Nature & Culture - International Poetry Film Festival 2021

NATURE & CULTURE
INTERNATIONAL
POETRY FILM FESTIVAL 2021

NATURE & CULTURE
INTERNATIONAL POETRY FILM FESTIVAL
2021
A project by
The Poetic Phonotheque
& Kulturhuset Islands Brygge
with the support of Københavns Kommune
In collaboration with
Red Door Gallery / Red Door Magazine
Design and illustrations by
Rikke Winkler Nilsson
Visual art by
Leonardo Flores and Rita Howis
All rights reserved to their respective authors
Printed on recycled materials in Copenhagen
Set with Avenir Next
ISBN: 978-87-94003-07-0
www.poeticphonotheque.com
poetiskefonotek@gmail.com

NATURE & CULTURE
INTERNATIONAL
POETRY FILM FESTIVAL 2021

CREDITS
VISUALS
Leonardo Flores: Argentinean artist, active in the
areas of editorial illustration, drawing and concept
art for cinema and TV. His art, which is found
on these pages, the cover of this book and the
limited edition of posters created for this project,
focuses on the theme of endangered species
and humanity’s responsibility of their protection.
www.leonardoflores.com
Rita Howis: A creative rebel and artist, originally from
Russia, who has lived in 7 countries and is now settled
in Denmark. She has developed a signature technique
called Colorflow that mimics the wonders of nature,
with which she created the series Colors for Climate,
featured in this book and on exhibit during the festival.
www.ritahowis.com
Rikke Winkler Nilsson: Danish illustrator and
graphic designer, with a passion for visual communication
and projects that matter. Rikke’s illustrations
created for this festival adorn not only
the pages of this book, but the poetry bookmarks
and notebooks that accompany this project.
www.fetchgrafik.dk
JUDGES
Christina Jonsson: Danish visual artist residing in
Switzerland and Denmark. She works with art in the
areas of teaching, curation, installations, happenings
and collaborations, all with a feminist perspective.
www.jonssonchristina.com
Solveig Willum: Danish journalist and lecturer, host
of the Walk it Off podcast and frequent collaborator
of various international projects centered around
nature and humans’ relationship with our environment.
www.solveigwillum.com

CONTENT
PREFACE
When poetry becomes the voice of reason 4
MANIFESTO
By Kulturhuset Islands Brygge 6
1
ART: AQUATIC SPECIES
By Leonardo Flores 8
REFRAMING THE HUMAN SPIRIT
By Jason Box 11
ANIMATION FILMS 12
2
ART: AERIAL SPECIES
By Leonardo Flores 24
HOW TO LIVE WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY...
By Mickey Gjerris 26
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS 28
POEM: BUT YOU
By Jacob Skyggebjerg 43
ART: INTO THE WILD 44
By Rita Howis
3
ART: TERRESTRIAL SPECIES
By Leonardo Flores 46
MYRIADS OF INSECTS
By Josefine Klougart 48
DOCUMENTARY FILMS 50
ART: BLUE LAGOON
By Rita Howis 68
4
ART: AMAZON DEFOREST
By Rita Howis 72
SHORT FILMS 74
5
ART: RAYNISFJARA
By Rita Howis 84
POETRY FILMS 86
6
ART: JELLY NET
By Rikke Winkler Nilsson 154
ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY 156

PREFACE
When poetry becomes the voice of reason
Nature & Culture: International Poetry Film Festival
Thinkers, artists, scientists and other researchers
of ideas have in the past concluded that
creativity often occurs when new thought
combinations take place... an ability to see new
relationships in spaces that aren’t often interlaced.
“Nature & Culture – International Poetry Film Festival”
is an attempt to test this, by inviting various means of
creativity – from an international perspective - to the
current and urgent conversation of climate change
and environmental awareness… but most importantly,
our role in this process of decay or immediate action.
It is our belief that art and culture are the perfect
media to communicate these messages we’re
otherwise not listening to or stopping in our tracks
to reflect upon. By touching the fibers of emotional
connections and memory, we can see ourselves and
our stories reflected on the stories described in these
pages, films, poems and visual art, and hopefully find
a path forward, together, as a community that strives
to save our planet... and more directly, ourselves.
The Poetic Phonotheque was born from the idea
that poetry exists in everything we see, do, feel
and experience… and can by default serve as a
means of artistic documentation of our current
societal processes. After having received over 100
audio poems for its original call to help create an
international archive of poetry during the pandemic
of 2020, the Poetic Phonotheque partnered with
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge for it to become its official
headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, and from
there, collaborate on a second call, with a focus on
nature and the environment. This time, rather than
just audio, we decided to create a more immersive
experience through film in the genres of documentary,
animation, experimental, poetry and short films, all
with a poetic language as a threading line. Over 300
films were received from over 50 countries around
the world, confirming that these current concerns
6

for our planet are being communicated through our
creative practices and influencing the work we create.
My gratitude goes to Solveig Willum and Christina
Jonsson for their role as judges of the festival, helping
select over 100 films listed in the following pages, and
additional thanks to Solveig for the translations from
Danish of the poetry and essays in this book. To Rikke
Winkler Nilsson for the illustrations in this book and
the development of this project’s visual identity, and
to Leonardo Flores for the book cover and poster
illustrations, as well as to Rita Howis for the “Colors of
Climate” art created as an accompanying exhibition of
the festival, also appearing in this book. Of course, to
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge and Københavns Kommune
for the support to this initiative that hopefully allows
us to reinforce the connections between creative
communicators and the important messages we need
to pass on to our communities. It is an objective that
this initiative serves as a platform for many similar
hybrid events and projects. To the Extinction Rebellion
– XR Danmark team (and to XR around the world) whose
energy and immediate action are a daily inspiration
and a reminder that we are responsible for our current
narratives and the ways we thread our way forward.
The Poetic Phonotheque continues to receive audio
recordings of poetry for its permanent archive, as
well as poetry films, and is also expanding to Tranås,
where Litteraturcentrum KVU will serve as its Sweden
headquarters. It is my dream that the effect of these
collaborations can multiply so that poetry, multimedia
art and knowledge are accessible to everyone, serving
as that spark that brings forth new connections, new
senses of urgency and direct calls to action towards
a future we can all dare to look at... and where there
still is a home for us.
Elizabeth Torres
Director
Nature & Culture – International Poetry Film Festival
Founder of The Poetic Phonotheque
poeticphonotheque.com
7

