Online Screening Official Selections
Saturday, December 17th, 2022
Saturday, December 17th - SCREENING 1 9:00 AM - 10:45 PM (PST)
The Weight of Illusions, Margo Stutts Toombs, Carolyn Dahl, Directors: This video poem is based on "The Weight of Illusions" by Carolyn Dahl. SW/P: Runtime 3:24
Mago, Hedi B. Asencio, Director: After suffering a tragic loss, a heartbroken magician begins to reflect on the pain and sorrow he feels every day. M/S: Runtime: 4:00
Unsaid, Ayodeji Otuyelu, Director: It's a visual adaptation of poems from the book Words In My Head, which explore emotions surrounding gender, sexual orientation, blackness, and feminism through the eye of a gay director from a homophobic African country Nigeria. LVP:
Runtime 17:51
To make things known, Maxime Coton, Director: This film paints a portrait of a steel factory soon to be demolished, eaten away by the absence of activity, out of sight. A cinematographic poem that takes the time to x-ray the places and the men who populated them, as a farewell. An elegy prolonging the past, creating a living matter that resists time and oblivion, in a space that is no longer quite real. SW/P: Runtime 7:00
Lear Alone Episode 3, Anthony Shrubsall, Director: A One-man version of Shakespeare's 'King Lear' shot in Lockdown London in partnership with the homeless charity Crisis. Episode 3, called 'Isolation', starts with Lear's rejection by his older daughters, Goneril and Regan, outside the National Theatre. Throughout this episode, Lear is afraid he is going mad. The episode ends with him sleeping rough in an underpass on a road out of London.
LVP: Runtime 13:18
Questions regarding the deaths of two Covenater women at Wigtown in 1685, Sue Thomas, Director: Elizabeth Burns (1957 - 2015) was a Scottish poet of renown throughout the UK. This film of 'Questions Regarding' illustrates one of several poems she wrote about the Solway coast. This huge estuary that lies between England and Scotland is an area rich in history, especially about its womenfolk. The poem recalls and gives recognition to past times when ordinary women used their natural skills to help and heal others in their community and through ignorance and social prejudice suffered horribly as a result. Feared as witches they were often falsely tried and condemned to a horrific death. SW/P: Runtime 2:52
Frequency, Tracy Jenkins, Director: SW/P: Runtime: 3:33
I Love Today's Sky, Kazuma Yano, Director: Do you remember yesterday’s sky? The sky always extends beyond your upward gaze. I love today’s sky where clouds scatter leisurely. The poet Shuntaro Tanikawa wrote a new poem entitled “I Love Today’s Sky”. Based on this poem describing a bright future, the Tearful Production Committee, which had produced the short films “The First Feeling in My Life” and “Obento”, created a third short film entirely on location in Ashiya, a city near Kobe. We presented visual images in an attempt to wrap our overflowing joyous hearts in a perfectly clear sky with the magic finesse of exquisite light. Thinking highly of the beautiful, natural effect of light, we filmed scenes with no artificial light. SW/P: Runtime 6:26
I Am A Film, Huw Wahl, Director: Shot on location in Low Four Studio (Manchester), poet Stephen Watts recites a new poem to Huw Wahl's camera. SW/P: Runtime 9:54
The Parking Lot of Dreams, Alexis Krasilovsky, Director: a short film written and directed by Alexis Krasilovsky. It incorporates poetry written during and about the pandemic, as well as photocollages created by the filmmaker from many solitary walks in a place without people. SW/P: Runtime: 7:30
The molluscs revenge, Andrea Casella, Director: To leave your own country, move elsewhere, and start over. Within a migrant’s dreams and nightmares, slowly questioning the very meaning of belonging, the journey lies as a non-place where the same sensations are repeated and renewed. In between memories, illusions, and unfulfilled expectations. And in this denotation returning 'home' to that house where we lived and that lived us reinforces this sense of (non) belonging; making us strangers, aliens, and intolerant guests. What was familiar and understandable to us becomes intolerable and obscure. SW/P: Runtime 4:12
Lonely in the Great, Nataliia Ponomarova, Director: The film explores the concept of loneliness through poetic words. It doesn't matter how high a person soars in his successes or in big cities where we seem to have many friends, fans, and acquaintances, but still feel lonely. LVP: Runtime 18:56
I Want It All And Nothing at All by Morganics, Morganics, Director: his clip mixes post-apocalyptic poetics with smooth sci-fi Hip Hop. Taken from Morganics' new EP, 'Rhythms and Poetry', it is a visual enhancer, a lyric video of spoken word over instrumental Hip Hop. The lyrics tell a tale of the ugliness of big-city living and remind us of why Yidinji land, the FNQ, is the place to be. The song is produced, written, performed, and mastered by Morganics. The clip is edited and graded by him as well.
