Saturday 26th November 2022
11.00am (58.51 mins)
*** FREE & ONLINE ***
Many of these sixteen Irish-made poetry-films could easily have made the (highly competitive) competition shortlist. Nonetheless they are worthy compositions which we are delighted to present.
These will be screened to a live audience at the 10th Winter Warmer festival, Nano Nagle Place, Cork while being streamed live via our website festival stage, Vimeo, Facebook and YouTube channels.
The films were chosen from 173 submissions received from 100 filmmakers in 33 countries.
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Saturday 27th November @ 11.00am |
Poem: Lost Souls
Synopsis – “Lost Souls” captures in some small way the tragedy of homelessness of Irish men who immigrated to England in the late 1950s and worked in construction. Many spent more and more time in the pubs probably because they were lonely and homesick, and the drink eased the pain somewhat. Eventually, they started missing time from work and got sacked from job after job until they had no place to go, they were I suppose you could say, blacklisted, they were considered unreliable. They then couldn’t afford to pay the rent, became homeless and began to sleep on the streets or in homeless shelters. These young men were lost, they felt that they were not wanted back in Ireland and were not wanted anymore in England either. They were essentially, “Lost Souls”.
Director: Dennis Earlie (Ireland)
Dennis Earlie is an award winning Cinematographer Director and voice over artist. Originally from County Limerick but has for many years lived in County Kerry Ireland. Like Kevin his father left for England to find work but did so three months before Dennis was born. He first met his father when he was eighteen years of age on a railway station in Stockport Manchester England when he too moved to England as a young trainee. He did meet his father on a further three occasions. The last one was to give a formal identification in a morgue in London. To Dennis Kevin’s poem epitomizes what his father’s life was like (as was so many men and woman) who left for England. For Dennis ‘’Lost Souls’’ is very close to his heart not just for him but for so many families in Ireland. He is a listed member of IMdB and his work has been viewed in over sixty countries worldwide including Sky BBC and French Television.
Poem: Nettles Netherland
Synopsis – This poem speaks of the ‘Ceantar’ (region or locality) and the ‘Alltar’ (the other realm or netherworld) and is an ode to that which is communicated through the Irish language , the loss of this wisdom and the call to reclaim it. ‘Abú’ translates as forever, but it can also mean ‘go on’ and encourages the viewer to see through a new lens that acknowledges the past yet looks to the future.
There is a dream-like quality to this piece that offers an invitation to enter into the playful mythopoetic world of fairy folklore. The film was recorded in a Suburban park nestled between a busy ring road and a social housing estate, yet somehow a unique ecosystem has survived in this Glen bringing life and solace to its community. Perhaps this is also a metaphor for the Irish language. The film enters the netherworld of the Glen through the wisdom of a medicinal stinging nettle that offers healing in verse.
Director: Aideen Cooney (Ireland)
Aideen is a poet, visual artist and musician. She is also a Senior Art Therapist working in Hospice Care and a Lecturer on a Master’s Program in Art Therapy. Aideen feels her engagement in her own arts practice complements her work and ultimately is the fuel that sustains it. Her interest in poetry films offers her a welcoming space to integrate several of her creative endeavours.
Poem: Lost and Found
Synopsis – Saving the planet does not have to be an enormous and abstract problem. In fact, the solution is very much within reach.
Director: Pat Boran (Ireland)
Pat Boran is a poet, broadcaster and editor who has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, and whose poetry films have been shown at festivals in more than 20 countries.
Poem: My Friends
Synopsis – Degna Stone performs Arundhati Subramaniam’s poem from her collection When God is a Traveller (Bloodaxe Books, 2014).