MANIFESTO
Excerpt from the Climate Manifesto
by Kulturhuset Islands Brygge
As a public culture house, we have a responsibility
to contribute to a local, national and global
climate agenda. We believe that culture and art create
the foundation for our community, and we need to
stand united to create a greener and more sustainable
world and everyday life. We also believe that we
humans must reassess our relationship with nature,
plants, animal species, and ourselves.In the culture
house, the natural sciences can enter a dialog with
music, visual arts and poetry and play. This can open
our eyes both to new ways of approaching our own
role in the climate debate, but also to the opportunities
of action we have as citizens in Denmark .
We want to open our very broad platform to climate
activists within art, culture, and science. We want to
explore how culture can change the way people think
and act in matters of climate and sustainability on both
a societal and individual scale.
We want to turn our culture house into a climate hub
for all those who want to engage themselves in the
climate debate. This is why we have decided to dedicate
our program to experiences where debate, art,
culture, food and knowledge play a part in the mediation,
interpretation and discussion of the national
and global agenda of biodiversity and climate change.
This will take place in collaboration with artists, organizations,
companies, debaters, authors, and all the
people of Copenhagen who are invested in a more
sustainable future.
Kulturhuset Islands Brygge
Islands Brygge 18, 2300 Kbh S
kulturhusetislandsbrygge.kk.dk
8

9

LEONARDO FLORES

1.
ART: AQUATIC SPECIES
BY LEONARDO FLORES
REFRAMING THE HUMAN SPIRIT
BY JASON BOX
ANIMATION FILMS

RIKKE WINKLER NILLSON

Reframing the Human Spirit
I’ve been studying the Arctic and Greenland for
25+ years, and before moving to Denmark I taught
Environmental Science at the university for 10 years.
So, throughout this career I’ve seen by studying
physical climate change, that this is but a symptom
of a much larger imbalance that humans have gotten
into as the dominant species of this planet, now that
we have almost eight billion people on earth.
Now, the solution doesn’t lie, as I see it, in simply
reducing carbon emissions. The solutions lie in
reevaluating what’s external to our economic system.
When you keep looking at it, as I have done, you
realize that humans need to have a different outlook,
which I call Reframing the Human Spirit. When asked
what is needed to address the current climate and
ecological breakdown on the planet, we find that
human spirituality can be the primary source of the
fixes that we need. When we consider that we are part
of a global ecosystem, we depend on it, we need to
reestablish a reciprocal relationship, giving back, not
only taking… and this is a spiritual exercise.
While I could talk to you for hours about symptoms of
climate change, if we are interested in fixing this, we
need to reimagine our own spirit. What that means
is, investing in ourselves and nature simultaneously.
Examples for ourselves are: Having better fitness in
mind and body, with regard to nature that is restoring
degrading systems. When we do this, we prosper, our
economies improve because we are internalizing what
was previously externalized, we get prosperity, and
we get resilience.
Jason Box
Prof. in Glaciology
& Physical Climatology
US / DK
13

ANIMATION FILMS
Ballad of pipe and necklace
In the Stone Age, a young Slovenian invented the first
flute, and a Croatian girl invented the first necklace in
the world. The young couple soon meet and fall in love,
but their tribes go into open conflict. All this brings us
to a great adventure.
Martin Babić
Siniša Bahun
Croatia
14

ANIMATION FILMS
Prey
Prey is a visual and poetic exploration of the effects of
power lines on the birds of prey within their surrounding
ecosystems. Adapted to nest and hunt from the
nearest points to the sky, the birds themselves fall prey
to the contemporary hunger for electricity. As power
lines litter the horizon where forests once sprouted,
owls, hawks, and herons are left with no choice but to
gamble their lives in order to survive.
About: Joshua is a 2D animator and compositor whose
work centres around the creation of character-driven
narratives. Through the digital medium, he’s continued
to favour imagery of the natural world, highlighting
technology’s impact on both the environment and
the lives within it. He enjoys spending his time drawing
characters and looking at birds.
Joshua Ralph
Canada
joshuaralphart.com
15

ANIMATION FILMS
Pangäa
In the field of tension between work and private
retreat, the downfall of an administrative officer is
sketched who is no longer up to his changing environment
and who finally succumbs to it through his
own disappearance.
What remains is a society without a human face in
a deserted architecture... a city minus people in its
poetic and cruel beauty.
About: Beate Hecher (AT), Villach, 1972. She studied
sculpture in the master class Ölzant at the Academy of
Fine Arts in Vienna. From 1999 to 2000 she worked as
a motion designer and from 2003 as an art director at
“Zone”. In addition to her work as a graphic designer,
she has been working as a freelance artist in the fields
of installation, film and photography since 2004. She
currently lives and works in Vienna and Wernberg.
Markus Keim (IT), Sterzing, 1969. Studied history and
political science at the University of Innsbruck from
1990-1995 and theatre studies at the University of
Bologna in 1996. From 1998-2009 he worked as an
actor in various theatre groups in Vienna. Since 2008
he is a freelance artist in the fields of installation, film,
photography and performance. He lives and works
in Vienna and in Sterzing.Since 2008 Markus Keim
and Beate Hecher have been working together on
an artistic level.
Markus Keim
Beate Hecher
Austria
16

