passed the phone to my Dad, he said “I love you. Night, night.” At 10 a.m. I received a call from his nurse saying he was very close (to dying). I set off. I arrived at 1.15. I was late. He had gone. I held his still warm hand (Mum had wrapped him in duvet to keep his body warm). I missed him. I miss him.’ Keith Sargent is creative director of multi-disciplinary design company immprint ltd and has worked as an educator, illustrator, filmmaker and graphic designer since graduating from the RCA in 1988. His films have been commissioned for commercial projects and screened at Bath Mix, Zebra, Athens and Visible Verse poetry film festivals. director / scriptwriter / editor / music: Keith Sargent cast: Keith Sargent, Stan Sargent, Rebecca Sargent, Stanley Sargent
20
Community Memory – History
Daniel H. Dugas (Canada) Standard of Truth, 02:20 (2013) E* M/S* 3rd BEST EDITING Standard of Truth is a video about archives and innocence. Children do not have any archives, they are born free. They do not have to worry about all of those boxes of paper stating this or that truth, they do not have to pay storage fees, or check the levels of relative humidity in the vaults. The past has not yet arrived. They have nothing else than life ahead of them. The meaning that flows in their veins is not saturated with antibodies; they are made of oxygen. Maybe that is why they have big smiles. director / scriptwriter / editor / music Daniel Dugas
Kate Sweeney (UK) What We Found in the Archive, 01:05 (2013) E* What We Found in the Archive explores the idea that an archive can create an uneasy sense of intrusion. Things consigned to the past, remembered and unremembered. The film includes documentary footage from the archives at Newcastle University featuring Anna Woodford’s hair and shadow, and contains footage from Blood Axe archive, notably with visual reference to a draft of Sean O’Brien’s book The Indoor Park. Director / Editor / Music: Kate Sweeney Scriptwriter: Tara Bergin
21
Edward Kulemin (Russia) Live Journal, (Живой Журнал) 03:07 (2013) Social networking and the Internet are sites where collective memory comes into contact with personal experience. Live Journal is another example of a location of such contacts. This performance is both the journal and the means of mass communication. The artist is wrapped in polyethylene film containing works of visual poetry (encoded memory). The individual draws attention to himself and creates an impression (leaves a trace in the memory). The resulting live cocoon (the mummy, the monument) provides the basis for the spectators to form public opinion (occupation memory). As a result, this art object can be viewed and read like an illustrated magazine or street advertisement (representation memory). In the final part of the performance design "comes to life" (awakening of consciousness): reading poetry text the character gradually gets out of the paper cocoon, freed from its waste and ideas imposed by a society of opinions (enlightenment memory). director scriptwriter / editor / music: Edward Kulemin cast: Edward Kulemin, Ekaterina Danenova, Tatyana Sushenkova
John Scott (Canada) In The Waiting Room, 05:00 (2014) An adaptation of one of Elizabeth Bishop’s most loved poems, In the Waiting Room tells the story of a six-year-old girl in 1917 who suddenly realizes that she is her own person. Bishop’s poem is one of the best expressions of this life-changing experience in the English language. director / scriptwriter / editor: John D. Scott cast: Anneke Stroink (lead) music: Camille Saint-Saens performed by Ron Clearfield
22
Shake! (Farzana Khan), Patrice Etienne (UK & various) Remember 03: 08 (2014) This short poetry film responds to the themes of: remembering, re-imagining, reparations. The film was devised over a five-day period by participants on the 4th Shake! intensive course at the Stephen Lawrence Centre, London. Shake! is a project that brings together young people, artists and campaigners to develop creative responses to social injustice. The course enabled discussions and creative exercises using the mediums of film and poetry to address issues of power, race, capitalism and legacy. This film and the process of creating it thus became a tool for change and a celebration of youth voices as creative soul expression. directors: NuWave Pictures (Patrice Etienne/ Dershe Samaria) + Edwina Omokaro, Grainne Aldred, Michelle Bella, Mujtaba Ahmed, Tasnima Ahmed, Isidora Markovic scriptwriters: NuWave Pictures + Edwina Omokaro, Grainne Aldred, Michelle Bella, Mujtaba Ahmed, Tasnima Ahmed, Isidora Markovic, Arkady Johns, Carmela Cuesta, Maaike Boumans, Orla Price, Paula Serafini, Sai Murray, Zena Edwards editors: NuWave Pictures + Edwina Omokaro, Grainne Aldred, Michelle Bella, Mujtaba Ahmed, Tasnima Ahmed, Isidora Markovic cast: Edwina Omokaro, Grainne Aldred, Michelle Bella, Mujtaba Ahmed, Tasnima Ahmed, Isidora Markovic, Patrice Etienne, Dershe Samaria
