top ten lists

My favorite poetry films create a unique mood associated with questions that are relevant and thought-provoking, but at the same time, they also create pleasure in listening and watching, a revelry in visual stimuli, textures, surprises. Continue Reading →

I’m a filmmaker not a poet. So for me the word “poetry” means something different I think than how poets might see it. For me the poetry part of cinépoetry is not the written part, it’s a kind of magic that can suddenly bring alive an enchanting correspondence between words, sounds and images. Continue Reading →

The contrast between the abstract—some would say spiritual—nature of writing and the essential corporeality of preparing and consuming food is fascinating. Eating is a root metaphor in probably every language, one of the fundamental ways in which we think about our relationship to the cosmos. Continue Reading →

The idea of my film collection was to leave behind the common definitions of what a poetry film means and offer in addition to other curators an atypical poetry film collection. In the Anglo-American definitions, a poetry film is based on a poem. As director of the Poetry Film Festival Vienna, I personally support a broader definition: A poetry film in my view is based either on a poetic experience or on a literary text. Continue Reading →

I have introduced poetry films to students for over a decade now. I am very lucky that my students never cease to surprise me with their great observations and analytic responses that unfold in our classroom discussions. Try it! Continue Reading →

I really enjoy all forms of videopoetry, and collaborations have certainly led to some of the most groundbreaking and vital work out there, but I also have tremendous admiration for those people who work primarily as singular “videopoets.” To have the skill and talent to write a compelling poem and the ability to place that poem into an equally compelling visual and sonic context is an impressive artistic accomplishment. Continue Reading →

What strategies have film- and video-makers employed to make coherent and cohesive assemblages of multiple poems, whether by a single poet or several different poets? And what, if anything, might such longer and more complex videopoems suggest about the perennial struggle of videopoetry and poetry film to achieve a whole greater than the sum of its parts? Continue Reading →