ANIMATION FILMS
The Dance in the Depth
The film is a metaphorical dance. A dance of passion
til the end. A raven lives in a congested and noisy
city. Once he saw a dream. Following this dream, he
decided to escape the city and flew to the sea. The
anticipation of the new experiences filled his heart.
About: Karina Hananeia is a multidisciplinary artist,
combine photography, animation and dance.
Karina Hananeia
Israel
17

ANIMATION FILMS
Defying Gravity
A small wild rabbit is witness to the loss of the forces of
gravity that keep us grounded as the song that accompanies
him talks about how our fears can vanish when
we realise something we were unaware of before.
About: Fiona McAndrew Subías is a freelance animator
of Scottish and Spanish origin born in Zaragoza. She
is a singer/songwriter who has been making animated
music videos for her songs since 2012 based on subjects
that she has found interesting and on the places
she has been. Most part of her work goes into research,
mainly of themes related to nature and psychology.
Fiona McAndrew
Spain
fionamcandrew.co.uk
18

ANIMATION FILMS
Whisper, Rustle
Order gives way to chaos. Chaos generates ferment.
Ferment spurs fecundity. Whisper, Rustle is a product
of the Covid-19 pandemic, born of long walks in
the forest spent memorizing poems by W.B. Yeats.
Emergency measures disrupted regular patterns of
human behavior and fear upended all normal interactions.
The disequilibrium unsettled everyone but
also brought a new understanding of the fragility of
our sense of order.
Whisper, Rustle depicts this cycle with animation of natural
and stylized elements drawn primarily from Yeats’s
poems and prose. Stop motion animated objects
include sand, pebbles, flower petals, oak bark, leaves,
gravel, sponges, seeds, egg shells, a rotting log.
About: Maureen Zent is a writer and self-taught animator
in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Her animated shorts
include Tango Sparks, Yank Tug Yank, Oulipo’s Cave,
and Bostle Sleench. Her stories explore the way our
conflicting desires create great challenges.Her animation
has screened at Rome International Film Festival,
Athens Animfest, Stop Motion Mexico, Big Cartoon
Festival, KuanDu International Animation Festival,
and more. She has served as a juror for the Florida
Animation Festival.
Maureen Zent
United States
19

ANIMATION FILMS
Walden
In 1845, Henry David Thoreau, the philosopher and
naturalist built a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond in
Concord Massachusetts. On his final day at Walden, he
reads an excerpt from his notebook and is reminded
of his transcendental journey within nature.
About: Kate Mercer, UK, is a 2D Animator currently
based in London, and a recent graduate of Middlesex
University.
Kate Mercer
United Kingdom
doodleground.com
20

ANIMATION FILMS
Wings for Butterflies
An abstract paint on glass animated short in which
the creatures of a redwood forest face off against the
forces of man in a fight for their survival. Wings for
Butterflies is an animated short film that explores the
rich and magical landscape of the redwood forests
of California. The peaceful existence of the forest’s
occupants is disturbed upon the arrival of a storm of
manmade destruction, which threatens to uproot their
trees and their way of life.
It is up to a tree spirit and her small winged friends to
restore the balance of their ecosystem. Loosely based
around the story of Julia Butterfly Hill, who lived in a
redwood tree for two years to ensure that it couldn’t
be logged by the Pacific Lumber Company.
About: Tilly Wallace is an animator and artist recently
graduated from UCA Farnham. She creates using traditional
materials such as paints and pastels. Tilly is
passionate about telling stories about the human
experience, from the minute details to the wide reaching
adventured.
Tilly Wallace
United Kingdom
21

ANIMATION FILMS
Tomorrow
Ratul, a young boy in Bangladesh, is magically shown
two very different visions of the future. In the first scenario,
Bangladesh has been inundated by rising sea
levels, causing great suffering; in the second scenario,
fossil fuels have been replaced by renewable energy,
and Bangladesh is prosperous.
About: Mohammad Shihab Uddin is a Bangladeshi
animation filmmaker and Director. He directed the
`Tomorrow` animated short film and created the `Shahana`
series for UNFPA Bangladesh. He also worked
in `Meena’ films for UNICEF as Production Manager
and Creative Director. He has worked in various animation
studios over the last 16 years.
Ahmed Khan Hirok
Nsimul Hasa
Mohammad
Shihab Uddin
Bangladesh
deepto.tv/tomorrow
22

ANIMATION FILMS
In Nature
In nature, a couple is a male and a female. Well, not
always! A couple is also a female and a female. Or a
male and a male. You may not know it, but homosexuality
isn’t just a human story.
About: Marcel Barelli (1985, Lodrino, Switzerland) is
an animation filmmaker. Passionate about animals
and nature, he develops all his projects around these
themes. His short films have been selected in hundreds
of international film festivals and won numerous
awards around the world. He lives in Geneva with
his wife and 2 children.
Marcel Barelli
Fleur Daugey
Switzerland
marcelbarelli.com
23

ANIMATION FILMS
The Journey of Theresia
An artistic adventure through the Atlantic ocean and
a look at the journey that both scientists and a young
mother whale must take.
“We worked with researcher Lisa Kettemer, to animate
the story of the data she collected following this
humpback whale from Norway to the tropics” says
multimedia specialist Jessika Raisor, who worked for
over a year in this project with NYC based multimedia
artist Ryan Powell, combining science and the arts.
Jessika Raisor
Ryan Powell
United States
24

