Verse in Motion

These verses which attack contemporary value systems,from American poet John Giorno’s,Just say no to Family Values,might not strike one as extraordinary,but when they were translated visually by Italian filmmaker Antonella Faretta in 2006,something changed. In the four-and-a-half minute film,the director pitches an old woman as his sole protagonist set in a village in southern Italy. As she sits outside her hut overcome by self-pity,Giorno’s verse takes on a new meaning as it focuses on her suffering. This short film won the Award for ‘Best poetry,Film and Politics’ at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin,Germany that year.

While merging of poems and visual media may be relatively unknown in India,the Zebra Poetry Film Festival will be screening a selection of 11 prize-winning films from their archives including Giorno’s Just say no… in Delhi today at the Max Mueller Bhavan on Kasturba Gandhi Marg. “By combining the language of poetry with the visual world we can transcend the gap between languages,” says Christiane Lange,the director of the film festival who will be introducing the concept of poetry filmmaking to Delhiites. “It can be defined as a film where a poem is present in some way in the movie. Every film can be poetic,but not every film is a poetry film. Since this genre is young,definitions are still evolving,” she adds. The Zebra Poetry film festival,a bi-annual feature since 2002,offers poets and filmmakers a chance to bridge the gap between their respective forms.

The festival is a part of the cultural schedule of Library Week Celebrations at the Bhavan,to celebrate the reopening of their renovated library. With a flexible space,the library wing has been redesigned in a lounge setting,suitable for movie screenings and discussions during the evenings. The films being screened at the festival include Dutch poet-filmmaker Taatske Pieterson’s award-winning three-minute presentation,One Person,based on his own poem by the same name. It deals with the news reading style of most TV channels where newscasters tend to dramatise even the simplest of actions. Other films at the festival include American director Juan Delcan’s interpretation of Billy Collins poem,The Dead,Chilean filmmaker Cristobal Leon Dooner’s Lucia,an interpretation of Joaquin Cocina’s poem by the same name,Norwegian Eivind Tolas’s Cannes Festival award-winning short film Love is the Law,an interpretation of co-director Ole Mads Vevle’s poem on spreading the Christian message of charity. Although these films are part of a niche genre of cinema,festival organisers believe that the genre is gaining momentum. “We have the impression that poetry in general is coming more in public view with such films. For instance,this year we had 900 entries from 71 countries,” says Lange.

The festival begins at 6: 30 pm and continues till 8: 30 pm. Entry is free. For details contact: 23471125.

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