Memory and Place
Don Carey (Ireland) Innisfree, 02:21 (2013) Based upon the famous poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats. A man in a chaotic and depressing urban environment seeks to escape his surroundings. Director / scriptwriter / editor: Don Carey / cast: Will O Connell produced by the students of the animation department at the Irish School of Animation, Ballyfermot College of Further Education, 2013
23
Antonio Alvarado (Spain) City of Songs, 01:00 (2011) The City of Songs speaks not as a reality but as a sum of its parts. This work shows a multiplicity of viewpoints represented as a single unit. As people cross at a stop light in New York, overlapping views from the Empire State building show the city in its entirety. Antonio Alvarado is a media artist and curator. Antonioalvarado.info@gmail.com http://www.antonioalvarado.net
Suzie Hanna (UK) Proem: to Brooklyn Bridge, (2013) E* M/S* 1st BEST SOUND/MUSIC 2nd BEST EDITING Professor Suzie Hanna has been teaching in Higher Education for over two decades, specialising in the subject areas of animation and sound design. During this time she has developed international academic and industry networks, as well as maintaining her own creative practice. She engages in diverse collaborations with other artists, performers and academics to create original films. Her current research includes the creation of animation from documentary material, and the study of parallels in animation, poetry and sound design. Suzie also designs and animates commissioned innovative theatrical and site specific animation ranging in scale from puppet theatre to architectural projection. She presents papers at international symposia and industry seminars as well as contributing to academic journals and other publications.
24
Chaucer Cameron (UK) Kobe, 02:47 (2014) On Tuesday, January 17th 1995, at 5.46 a.m. (local time), an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter Scale struck the Kobe region of south-central Japan. Over 5,000 people died, and over 300,000 people became homeless. Kobe was written and performed by Chaucer Cameron, and is part of a longer narrative poem which explores issues of loss, fragmentation, and memory, set against the backdrop of natural, environmental and personal disasters. Chaucer works in collaboration with filmmaker Helen Dewbery http://www.elephantsfootprint.com. Chaucer is a founding member of Poetry Factory and has collaborated with CPiC photographers to produce the anthology The Museum Of Light. Her poetry films have been screened at Cheltenham Poetry Festival, and The University of Gloucestershire and will be screened at Swindon Poetry Festival 2014. directors: Chaucer Cameron and Helen Dewbery scriptwriter: Chaucer Cameron
Memory and The Mind
Lorenzo Scacchia (Trama afonA) (Italy) In droplets (confabulation) (In stille (confabulazione), 04:06 (2012) M/S* 2nd BEST SOUND/MUSIC 25
Two distant lives. They are marked by the same trauma that will trigger in each of them a different form of amnesia. That is the origin of a symbiotic relationship: the one will receive from the other, respectively, what cannot be recalled and what cannot be retained any longer. And their thoughts will seamlessly flow into a stream. Observed through the lens of memory, these lives (con)fuse together into a sole entity, with the one’s past and the other’s future. (Confabulation: Verbal formulation of false and fickle remembrances aimed at filling in good faith memory gaps). Lorenzo Scacchia, born in Rome in 1977, currently lives in Berlin. In 2005 he unveiled Trama afonA: A sound/visual/literary dream. Since then he has received awards and exhibitions in Italy and abroad, a CD published by Greytone records in 2010; appearances in compilations, collaborations with bands, performers, actors, poets, magazines, event managers, economists, directors (taking part in several historical documentaries produced by RAI, the Italian public broadcast company). director / scriptwriter / editor / music: Lorenzo Scacchia cast: Lorenzo Scacchia, Stefania La Corte country and place of production: Germany, Berlin