ANIMATION FILMS
Re-member
Late for a meeting, a human opens a conference room
door to find it leads to a deep forest. Various creatures
– trees, insects and horses – sit in a circle, engaged
in a vibrant discussion. How could he face the creatures
that humans so badly hurt? The forest creatures
open up their arms, showing the human how nature
has always taken care of itself, recovering and evolving
without the help of manmade tools.
About: Born in Tokyo in 1973. After working as a
graphic designer, Yo made his debut as a feature
film in 2009 with the story “Raise the Castle!”. While
directing feature films and corporate branded movies,
he released a documentary film “1/10 Listening to
Fukushima” that covers 10 years of Fukushima as a
life work. He has completed 7 of the 10 series so far.
In 2020, he started creating the art film series. Taking
advantage of his experience as a director of a wide
range of genres. He is also active as a lecturer and
actor trainer for video production.
Yo Kohatsu
Japan
25

26 LEONARDO FLORES

2.
AERIAL SPECIES
BY LEONARDO FLORES
HOW TO LIVE WITH THE
RESPONSIBILITY...
BY MICKEY GJERRIS
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
POEM: BUT YOU
BY JACOB SKYGGEBJERG
ART: INTO THE WILD
BY RITA HOWIS

How to live with the responsibility of an
ecocide and the misery of your children
Being part of a civilization that kills off whole species,
life paths that were part of a story that goes back
billions of years on this rock covered in a thin layer of
dirt, water and air, puts a certain weight on my mind.
Albatrosses, Orangutans, the Hawksbill Turtle and
the Humphead Wrasse are just some of the 37,400
species known to be threatened with extinction as I
write these words.
Being part of a culture that is undermining the
ecological foundation of its own existence through
excessive consumption despite dire warnings being
shouted from the hilltops for more than 50 years
cannot help but make my steps a bit wobbly however
lightly I seek to step on the ground.
Mickey Gjerris
Bioethicist
Denmark
Being a father who has not done everything to change
things and knowing that this is part of the reason why
my children will live in a poorer, sadder and more
uncertain world cannot but leave me with guilt. My
children will grow up in the shadow of my moral
28

shortcomings. Behind the façade of the academic
activist lives a being who sometimes finds it hard to
live by the words, to align actions with values. A human
that did not always do the best that he was capable of.
Is there comfort in the thought that this is what human
existence is? That we are creatures of habit and desire
that fail in living by our ideals?... or is it just an excuse,
an attempt to generalize the personal responsibility?
It certainly feels that way.
‘So I try to face the chorus of snorting, yapping, hooting,
hissing animals whose life paths are being destroyed
and the images of the hardships in the future of my
children. Accept the guilt, but refuse to let it cripple
me. As the world is beginning to burn beneath our feet,
I will let it burn as a constant reminder to do the best I
can in the time left. In the end, it is not fair to ask more
from a human. It is, however, fair to ask exactly that.
About: Mickey Gjerris is 51 years old, lives in Denmark,
works as a bioethicist in academia and hugs trees.
Find him on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram
as @mickeygjerris
29

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Embers of the Sun
A journey into the sacred landscapes of prehistoric
Armenia, “Embers of the Sun” evokes the spirit of a
primeval world transfigured by monuments of mysterious
origin: rock art found in the desolate volcanic
wastes of the Geghama and Syunik mountains, solitary
monoliths and cyclopean tombs in rural fields, and
the megalithic complex of Zorakarer; vestiges of a lost
Bronze Age cosmology that haunt the modern mind.
About: Zareh was born in Fargo, North Dakota into
a family of musicians and grew up in Tehran, London,
Frankfurt, Paris and New York. At age 4 he abandoned
his dream of being an astronaut on watching the horror
classic “The Brides of Dracula” in Iran. After graduating
from NYU film school he began his directing career
amidst the ruins of the USSR, drawn to stories set in
the aftermath of genocide and dictatorship. Over the
years he’s pursued his obsessions with esotericism,
ancient life-ways and forgotten histories through short
and long-form films. Zareh’s work screens regularly at
festivals and has won numerous awards.His curiosities
and obsessions as a director go beyond the frame:
The Enigma of Space, a panoramic study of the mysterious
‘dragon-stones’ of the South Caucasus, was
recently published by the Institute of Archaeology
& Ethnography in Yerevan, Armenia. Zareh currently
lives in Denmark, where he teaches directing at the
European Film College.
Zareh Tjeknavorian
Armenia
30

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
White Ground
Familiar with the peace given by nature, we have not
been sensitive to changes and we are still putting
enormous pain on nature today. The vague belief that
nature can purify itself will stem from our complacency.
And even at this moment, nature is changing minute
by minute, repeating rules and irregular flows. Thus,
it is necessary to recall the current natural world that
is different from the past.
Kim Jaeik
Republic of Korea,
31

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Sounding Line
A sounding line is a device to measure depth and
topography. This short experimental film is an invitation
to consider our watery commons. Restless oceans
which have evolved over millions of years are currently
under ecological crisis as a result of human activity.
Fragile yet vital ecosystems are negatively affected
by sound and light pollution, where damage occurs
below the surface, often out of view. Incorporating
visual and audio field recordings gathered from the
waters of the Scottish Hebrides, this ‘sunken cinema’
absorbsspeculative histories inspired by the early films
of Jean Painléve, and influenced by the writings of
Astrida Neimanis and Rachel Carson. It is delivered
in a deliberate wave format incorporating both analogue
and digital field recordings.
Caroline Areskogjones
United Kingdom
carolineareskogjones.com
32

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Hepatica 01100100 01100001
01110100 01100001
A film starring plants and electronics.
About: Terje Tolleshaug is a Norwegian film artist
currently based in Oslo. His main source of inspiration
is nature itself and the space that exists in the
perceived distinction between natural and unnatural.
For him, everything is nature. Growing up on an island
on the west coast of Norway Terje spent his childhood
outside. He has always felt close to the wilderness and
finds pleasure in rainy days with strong winds.
Terje Tolleshaug
Norway
33