Director: Matthew Thompson (Ireland / USA)
Matthew Thompson is an Irish photographer and filmmaker. His films have been exhibited in Dublin and Galway, Ireland, and New York City and Los Angeles, USA. His portrait of Andrew Hozier-Byrne was shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Award 2020. In 2015, his film collaboration with Broadstone Films, “New Horizons,” represented Ireland in the Architectural Biennale, Shenzhen, China. His personal work primarily concentrates on how conditioning influences perception and has been exhibited in New York, Paris, London, Shenzhen, Helsinki, Belfast, and Dublin. Matthew holds a Masters of Fine Art Photography from the University of Ulster, Belfast, and a Bachelor of Design degree from The National College of Art & Design, Dublin.
Poem: Latrinavox (Voices of the Toilet)
Synopsis – Latrinavox is a poignant yet humorous found poem from graffiti in a women’s bathroom.
Director: Lauren O’Donovan (Ireland)
Lauren O’Donovan is an Irish-Canadian writer from Cork. Her poetry film Latrinavox won the DeBarra’s Poetry Film Competition in ’21 and since has made the official selection for: Bloomsday Festival ’22; 10th International Poetry Film Festival, Greece; IndieCork Film Festival ’22; and Ó Bhéal Winter Warmer Poetry Festival ’22. Lauren was recently awarded an Arts Council grant to work on her debut poetry collection. She is the co-founder of Lime Square Poets, and editor of HOWL New Irish Writing.
Poem: Sinking
Synopsis – A short film to cradle you into the beautiful words and waters of Sinking.
Director: Anna Loi (Ireland)
Anna Loi is a filmmaker and writer now based in Ireland. Originally from Italy she has wandered and discovered many new places and art forms. Currently finishing up and MA in UL and playing with images and words.
Poem: The Echo at Coole
Synopsis – Tommy Tiernan performs Austin Clarke’s poem “The Echo at Coole”. This film is the first installment in the 2021 Coole Park Poetry Series, a set of 10 films of celebrated Irish poems performed by 11 acclaimed actors, curated by Colm Tóibín and produced with Galway’s Druid theatre company.
Director: Matthew Thompson (Ireland / USA)
Matthew Thompson is an Irish photographer and filmmaker. His films have been exhibited in Dublin and Galway, Ireland, and New York City and Los Angeles, USA. His portrait of Andrew Hozier-Byrne was shortlisted for the Zurich Portrait Award 2020. In 2015, his film collaboration with Broadstone Films, “New Horizons,” represented Ireland in the Architectural Biennale, Shenzhen, China. His personal work primarily concentrates on how conditioning influences perception and has been exhibited in New York, Paris, London, Shenzhen, Helsinki, Belfast, and Dublin. Matthew holds a Masters of Fine Art Photography from the University of Ulster, Belfast, and a Bachelor of Design degree from The National College of Art & Design, Dublin.
Poem: Memory Hair
Synopsis – Memory Hair is about death and re-birth, using a range of legends world wide – including Native American, Aboriginal, Celtic and Ancient Greek. With unique landscape shots using aerial photography, showing the mystic places of Ireland.
Directors: Phil Spillane and Angeni (Ireland)
Phil Spillane is a poet, musician and writer from Ireland. He has performed his works in Cork, Dublin and Lisbon. Throughout 2021 he curated an online event, The LockedOut Collection: a video of poetry-film and music from various artists worldwide hosted on YouTube. He just finished a Masters in Creative Writing at University Limerick and was recently published in the Ogham Stone 2022. Today he’s working on an arts show with musician Lucas Pérez titled Trippin’Magic.
Angeni is a French Colombian film-maker. At the age of 10, she started making videos using her father’s old camcorder. As years went by, she continued making short films and participating in competitions. In 2006 Undisoft accepted her first short film, La Hackeuse (The Hacker) and published it online. Today, she works on travel videos, documenting her adventures in Portugal, Ireland and Spain on her YouTube channel.
Poem: Shadowless – Finding Mothers – Defending Neverland
Synopsis – ‘Finding Mothers’ is a sequence of poems from Lorna Shaughnessy’s 2021 collection Lark Water. The poems explore the darker aspects of J.M. Barrie’s novel Peter Pan and its critique of early 20th century British society. Wendy’s make-believe role as mother to the Lost Boys in Neverland is complex and ambiguous, and does not save her from the limitations imposed on women by society. Similarly, the lost boys’ adventures following the dubious leadership of Peter Pan, cannot save them from the confines of male roles imposed by society on their return.
