For our second annual Midwest Video Poetry Fest, we're thrilled to present two nights of some of the best video poetry from the Midwest and around the world. These films include original poems, animation, translations, and more. This event was held live at ALL in Madison and at Woodland Pattern in Milwaukee. It was also streamed to our YouTube channel starting October 11 for two weeks.
The second program was Saturday, October 9, 2021 at 7:00pm CST
1) Frozen Out (5m00s)
Directed by Hao Zhou
Written by Hao Zhou
China
An émigré retreats to frozen prairies and swamps, hoping to find a meaningful story and escape the anxieties of dislocation. Delivered as a film-letter to the protagonist’s sister in rural China, the film considers his queer self-exile and the vulnerable nature of his home, relationships, and self.
2) Somewhere in the Sky (1m24s)
Directed by Aaron Kierbel
Written by Ellyn Maybe
California, United States
“Somewhere in the Sky” is a collaboration between a poet, a dancer, an accordionist and an animator. Written in the wake of the US Capitol riots in Jan 2021, it explores the absurdity of our present moment through a series of unanswerable questions.
3) Overcome (4m37s)
Directed by Eddie Goines
Written by Eddie Goines
United States
Powerful spoken word performance
4) Legacy (5m00s)
Directed by Jack Cochran, Pamela Falkenberg
Written by Fiona Tinwei Lam
Canada
Fiona Tinwei Lam Website
"Legacy," in collaboration with poet Fiona Tinwei Lam and based on her poem, creates a memory space using symbolic objects, evocative tableaux, and a variety of digital effects to concretize the wisdom that comes with temporal and emotional distance, creating a fanciful, wry, and occasionally bittersweet postmortem of a relationship that founders on the rocks of cross cultural differences.
5) The Yes Yes Fish (6m00s)
Directed by Patrick Moser
Written by Patrick Moser
Florida, United States
Patrick Moser's Website
In this experimental short, a magic fish delivers a report reflecting on the fascist uprising in the US.
6) Baby Lazer (1m27s)
Directed by Ryan Tynan
Written by Ryan Tynan
Minnesota, United States
Ryan Tynan's Website
Baby Lazer is a short experimental film accompanied by a spoken word piece that juxtaposes confessional poetry about insecurities and childhood trauma with light-hearted campy imagery.
7) Then Betelgeuse Reappears (1m40s)
Directed by Danika Stegeman LeMay
Written by Danike Stegeman LeMay
Minnesota, United States
Danika Stegeman LeMay's Website
A poem using the star Betelgeuse's strange behavior to reflect on matters both vast and intimate.
8) νερό, アリア, antaa potkut, землі 7hr0u6h 5e4s0n5 (3m00s)
Directed by Matteo Passerini
Written by
Italy
Water, air, fire and earth. Summer, autumn, winter, spring. In many languages a unique multiplicity.
9) i swallow (4m22s)
Directed by Sarah Tremlett
Written by Caleb Parkin
United Kingdom
Sarah Tremlett's Website
Video poem that takes you on a Dadaist bike ride.
10) Cladogram (2m31s)
Directed by Haley Larson, Timothy David Orme
Written by Haley Larson
South Dakota, United States
This experimental collaboration translates a poem about structure into uncertain and distorting structures of new media.
11) Noho Mai (Sit Here) (5m33s)
Directed by Peta-Maria Tunui, Waitahi Aniwaniwa McGee, Shania Bailey-Edmonds, Jesse-Ana Harris, Lilián Pallares, Charles Olsen
Written by Peta-Maria Tunui
New Zealand
"Symbolized in the bird’s flight, a group of Māori, Pākehā and Colombian creatives explore life’s journey, the longing to return to the nest, and the life-giving connection with our ancestors."
12) Do You Hear Those Crows (3m49s)
Directed by Ryen Goebel
Written by
Florida, United States
Inspired by a poem from Dalton Day, "Do You Hear Those Crows" is a meditation on the cycles of life which shape the human experience. With a sense of wonder, the film explores the complex emotions revealed in natural forces: chaos and order, growth and decay.
13) The Mistake (2m49s)
Directed by Pat Boran
Written by Pat Boran
Ireland
A mistake in childhood may prove to be a lens through which the past is more clearly visible.
14) When White Light Finds an Elephant Graveyard (1m49s)
Directed by Charles Edward Payne
Written by Charles Edward Payne
Wisconsin, United States
when white light finds an elephant graveyard is a hand-drawn lyric poetry video about a young boy encountering Tutankhamen—and the myths that surround him—in the Chicago Field Museum.
15) Rani Lakshmibai (2m57s)
Directed by Sven Stears
Written by Neelam Saredia-Brayley
United Kingdom
"Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi" is a poem inspired by a fierce and powerful Indian warrior queen in the 1850s.
16) In This Way (3m57s)
Directed by Marcus Fields
Written by Kevin Prufer
Michigan, United States
Playful yet powerful, this project features the poem "'In This Way'" written and narrated by Kevin Prufer from the anthology “Voices Amidst the Virus: Poets Respond to the Pandemic."
17) Archive Litany / Archivo Letania (6m30s)
Directed by Natalia Gaia, Ambrose Bye
Written by Anne Waldman
Colorado, United States
Anne Waldman's Website
Anne Waldman is the author of more than 40 collections of poetry and poetics and founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Archive Litany/Archivo Letania“ showcases Waldman's belief in "the magical efficacies of language as a political act.”
18) six feet (1m35s)
Directed by Peter Johnston
Written by Danielle Legros Georges
Massachusetts, United States
Danielle Legros Georges's Website
the ideal height of a man
what pertains to insects
what hangs in the air and the air
Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.
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