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
νερό, アリア, antaa potkut, землі 7hr0u6h
5e4s0n5
Water, air, fire and earth. Summer, autumn, winter,
spring.
In many languages a unique multiplicity. The title is
fire in Greek, air in Japanese, fire in Finnish, earth in
Serbian. An homage to the elements and the seasons.
About: Matteo has edited various shorts and documentaries,
broadcasted in national television and
aired his work in festivals. He also works as a vj and
light designer.
Matteo Passerini
Italy
34

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Living Forest
Naku Ikinyu is an experimental and participatory ethnographic
film essay that engages with Indigenous
Sapara women’s local pursuits of ecological wellbeing
and their spiritual foundation that concedes human
and non-human beings are animated. By combining
voiceover, sensory and participatory methods, the
researcher attempts to introduce collective and personal
sensorial experiences through a collaborative
approach that reflects on trans-corporeality and intersectionality
while simultaneously presenting her collaborators’
embodied practices.
Tatiana Lopez
Ecuador
tatianalopez.space
35

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Ants
This short experimental film draws us into the social
lives of green tree ants living in Cairns Australia. The
split screens aim to draw our attention to the ants’ as
they ferry the body of a dead spider across the asphalt.
Sebastian J. Lowe
Australia
36

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Precious Balance Walk
6 Nordic Performance Artists invited to perform in,
and with water. Filmed in the waters of Öresund, at
Ribergsborg city beach, Malmö, Sweden.
About: Felicia Konrad and Johan Haugen started the
intuitive art project I Still Live in Water 2015, that has
made several interactive live performances, exhibitions,
sound pieces, live concert performance. Precious
Balance Walk is their first film.
Felicia Konrad
Johan Haugen
Sweden
istillliveinwater.com
37

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Keimzeit - The time of germination
The ashes of a long-gone forest crush under the firm
steps that never stop. While humans and trees are
linked, the forest destruction presents an existential
dilemma. People’s anecdotes, a special tree, a sculptor
and his robots weave into each other to restore the
connection between art, science and nature.
About: Davide Grotta is an independent documentary
filmmaker and photographer. He graduated in Naval
Archaeology and began filming and photographing
during excavation campaigns in the Mediterranean.
In Cambodia he lives three years working as a photojournalist.
In 2016 he shoots his first documentary
Hidden Photos winner of several awards and widely
screened in international film festivals, art museums
and universities.
David Grotta
Italy
38

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
The Stream XI
In the man-made waterways of rice paddies, the water
in nature must follow artificial rules. In that way, nature
is made abstract, giving rise to a new form of beauty
distinct from the natural state. It is the economy and
the distribution of goods that create the flow of water,
which circulates in society through transportation and
information networks. Fields are separated by transportation
networks and rivers. Waterways are laid out
to transport water from rivers to farmland like blood
vessels. On the highways there is a never-ending
stream of vehicles traveling and circulating to maintain
human society. In addition, fields are home to a
diverse range of living organisms, forming ecosystems
that utilize the environment created by human society.
Hiroya Sakurai
Japan
39

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
To Live and Die in the Shadows: Ferns,
Survival, and Horizontal Gene Transfer
180 million years ago, through a chance horizontal gene
transfer, ferns acquired a much needed light sensor
(neochrome) that allowed them to modify and survive
in low light environments. We should all be so lucky.
About: Shannon Silva is a multi-modal filmmaker
raised in Austin, Texas and based in Wilmington,
North Carolina. Fluidly moving through non-fiction,
narrative, animation, and experimental modes, she
allows each film’s focus to find its appropriate production
process. Autobiographical at their core, her
films meditate on issues of class, gender, and memory
instability. Most recently, due to personal illness, her
work is contemplating the challenges of physical disability,
cultural rituals of gathering during isolation,
and preserving effects of community
Shannon Silva
United States
shannonsilvafilms.com
40

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Our Home
The metaphor “Planet is our home” is reduced to a literal
understanding: the forest, magical in its beauty,
becomes a shelter, bread and a source of pleasure. It
fascinates and at the same time frightens with its primordial
strength.
Vera Kuznetsova
Andrei Zaitcev
Spain
41

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Viola Section Melanium
A conversation on the cyclical nature of our world: this
is how the seasons replace each other, the flowers
fade and bloom again, the embryo turns into a woman
and disappears into oblivion, the spider symbolizing
the unconscious loses and gains its boundless power.
About: Caravanvideo is a creative duet between Vera
Kuznetsova and Andrei Zaitcev – two Russian filmmakers
currently working in Spain. They mainly focus on
concept music videos and experimental footage. An
important place in their work is occupied by the interaction
of human beings and nature, the collective
unconscious and the microcosm.
Andrei Zaitcev
Vera Kuznetsova
Spain
42

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
This Isn’t a Conversation
This Isn’t a Conversation is a 6:08 minute video composed
of one-line text pieces, found video footage,
and music by Jon Algar. These semi-autobiographical
texts are comprised of overheard conversations,
found texts, fragments, diary entries, dreams,
random thoughts, statements, pronouncements, and
observations. Humour and misery are juxtaposed as
a response to the current political climate, environmental
catastrophe and the messages are often offset
with redirection, contradiction, absurdity, punch line,
and surprise.
About: Kathryn is the author of five poetry books and
several short films and experimental video which have
screened at over 60 festivals. She is a TIFF Talent Lab
Alumnus, a Praxis Screenwriting Fellow, and won the
San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship.
She attended the Canadian Film Centre’s Writers’ Lab
and wrote two short films for the NBC/Universal Short
Dramatic Film Program. She is the Founder and Editor
of Watch Your Head, an anthology of creative works
devoted to climate justice and the climate crisis, and
is an Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at the University
of Victoria.
Canada
Kathryn Mockler
kathrynmockler.com
43