Director: Barra Convery (Ireland)
Born and raised in Galway, Barra Convery was first creatively infatuated by music and theatre, training and performing with Macnas Theatre Company for over 6 years before graduating from Brighton Screen and Film School in 2020 with First Degree Honours. He has since found a cinematic eye through the adaptation of poetry and theatrical pieces, culminating in the successful receipt of funding from the Arts Council for the piece ‘Finding Mothers’. In past years, Barra has honed his skills in screenwriting through the development of multiple projects, including two feature scripts.
Poem: The Thorn Tree
Synopsis – A deep journey into the heart of Irish folklore. A story mined from the recollections of school children in 1930’s Ireland telling of a haunted thorn tree and what happens to those that cross it.
Director: David Ian Bickley (Ireland)
Anglo Irish artist, filmmaker and musician David Bickley (b. 1961) audio visual works/ installations are abstracted, largely process led adventures mainly on themes of nature/ landscape but also with points of reference to mythology and symbolism. They rely heavily on texture and mood and tend to sacrifice the topographical in an attempt to capture the spirit of the places depicted using memory or feeling.
Poem: The Cloud Architect
Synopsis – What can you see in the clouds? no matter what belief we fix upon, or what myth we adhere to, there is always another truth waiting, another reality equally valid, another way to be in the chaos of our existence in this world. We are what we can conjure – a fleeting presence.
Director: Jennifer Redmond (Ireland)
Jennifer Redmond is an artist and writer working in Cork.
Poem: The Inverse Wave
Synopsis – The power of lovers to find each other in the world, and, even in hard times, to make the world bearable for each other, is something to celebrate.
Director: Pat Boran (Ireland)
Pat Boran is a poet, broadcaster and editor who has published a dozen books of poetry and prose, and whose poetry films have been shown at festivals in more than 20 countries
Poem: Breath Poem
Synopsis – As lockdown heightened both loneliness and desire, the poem uses cultural touchstones such as the Midas myth to explore sexuality and investigates where we go when the doors unlock and the world is open again.
Director: Thomas Pollock (Northern Ireland)
Having possessed a lifelong interest in film, Thomas studied Film and Media in both University of Ulster and Montana State University in the USA. His earlier experiences involved directing, cinematography and editing on independent productions. Since setting up Frontier Pictures, his focus has moved fully to directing, working on feature concepts, short films and music videos. Moving forward, Thomas is currently developing his first feature film.
Poem: Pilgrim
Synopsis – A pilgrim’s progress.
Director: David Forsythe (Ireland)
David Forsythe is a writer and journalist based in West Cork. He has written television series, several short films that have screened in International competitions and is also a published author.
Poem: My Dream Out
Synopsis – As her mother was dying, the poet had a dream of a big white bird who came with the offer of a journey. She later learned that in certain mythologies the swan brings souls to the afterlife. The film is a meditation on grief, memory and dreaming.
Director: Fiona Aryan (Ireland)
Fiona is a filmmaker based in Bray Co. Wicklow. Her short films have been shown at various international festivals. She collaborates regularly with writer and poet Lani O’Hanlon to make poetry films, and together they won the Ó Bhéal Poetry Film competition in 2019.
Poem: Descent of an Irish Sea Goddess
Synopsis – This poetry film is an abstract interpretation of the filmmaker’s own poem.
Director: Aideen Cooney (Ireland)
Aideen is a poet, visual artist and musician. She is also a Senior Art Therapist working in Hospice Care and a Lecturer on a Master’s Program in Art Therapy. Aideen feels her engagement in her own arts practice complements her work and ultimately is the fuel that sustains it. Her interest in poetry films offers her a welcoming space to integrate several of her creative endeavours.