SW/P: Runtime 4:15
Zoom Break Out Session
AUTHOR BOOK BLAST
Poetry/Monologues/Spoken Word
(2-3 minutes BOOK SHOUT OUTS)
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (PST)
Join us for the Author's Virtual Book Blast. This is a wonderful opportunity for authors of poetry, prose, monologues, and memoir books to briefly share and shout out your book and book links. Depending on the number of participants, you will have anywhere from 2-5 minutes to share your book. Get those elevator pitches together and come join the fun. Make sure you have note paper and a pen handy to jot down the book links of participants. It's all about supporting our community. By signing up for a minimum of one screening, you will receive email access to the Author's Virtual Book Blast Zoom link via email.
Saturday, December 17 - SCREENING 2
1:00 PM - 2:45 PM (PST)
Mind Racing, Kyle M Wegler, Director: A short film expressing the intense experience runners face when racing. Youth M/P: Runtime: 1:55
Hereditary, Scott A. Galeski, A young teenage girl from Downriver Detroit Michigan shares her hardships in the poetic piece. Youth M/P: Runtime: 2:36
Fear Abides, Nightly Glistens, Mark Soltert, Director: Perhaps Mr. Baldivino’s life of small violent desperations has finally worn itself out, and the ritual of prey and succor, this unquenchable thirst for life has come to an end. Or will a new beginning lie in the hands of a long-lost friend? LVM: Runtime: 12:00
"Abuelita," Joe West, Director: Radical and genre-exploding, "Abuelita" wields poetry, music, optical effects, and film to create a multidimensional celebration of a grandmother, like so many other timeless family matriarchs, whose impact transcends her life. SW/P: Runtime: 4:52
Like The Air, Marilyn Freeman, Director: Blending poetry and nonfiction media art, Like the Air, is a spacious meditation on love, loss, reflection, and resiliency. M/S Runtime: 5:00
A Rescues Song, Kimberly Villarruel, Director: A veteran saves a lost dog and in doing so saves both of them. SW/P:
Runtime: 4:28
Our Obsession, Jesse Roth, Director:
'Our obsession' was written in response to the growing concerns of social media and celebrity culture on young people. It's a spoken word poem that has been adapted into a short film. Much of the script was written from real-life experiences! SW/P: Runtime: 2:35
Changing skin, Maxime Coton, Director: We are little miracles. Tiny ones, even, who never stop shedding our skins, over and over. The world settles in our sweat. Alone, though, with no memory of what drove us into this life that jealous people claim is ours. Forgotten, skins fall one after another, like caresses that—much more than our cells, in truth—create them, these skins, which are neither ours nor those of others, regardless of the energy that we spend, at night, exchanging them. SW/P: Runtime: 6:30
Some Advice, Cormac Culkeen, Director: Some Advice | A poetry film by Cormac Culkeen. SW/P: Runtime: 0:48
#blacklivesmatter, One Single Rose, Director: The struggle we face for racial equality has been ongoing for over 400 years. After so many lives have been lost due to systemic racism and police brutality, I penned a piece entitled #blacklivesmatter chronicling a few moments in our history. Unfortunately, in 2020, this piece is timely and more names continue to be added to the list of black lives taken from us. 2020 has brought support for #blacklivesmatter from all over the globe. WE NEED CHANGE YESTERDAY! One day, I hope to be able to retire this piece. Until then, I'll stay on my knees for us with pen afire, because writing is what I do... SW/P: Runtime: 7:00
Infinite, Nils Witt, Director: Infinite deals with a person's journey, representative of the current development of mankind, along key locations. These represent the modern understanding and handling of nature as well as nature itself.