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
Furnace
Furnace is an exploration of the natural and manufactured
worlds in western Canada. During the time of
filming, over 25000 square kilometres of land in British
Columbia were destroyed during two record breaking
wildfire seasons. Even with what seemed like endless
days of smoke and haze, days of illuminating light
did occur, reminders of a world that once was, a world
rapidly changing in the midst of the Anthropocene.
About: Kent Tate is an award winning Canadian
artist/filmmaker whose work explores the dichotomy
between tranquility and activity in our natural and
manufactured worlds. Time, motion and stillness are
intertwined through Kent’s work to act like a fulcrum
upon which the environmental, social and philosophical
aspects of his projects are held in dynamic balance.
Canada
Kent Tate
kenttate.ca/furnace
44

But you
you must be able to walk
barefoot
grass and white flowers
the grass is thick
the soil is fertile
you must hear the birds
in the damp morning
they sing to you
the sing for everything
you must be able
tumble through all the splendor
as I have tumbled through it
also roll in nettles
also point to the sky:
mommy, what is that plane?
(the text is an excerpt from the
poem So this is what it looks like,
when the real heavyweights test
their products
on the consumers)
Jacob Skyggebjerg
Actor and Writer
Denmark
45

RITA HOWIS

LEONARDO FLORES

3.
ART: TERRESTRIAL SPECIES
BY LEONARDO FLORES
MYRIADS OF INSECTS
BY JOSEFINE KLOUGART
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
ART: BLUE LAGOON
BY RITA HOWIS

Myriads of insects creep upon the soil, and flutter
round the plants parched by the ardour of the Sun.
A confused noise issues from every bush, from the
decayed trunks of trees, from the clefts of the rock,
and from the ground undermined by the lizards, millepedes,
and cecilias. These are so many voices proclaiming
to us, that all nature breathes; and that, under
a thousand different forms, life is diffused throughout
the cracked and dusty soil, as well as in the bosom
of the waters, and in the air that circulates around us.
These words were written by Alexander von Humboldt,
the German natural scientist and author whose work
in the early 19th century laid the foundations for the
biogeography and for our understanding of nature as
an interconnected network of life.
As early as 1807 he wrote: “In this great chain of
cause and effect, no single fact can be considered
in isolation.”
Humboldt’s method consists of combining a scientific
gathering and analysis of data with the creative
power of imagination. He insisted that man’s relationship
with nature should be based on the senses and
emotions, and he wanted, in his own words, to awaken
a “love of nature”.
Humboldt was the first to talk about man-made climate
change. In Venezuela, he saw the damaging
effects that colonial plantation farming had had on
Lake Valencia. Deforestation had left the land barren
and infertile, the water level in the lake fell, and as
the scrub and undergrowth perished, rain washed
the soil off the mountainsides surrounding the lake.
He was alarmed and described how intervening in
ecological systems could have large and unpredictable
consequences.
On a farm on Mols in Jutland, a few hundred metres
from where I grew up in the Mols Mountains, lived
archaeologist and former director of the National
Museum of Denmark, P.V. Glob.
50

In a portrait film I recently came across by chance, he is
interviewed in his home and out in the fields near Stabelhøjen
in Agri. Here he talks about the time he and
his brother found a pencil and a flint stump on a walk.
They were children, P.V. six or seven, his brother a year
and a half younger. They swapped, so the brother got
the pencil and P.V. the flint stump. The brother later
became an artist, P.V. an archaeologist, but, as he says
in the interview, he never let go of the pencil completely.
“I have a remarkably wide field of vision”, he says. “I
perceive a landscape as a whole immediately. I perceive
the landscape, the colour and the tones and
the ambience of the landscape, the lines as a whole.
And this holistic view of the landscape I have applied
to my view on archaeological matters and cultural
aspects in general. I look at everything in context.I
look at life and art and my work within archaeology
in a larger sequence, in context.”
Since the Enlightenment, the West has insisted that
true cognition was a matter of the mind, but it has
relegated the sensitive experiences one might have
in literature and art to the lower faculty of consciousness,
where they were thought to belong along with
the sensory experiences.
With his method, Humboldt shows a different way. With
a scientific starting point, he opened himself to other
forms of knowledge, incorporating them into his practice.
And in a way it is the same basic idea that one finds
in Glob: that through an aesthetic description of a landscape,
one can understand the world in context and
as what it is: a complex and wonderful network of life.
Josefine Klougart
Novelist
Denmark
51

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Memories of Trees. The southern settler
Guardians of silence and cold, we are the inhabitants
of a territory that was considered impregnable.
Privileged witnesses to the eternal water cycle,
ever called us lahuan. Today we are known as Ciprés
de las Guaitecas.
About: Santiago Serrano is a journalist, graduated
from the University of Chile, with a masters on nature
documentaries from the IFFCAM institude, part of the
Poitiers University of France.
Astrid Quintana
Santiago Serrano
Chile
52

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Inspiration in Nature
Dee Bailey creates 2D paintings of nature using modelling
clay as her medium. When she was the artist in
residence in Tombstone Territorial Park, she gained
a deeper understanding of why she makes art about
nature.
About: Lily Gontard writes poetry, short fiction and
creative non-fiction, and she is the author of Beyond
Mile Zero: the vanishing Alaska Highway lodge community.
She began experimenting with telling story
through film while working on a biography of an American
geologist. This fostered her passion for storytelling
using film.
Lily Gontard
Canada
hairstraightback.com
53

