2021 Official Selections
Saturday, November 20th Screening Lineup
Specific Screening Times & Links Under Development.
Please check back frequently for updates or changes.
SCREENING 1
Ashera, Tova Beck-Friedman, Director: Her manifestation was a tree – Ashera, the ancient Near Eastern goddess, laments nature’s destruction. M/S: Runtime 3:14
The Dealer, Stephanie Cobban, Director: A dealer on the streets selling some unexpected goods. SW/P: Runtime :15
Villa del Misteri, Georgia Usborne, Director: Villa dei Misteri depicts a memory revisited through words and movement, exploring a woman's relationship to self, space, and time and the lenses of perception through which we see and are seen.M/S: Runtime 5:03
9 Brief Films from Suburban Zen, Justin Meckes, Director: This film presents only a small portion of what can be found in the poetry collection titled Suburban Zen: Tiny Stories, Poems, Humorous Reflections & Deep Thoughts. SW/P: Runtime 7:53
Inconsistencies, Chris Biles, Director: This poem-video combo paints a picture of the confusion/fear/anger/ recklessness caused by Multiple Personality Disorder. The repetition of the lines "You belong to Heaven. / You belong to Hell." propels the piece forward in a dive toward a different sort of darkness. SW/P: Runtime 3:22
The Sliced Eyelid, Tim Gallo, Director: Interpretive reading of the poem "The Sliced Eyelid" by award-winning Japanese poet Fuzuki Yumi. M/S: Runtime 6:21
Unfinished Apology, Sven Stears, Director: Kathryn O'Driscoll, UK Slam Champion, reads a letter to her mum, addressing a recent suicide attempt. SW/P: Runtime 4:44
Overcome, Eddie Goines, Director: A poetry film that encapsulates the general challenges of life for the individual and some of the issues that face society as a whole. SW/P: Runtime 4:37
Primorveyal-9, Johan Paull, Writer. A series of monologues about a teen girl Tammy who committed suicide due to bullying at school. This particular monologue is about a young boy who is also being bullied and the effects it has on him. It starts off with the boy's ultra ego in a make believe world he has created to escape to, and then it moves on to the boy talking directly to camera describing his struggles. M/S: Runtime 3:56
The Circle, Marlene D McCurtis, Alexa Kershner, Directors: This poetic lyric collage was written by men on a Yard at California State Prison, Los Angeles County, and performed by formerly incarcerated. LVM: Runtime 11:36
Shakespearean Monologue - Mark Antony in Julius Caesar - Act 3 Sc1, Nevin Milian, Director: Nevin Millan as Mark Antony in Julius Caesar - Act 3 Sc 1 by William Shakespeare. Monologue where Antony speaks over Caesar’s body.
M/S: Runtime 1:51
Widow, Keiko McAssey, Director: A widow plays piano every day. She talks to her husband through playing piano with joy and sorrow. The piano is the only connection to her world. SW/P: Runtime 2:48
PHAT Girl, Rosemarie Wilson, Director: In 2013, I was approached to pen a piece for a plus-size debutante ball which brought the spoken word piece PHAT Girl to life. Since that time, young and well-seasoned beauties have requested that I perform this piece at their events.
SW/P: Runtime 8:13
Nemo, Georgia Gregory-Morris, Director: 'A soul’s existence decays as it descends into oblivion.' SW/P: Runtime 5:00
Meeting Light, Adam Wilder, Director: 'Meeting Light' is a film by Adam Wilder of a poem from Bay Area Poet Raphael Block's new book, 'At This Table'. SW/P: Runtime 3:31
Note to Self ’21, Rich Sab, Director: M/S: Runtime 4:17
Fabulous Phoebe, Cassius Rayner, Director:Fabulous Phoebe is a short film telling the story of a shielded cancer survivor locked in with her abusive husband during Covid. She eventually goes outside and makes a decision to leave him. Greek myth references turn Phoebe's story into plea for Mother Earth. Being a piece of original poetry, it is entirely written in verse. SW/P: Runtime 10:00
SCREENING 2
The Blue Candle, Bob Jordan, Director: The Blue Candle is an exploration of the consequences to humanity as a species if we remain insular and fail to move on from Earth. The Blue Candle is also the prequel to a feature film, The Colour of Everything, which is filming in 2021.