This is an inner as well as an outer journey.
M/S: Runtime: 9:00
Monologo sull'esistenza, Luca Arcidiacono, Director: M/S:
Runtime 8:59
A Dialogue With Georgia O'Keeffe III: The Simple Truth of Light, Patricia L. Meek, Director: The third poem in a five-poem series inspired by the 20th-century American master painter, Georgia O'Keeffe and explores metaphysical wisdom(s) for the 21st Century. SW/P: Runtime: 3:49
Flow, Ockert Greeff, Director: Ockert Greeff, a South African Canadian drummer, uses drums and words to create rhythmic poems, relying on some of the earliest oral and musical traditions - drumming, storytelling, chanting, and rhymes. His video series employs the most basic filming techniques -- typically hand-held mobile phone and single shots -- to create a dialogue with his stripped-down rhythmic poems. SW/P: Runtime: 2:25
Advantages of NOT Being in the Same Room, Geoffrey Alexander Altrocchi, Director: At Station House Reading Series, each week we create a group poem where all participants anonymously write one line devoted to an agreed-upon theme or title. This group poem was written by roughly 25 people and took place in the middle of the quarantine. Its core theme seemed to be about longing for connection in an otherwise disconnected existence, and much like the tale of Tristan and Isolde, director Geoffrey Altrocchi constructed a visual story complimenting the given text by having its hero write a love letter on a paper airplane, then send it aloft to find its way to his soulmate. SW/P: Runtime: 5:00
Quetzalcoatl Path: Sacrifice, Stephanie Reid, Director: A video poem that pays homage to the story of the Mesoamerican god, Quetzalcoatl, by comparing it with the trials of sacrifice that immigrants make for their families. Animation and video are set to "The Leaves Were Furious" written and spoken by Enrique Cabrera. SW/P: Runtime: 4:08
Master of None, Zoé Mahfouz, Director: A 1 Minute monologue from Master of None by Aziz Ansari. M/S: Runtime: 1:00
Unmasked, Rani Deighe Crowe, Director: A woman is asked to wear a mask during the Covid pandemic. M/S: Runtime 1:30
Bad Attitude [Punk-Ass-Bitch] John Horan, Director: Shorty poetry film by John Horan. SW/P: Runtime 1:59
Atardecer Milwaquiano, Alex Gambacorta, Director: A love letter to Milwaukee that highlights the hidden stories that live in our memories. M/S: Runtime 3:10
On the Other Side, Ryan E. Torgeson, Director: A short film set against the visual collage artistry of Kellie Richardson and her original poem “A Sweet Shot in the Arm.” In this interpretation of the poem, a poet queen, caught between two worlds, finds a crack in her static and dimensionless black-and-white world to deliver a life-affirming message. As she peels back layers of rigid flat walls, the poet uncovers a colorful living collage world beneath— full of promise, passion, and ancestral roots. Through her poetry, Kellie invites her audience to lean in, reach further and look deeply within themselves to understand the multiple truths and joy that exist beyond societal expectations of the world today. SW/P: Runtime: 3:24
Monologue - Daniel Bristol, Director: The Birds and the Bees by Mark Crawford. M/S: Runtime: 4:32
We Can Be Pirates, Sven Andrew Stears, Director: We Can Be Pirates is a story of hope, and unity, in the face of trauma. SW/P: Runtime: 5:18
Saturday. December 17th - SCREENING 3 4:00 - 5:30 PM (PST)
Home to the Hangers, A. D. Cooper, Director: The Blue A traumatized soldier runs away from the trenches and finds healing in his old familiar haunts.1.