David Richardson (USA), Kathleen Roberts (USA) On A Prophet, 01:57 (2014) E* 1st BEST EDITING A woman, seemingly tormented by the lasting images of seeing her brother die, believes she can become immortal by fasting and studying. She takes refuge in a garage, creating her own talismans, and believes nourishment takes her away from understanding the truth. Dave Richardson is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Eastern Illinois University, in Charleston, Illinois, USA, where he teaches interactive and motion design in the Art Department. His MFA is from Indiana University, Bloomington, and his print and motion design work has been exhibited in solo and group shows across the United States. He divides his creative work between personal literary projects and client-based graphic design. Some of his recent presentations include speaking on simplifying the complexities of interactive design at the University and College Designers Association in Chattanooga, TN, May 2013, and on integrating digital media into traditional 2-D art foundation courses. His blog is rockyhillstudio.com. Kathleen Roberts is a Duluth, Minnesota-based poet originally from Rhode Island. Her work has appeared in various journals, including Revolver, El Aleph Press, and fwriction: review. Her multimedia works have appeared in various galleries and museums, including Walker Art Center, Prøve Gallery, and the Duluth Art Institute. director / editor / all video and graphic work: Dave Richardson scriptwriter: Kathleen Roberts cast: Paula Boener
26
Matt Mullins (USA) Sundowning, 03:03 (2014) E* M/S* Alzheimer’s/dementia includes a phase called ‘sundowning’ during which the afflicted, due to memory erosion, cannot shake the sense that there is somewhere else they must be, regardless of where they are. This includes the need to go ‘home’ even if one is already home. The videopoem comments on this condition even as it comments on how Alzheimer’s/dementia strips away memory and identity to take the sufferer ‘away’ from loved ones while that loved one is still in their presence. directors: Matt Mullins / Marc Neys scriptwriter / editor: Matt Mullins music: Matt Mullins / Marc Neys All footage is public domain (i.e., from the Prelinger Archives)
End of Liberated Words ‘Reflections & Memory’ Screening
27
J
None of this would have been possible without the insight and support of:
Firstly a HUGE thank you for giving their generous support: Phil, Director of Bath Specsavers; the Arts Development team at BANES and Colin Brown at Poetry Can Our wonderful workshop organisers: ecopoet Helen Moore and filmmaker Howard Vause Hetty Dupays, Diane Samways, Edwina Bridgeman, Frankie Simpkins, the wonderful patients and relatives and all involved with Art at the Heart and The Royal United Hospital Our LA judges Rich Ferguson and Mark Wilkinson – for making distance negligible James Symonds for his endless patience and the fine editing of Reflections & Memory and Reflections & Poetry Film and Form screenings Pete Hunter for great website interpretation skills All our associate festivals in Europe, Canada and Argentina: Zebra, Tarp, Oslo Poetry Festival, Visible Verse and VideoBardo for helping us to grow Tom Fieldhouse at St Gregory’s Catholic College and Adam Ranson at St Brendan’s Sixth Form College and all the school children and patients who took part – for whom making a poetry film made a bit of a difference to their day – and ours as well
Liberated Words Liberated Words workshops commissioned by Sarah Tremlett, and devised by poet Helen Moore and filmmaker Howard Vause in conjunction with: Art at The Heart, The Royal United Hospital, Bath – The Golden Bird Project; St Gregory’s Catholic College and Tom Fieldhouse, English teacher and all the students who took part in the Mametz Wood Project based on the poem by Owen Sheers Liberated Words Reflections & Memory Poetry Film Competition curated by: Lucy English and Sarah Tremlett Programme edited and produced by Sarah Tremlett Festival development: Sarah Tremlett
Key *M/S *E
shortlisted for music / sound award shortlisted for editing for poetic effect award
28
Index
Welcome
1
Judges’ details
4
Winning Films
7
Order of events
8
Reflections and Memory: Schools’ films
9
Bath Spa University film
11
The Golden Bird Project
12
Dart
13
Interpretations of The High Hills Have a Bitterness, Ivor Gurney
13
Reflections & Memory filmmakers and films competition finalists
15
Memory and War Experience
15
Memory and Psycho-Geography
16
Memory and Personal Relationships
18
Community Memory – History
21
Memory and Place
23
Memory and the Mind
25
Credits
28
Index
29
29