M/S: Runtime 3:17
How Long Will You Sleep, Marilyn Freedman, Director: Inspired by a troubled meditation on a medieval saint, this spacious poetic film is about consciousness, love, and the filmy air of eternity in the everyday. SW/P: Runtime 5:30
Odyssee, Ode to the City, Jihad Saade, Director: Music/Poetry video, an ode to our wounded city - Beirut. SW/P: Runtime 7:07
Vile Figs, Michèle Saint-Michel, Director: Vile Figs is a poetry film based on the British poet Luke Kennard's poem of the same name. On its face, this poem considers our complicated relationship with technology and surveillance. More deeply, the work explores notions of belonging and care. SW/P: Runtime 1:55
Shelter at Home Alone, Rani Deighe Crowe, Director:
While quarantining during the pandemic, Sherry realizes the challenges in her life have prepared her for
sheltering alone during a pandemic. M/S: Runtime 5:00
A Poet’s Seat, Martin Del Carpio, Director: Genre – Poetic Experimental Cinema - “What is an alien?” a man asks amid smoke, shadow, and light. The question is daunting, metaphysical if you will. We may all feel like outsiders sometimes, but what happens when the feeling is constant? LVM: Runtime 12:17
Consider It Not So Deeply, James Woodward, Director: A dark poetry film based on Carmine Di Biase's sestina featuring a short retelling of the character Lady Macbeth from Shakespeare's Macbeth. M/S: Runtime 4:54
Coffee, Diana Taylor, Director: A poet goes into a cafe,
see what happens next...SW/P: Runtime 3:30
Impulse, Cameron Currin, Director: IMPULSE is a poetic experimental film about impulsive addiction.
SW/P: Runtime 3:11
tethered, Gaia Alari, Director: The poem is a selection from Morehead's debut book "canvas" (Viewless Wings Press, 2021). "tethered" features 2D animation created from 750 drawings. The animation was created for the 9:16 story format. SW/P: Runtime 2:12
The Scapegoat, Iiro Holopainen, Director: A darkly comedic monologue film about a self-isolated, most peculiar woman to whom a curious cinematographer comes to pay a visit. LVM: Runtime 12:43
Black Tears, Greg Flakus, Director: A woman wanders through a cemetary mourning the loss of a friend as the narrator recites a poem about the mystery of death.
SW/P: Runtime 0:59
Amazing Grace, Rashad White, Director.
SW/P: Runtime 3:38
World’s Between Us, Alrick Huebener, Director: Lines from poems inspired by putting on makeup named after emotions. A letter from today written across 400 years to astronomer Galileo. A man. A woman. The chances for miscommunication are high. SW/P: Runtime 6:19
This is Just to Say, Christiane Hitzemann, Director: A poetry film, in which almost nothing happens, but betrayal.
M/S: Runtime 2:00
Farewell, Jade Bangle, Fenfen Huang, Director: A short film for a poem Fenfen Huang wrote paying tribute to her late Aunt. SW/P: Runtime 3:00
Befriend to Defend, Esmé Hicks, Director: Rich feminist poetry and snappy, colorful visuals combine in this 3.5 minute spoken word short. Based on lived experience and featuring over 20 women, the film tackles the notion of the “correct” way to respond to threats and assault. A collaboration between award-winning director Esmé Hicks and actor-writer Sophie Ablett. SW/P: Runtime 3:48
The Use of Words, Cia Rinne, Director: Poet, performer Cia Rinne simultaneously moves through an oblique space and different languages that are split up only to be reassembled. In the dance of the clinamen within languages, words are stripped of their usual context, and as words shift from English to German to French, so do their meanings and connotations. Language as a means of communication does no longer seem reliable.