SW/P: Runtime: 5:40
Lineage is Not Linear, Natachi Mez, Director: SW/P: Runtime 6:32
Woven Words, Jeffrey Morin, Director:
A crossing of words universal and my own from mood and emotional discourse. All woven together as day and night and years that have now gone. Music by: David Beard “Undress” SW/P: Runtime 3:37
Sedition, Seduction, Militia, Production, Michael Franco, Director: This is a short film made for zero dollars, with the narrative a group poem written by 34 people, each contributing one line devoted to the agreed upon title; "Sedition, Seduction, Militia, Production" M/S: Runtime 4:04
blue jay, Anthony Matos, Director: The stories of Ryan, Pat, and Natalie; three strangers looking for varying escapes from their mundane lives. Their journeys bring them together at an old motel, where they learn from each other how to confront their own demons. LVM:
Runtime: 12:27
Just Ask, Kimberly DeWitt, Director: Kimberly DeWitt is an independent filmmaker and writer from Atlanta, Georgia. Her works include the hit Youtube series “Never Stop” which follows a couple who fights their way through infidelity with God's help. Other works include her personal documentary OPEL - “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Leaps” and a spoken word about seeking God for wisdom entitled “Just Ask.” SW/P: Runtime: 2:16
Reverie, Brian Bowers, Director: The past can be an unreliable narrator, and the future is simply a shifting reflection of where we are right now. Driven by choreographed movement, original music, and sound, REVERIE is an experimental visual narrative that seeks to question and explore. An ensemble dance cast guides us through the delicately narrated introspective, inner dialogue that an emerging artist is having with time itself. Is it true, what they say, that life is but a dream? M/S:
Runtime 8:56
My Foot Hurts, Bjorn Johnson, Director: This is a short film made for zero dollars, with the narrative of a group poem written by 17 people, each contributing one line devoted to the agreed upon title; "My Foot Hurts".
SW/P: Runtime 2:44
Movie Horses, Chandel White, Director: IA couple of moviegoers sit in the Theater of Life. One by one, scenes attach themselves to their minds. They believe it’s all real. Theater gods do their best to convince them otherwise. They want to take the plot home with them. They think they can become cowgirls. It’s their dream. They were born to do this. Ummm… no they weren’t.
SW/P: Runtime 4:37
One Old, One Young, Jeffrey N. Johnson, Director: The old did not speak of the war.
The young did not understand it. SW/P: Runtime 3:52
Old T-Shirts, Michelle O'Shea, Director: This short film was created based upon a group poem written by 25 people, each contributing, one devoted to the agreed upon theme or title, in this case; "Old T-Shirts". This short was helmed by Michelle O'Shea and animated by her as well, all done for exactly zero dollars. SW/P: Runtime: 4:02
Portrait of the Family as a Definition, Adriane Little, Director: This video was inspired by Kerrin McCadden’s poem "Portrait of the Family as a Definition" as read by McCadden for the video. The video translates the brief and lyrical exchanges between loss, family, addiction, trauma, and that which otherwise haunts. SW/P: Runtime 2:57
Just in Case, Rani Deighe Crowe, Director: In the wake of George Floyd's murder, a Covid nurse isolated from her family, records a video message for her two young sons. M/S: Runtime 5:30
Where Madness Is, Corinne Hughes, Director: Increasingly polyphonic four-part poem performed as a combination of spoken word and acapella singing, representing a mind at odds with itself. As one part suffers, another tries to soothe and find peace, and yet another rebel.
SW/P: Runtime 4:40
The Sound, Jose Garcia Rivadulla-Rey, Director: The love of music and how it affects us. SW/P: Runtime 3:37
CC Junkie, Nick Swannell, Director: After receiving a devastating cancer diagnosis, a motivated young woman raises thousands for worthy causes through a new addiction to charity challenges. But when the police arrest her for fraud, we discover that she’s not as altruistic as she’d have everyone believe. M/S: Runtime 8:59
Weary Blues, Matthew Winters, Director: Weary Blues is a short film adaptation of Langston Hughes' 1925 poem, 'The Weary Blues.' "The Weary Blues" was first published in the Urban League magazine, Opportunity. It was awarded the magazine's prize for best poem of the year. The poem was included in Hughes's first book, a collection of poems, also entitled The Weary Blues. The central theme of “The Weary Blues” concerns the resilience of the archetypal “common” person who has times of despair or despondency. Music serves as a means of relieving pain or anxiety.
SW/P: Runtime 5:04