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
The Last Raìs of Favignana
Salvatore Spataro, Favignana’s last Raìs, faces his
biggest challenge ever: reviving the Mattanza in a
modern fishing world. Over ten years have passed
since the tonnaroti’s last catch of the coveted bluefin
tuna, and questions such as the extinction of the
species, environmental and economical sustainability,
and a declining interest in this millenary tradition,
weigh on him before the catch.
About: Sandbox is a production company based in
Oslo, Norway. Sandbox are working with documentaries
and personal projects within film and photography.
The cousins Gudmund and Haakon Sand started
Sandbox in 2016. Since the start many of their documentaries
have been screened at various festivals
all over the world, as well as winning awards. The
Last Raìs of Favignana is co-directed together with
Marco Massa
Gudmund Sand
Haakon Sand, Marco
Massa
Norway
sandbox.one
54

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
La frontiére
In the field, we accompany a biologist responsible for
the implementation of renaturation solutions, the most
coherent with the activities already present. A series of
hedgerows planted to ensure bocage continuity is a
typical means of providing food and shelter for small
mammals involved in an ecosystem that includes cultivated
fields and wild lands. Compromises are made
to allow continued passage with farm machinery.
Sylvie Viollier
Jacques Falquet
Cyril Verrier
Lily Gontard
Switzerland
55

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
The Sand Eating Shark
A lemon shark called Manoela grows up in the waters
of Fernando do Noronha off the coast of Brazil. Her
extraordinary senses allow her to detect scents,
sounds and even the tiny electric fields of her prey.
In particular, she specializes in a hunting technique
that has only ever been observed in this spot: hunting
sardines in the waves. When we look closer behind
the breakers, we discover unsuspected alliances and
unusual behaviours.
About: Bertrand is a world-renowned science film
author, cameraman, producer and director. Since he
founded Saint Thomas Productions in 1995, he has produced
or directed more than a hundred wildlife, science
and environmental films for all major broadcasters.
Bertrand Loyer
France
56

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Ama’ara - the Song of the Whales
One woman’s journey to save - and love - the whales.
Spiritual singer and healer Marina Trost follows her
calling to cross oceans to save the whales and create
a new, loving relationship between humans and these
majestic beings. Through channeled music and mesmerizing
cinematography, we feel Marina’s passion
and how she connects intuitively to the whales’ beauty
and majesty.
Sebastian Jobst
Germany
amaarasongofthewhales.
com
57

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Moment of Impact
The story of Alan McFadyen’s famous Kingfisher photograph,
which took 6 years and 720,000 attempts to
capture, and was in dedication to his late grandfather.
Alan recounts where his inspiration came from, the
difficulties in capturing the bird, mid-dive, and how
he’s still recognised today for his efforts. This film is
a directorial debut for filmmaker Blair Stewart, who
has a 10+ year background in Television Production.
Blair Stewart
United Kingdom
58

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
The Invisibles
The video documentary Os Invisíveis (The Invisibles)
was inspired by oral and written accounts of survivors
of the 2011 catastrophe in the Serrana Region of Rio de
Janeiro, including facts and memories from the biography
of the actors themselves, resulting in a self-fiction
text, focusing on the Documental Objects Theater.
About: Directed by Miguel Vellinho, Master and Doctor
in performing arts from UNIRIO, with more than 30
years of experience in Animation Theater, the documentary
was produced, rehearsed and envisaged in
a virtual way through internet meetings (zoom, meet..)
and filmed in the city of Nova Friburgo with the five
members of Companhia Arteira. January 2011. Miguel
Vellinho is a Doctor at the Program of Postgraduation
in Scenic Arts (PPGAC) from the University of Rio de
Janeiro (UNIRIO). Vellinho is a professor of the Theater
Teaching course of UNIRIO, where he teaches
Theater for Childhood and Youth (TIJ) and Animation
Theater (TFA). He’s been working with Puppet Theater
for more than 30 years. Vellinho is also curator of
MITA – Mostra Internacional de Teatro de Animação,
an international exibition of Animation Theater produced
by PeQuod.
Miguel Vellinho
Brazil
59

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Snakes and people of the Val Grande -
Unexpected travel companions
It may sound strange, but for centuries humans helped
out snakes. The gradual settlement of the Alps for
livestock grazing created clearings, meadows, and
pastures. This slow transformation of the landscape
diversified natural habitats and created favourable
conditions for numerous species, with some quite surprising
relationships.
About: Marco Tessaro graduated in 1995 from the University
of Milan with a degree in historical and international
political science, and has a Master’s Degree
in Environmental Economics and Policy from the Political
Science Faculty of the University of Milan. Since
2000, Tessaro has been working with natural parks,
nature conservation organizations, and other institutions
such as regional and provincial administrations
and museums on environmental communication
and analysis projects. In recent years, his work
has involved producing documentary videos with a
focus on local environmental issues, including from
a historical perspective, wilderness, biodiversity protection,
degrowth, and local history.
Marco Tessaro
Italy
marcotessaro.it
60

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
IFANG
Every animal is attributed its importance and value.
In the mountain village of Arosa, the dependence
between people and animals is shown in the bear
cage, in the sheep pen, on the carriage ride or on the
down hunt. While we get to know the inhabitants of
the village and their interaction with nature, the question
arises as to where people draw the line between
domestic, farm and wild animals, between nature and
the cage. And what that means for the environment.
Max Carlo Kohal
Switzerland
61

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Barricade
Barricade is a documentary on the occupation of the
Dannenrod Forest in Hessen, which was evicted in Dec
2020. It shows the lives of the activists in the forest
and the treehouses, built up to 30 meters high in the
branches, but mainly their fight for a better climate
in the future.
David Klammer
Germany
davidklammer.com
62

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Dancing with Nature
There is a gentle dignity, a subtle evocative quality
about this dance. It is a unique mélange of traditional
martial arts, folk motifs and tales of love and
pain, gleaned from the pages of Hindu mythology. It
is a reminder of our glittering past and a pointer to the
subtlest resonances of our art. The Seraikella Chhau
is unique in many ways, not the least of which is the
eschewing of vocal accompaniment and the complete
covering of the face with the mask. Yes, the mask is the
essence of this exhilarating dance; it is the magic of
this art. Dancing with Nature, a film by Malay Dasgupta,
delves into the myriad associations of this mask.
Malay Dasgupta
India
63