M/S: Runtime 7:46
SCREENING 3
Martha, Sally Connors, Director: Original monologue based on Martha Mitchell. She was the wife of Attorney General John Mitchell during the Watergate scandal. She was famous for being outspoken, and she paid a price for it. M/S: Runtime 7:30
How do I shine?? RWLCV, Carrie K. Thomas, Lamar Thomas Jr., Directors: A Slam Poetry visual based on body positivity, self-confidence, boosting one’s self-esteem; dramatically in cinema form. SW/P: Runtime 3:13
Heal Me, Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Director: A woman walks outside on a snowy day, trying to find the thoughts that will heal her troubled mind. SW/P: Runtime 5:01
Euphoria Monologue, Jessica Cruz, Performer: A South Asian actress, performing Rue’s monologue from HBO’s Euphoria. Rue remembering the first time she felt the high. M/S: Runtime 1:52
To Thaliarchus, Martin Zillner, Erik Kohlbauer, Directors: A Roman legionary advances on the highest regions of the Alps. A retrospection of an aging veteran on his peak performance of youth - reveling and nostalgic in his poetic reflection on this physical exertion. The menacing summit soon to engulf him, he emerges from the mist, hopefully beholding the aspired lands. SW/P: Runtime 2:25
Family Recipe, Kamari Bright, Director: A girl's baking
lesson from her grandfather teaches her acceptance
as she learns the similarities between ingredients and people. M/S: Runtime 4:52
I Love What You Said To Me, Marilyn Freeman, Director: This poetic, essay film, "I love what you said to me," is a fleeting meditation on how the moment of loving one thing connects us to every moment we have loved anything. SW/P: Runtime 5:00
Not Your Erotic, Gelli Pascual, Director: A Filipino-American woman tries to find love but instead faces sexualization and fetishization due to the color of her skin. This narrative short film in a form of a spoken word, talks about the sexualization of women of color caused by society’s
unreal beauty standards which leads to being detrimental to women's mental health. SW/P: Runtime 7:29
Time & Tide - A Trilogy, Justin Spray, Marc Green, Jonathan Stow, Directors: Time and Tide is a trilogy about how we approach the past, reconcile it with the present, and face the future. Across the years, a mother watches her gladiator son fight while she remembers his childhood: the last lighthouse keeper prepares for his final trip ashore: and an actor returns to the stage to play his part in a Greek myth. LVM: Runtime 15:00
Black Lives Do Matter, Dionne D Hunter, Director: “Black Lives Do Matter“ depicts a possible conversation held between an All Lives Matter/Blue lives Matter supporter, and a Black Lives Matter Supporter. SW/P: Runtime 5:22
Dulce et Decorum Est, Walter Haussner, Director: A performance of Wilfred Owen's poem. SW/P: Runtime 4:58
Confess, Stephanie Bergeron, Director: The steely heart of young detective Chris finally melts inside the confessional. M/S: Runtime 1:19
SIliloquy, Keith Barnfather, Director: M/S: A monologue from a unique web/home entertainment independent drama series based on concepts from the BBCtv series Doctor Who. Featuring a disabled lead actor and a bit of political satire! M/S: Runtime 8:36
Marriage Story, Zoé Mahfouz: A monologue about society's pressure on mothers. M/S: Runtime 1:36
Forgetting’s Remembrance, Arya Badiyan, Director: Forgetting's Remembrance is a spoken word poem set to original artwork about the journey of the feminine. The poem narrates the inner thoughts of a girl that grows up with her femininity repressed, replaced by the masculine. She struggles to give voice to the power within her.
SW/P: Runtime 7:30
I Want to be buried in the Criterion Closet, Davide Zicca, Director: A short poem about the love for the Criterion Collection and its famous Closet. M/S: Runtime 1:01
Segregation, Sian Flanagan, Director. Consciousness meets unconsciousness in a dream to shake the veil of deception to reveal the truth of love. Segregation depicts the battle of the Head over the Heart, confronting the narrow societal view of love and questions the themes and trends that keep us in asylum away from the true meaning of love. SW/P: Runtime 8:36
Specific Screening Times & Links Under Development.
Please check back frequently for updates or changes.