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Discart
Descarte is a documentary by Leonardo Brant on the
social drama of solid waste, presented based on inspiring
stories by artists, designers, artisans and activists
who transform recyclable materials with innovation and
sensitivity.
About: Leonardo Brant is a documentary filmmaker,
associate director of Deusdará Filmes, an independent
production company dedicated to making impactful
documentaries. Author of the films DISCART, EAT
WHAT? and CTRL-V, he directs the MEDIA AGE program
for Canal Futura and co-directed the UTOPIA
BRASIL series, for CineBrasilTV. He worked for two
decades as a cultural researcher, consultant, speakers
and author of books on politics and the cultural market.
Leonardo Brant
Brazil
descarte.net
64

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
The Man of the Trees
Daniel Balima is a senior horticulturist from Tenkodogo,
a small Sub-Saharan African town in Burkina
Faso, where he lives with his large family and has
worked since he was born 67 years ago. Daniel as a
child falls ill with polio and, although growing without
the use of his legs, he works with great passion and
talent so much that his dissability, which for many in
Africa means a marked destiny, is for Daniel an opportunity.
In over fifty years of activity he has given life
to more than a million trees and this is what is most
important for Daniel because, as he tells us, his country,
because of the drought.
About: Andrea Trivero was born in Pettinengo (Biella)
Italy, in 1969. After a degree in Engineering and the
master in modern low budget technology for Developing
Country he moves to Africa to work and live.
Simultaneously Andrea works on some documentary
projects during his stay in Burkina Faso and in Democratic
Republic of Congo. Today he lives between
Italy and Africa, mainly in the province of Biella, in an
old house in the mountains in the middle of meadows
and woods with dogs, cats, horses, sheeps and goats.
Since 2006 he also has been working with Refugees
and Asylum Seekers for Italian NGOs.
Andrea Trivero
Italy
65

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Rare
“Rare” is an indie documentary centered on seven
extraordinary women who set out to realize seven
unique, sustainable projects on their own land. It is a
“solo production”, realized during a journey through
six italian regions, and it is made of moving and still
images shot with my personal equipment and in collaboration
with the enlighted gaze of photographer
Roberto Tarallo Giovando. These seven young women
set out on a new lifepath often without any previous
experience in agriculture. They needed to go back
to their roots and give new meaning to their professional
paths.
Furio Busignani
Italy
myruralme.com/rare
66

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
The Traditional Brazilian Family KATU
Produced in the year 2007, a photographic essay realized
in recognition of the indigenous roots, portrayed
twelve adolescents belonging to Eleutério do katu, RN
Brasil. Twelve years later the photographer returns to
katu in search of these protagonists, now adults, to
know about their personal trajectories and world views.
Rodrigo Sena
Brazil
67

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
MicroKansas - Tribulation
The first chapter of a larger project, Tribulation documents
the struggles of a young garter snake in central
Kansas, USA.
About: Bobby Obermite is a filmmaker, photographer
and instructor from Hutchinson, Kansas. Where he
lives with his wife, daughter and two dogs. He studied
film and media at the University of Kansas, graduating
in 2011. He is the Program Coordinator for HutchCC
Media at Hutchinson Community College, where he
also works as a filmmaker. Bobby started and runs
Blue Barn Productions, a production company that
produces independent films.
Bobby Obermite
United States
bluebarnproductions.org
68

DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Buni
“Formosan Black Bear is more precious than panda!”
The entire species is marked as “vulnerable” by the
IUCC ( International Union for Conservation of Nature).
Classified as “endangered” by the Taiwan government,
the species is being pushed to the brink of extinction
by illegal hunting and land clearing. We estimate
there are between just 200 to 600 black bears over the
entire island. At the beginning of the film, we witness
a baby black bear (BUNI), who was found left in the
wild without its mother to care for it. Then it was taken
to Endemic Species Institute for treatment. Researchers
form by professor Hwang designed a simulated
forest to train it in survival skills. One of the main lessons
taught to Buni was to evade humans and traps.
With the Bunun tribal elder’s prayer and the assistance
from a National Airborne corps helicopter, the
bear cub went back home. But now the question is:
Is BUNI safe and doing OK right now?
About: Director Robert Lin grew up in Taiwan. Upon
graduation from National Tsing Hua University in
Economics, he decided to join the TV broadcast
field, producing several TV programs and gaining
hands-on experience of video production. Robert
obtained his MFA degree with a full scholarship from
Syracuse University, New York. Robert is now running
his own production company. Up to now, the
company has produced more than 1,000 commercial
videos for diverse clients.
Robert Lin
Taiwan
69

RITA HOWIS

IF THEY DIE
WE DIE
EXTINCTION REBELLION (XR) DANMARK
XRDK.ORG

Extinction Rebellion is a decentralised, international,
non-partisan political movement that uses non-violent civil
disobedience to pressure governments and industry into
acting justly on the climate and ecological crisis.
For this festival, XR facilitates the following talks:
Heading for extinction and what to do about it
We’re living in a time of global crisis, bearing witness to
the effects of our governments’ inability to respond to the
existential threats of the climate and ecological emergency.
Facing these threats alone can be overwhelming.
Join us to hear how Extinction Rebellion is bringing people
together to act now and avoid total climate breakdown.
This talk will lay out the basic climate science that drives
our urgency, and outline how we can use nonviolent direct
action to demand change. Whether you’re interested in
joining Extinction Rebellion or just curious about what’s
happening to the climate, come to hear more about what
humanity is facing in the next decade, what has to happen
to prevent catastrophe, and connect with others who are
wrestling with these truths.
Humans & nature: realities and hopes
With Permatopia, Amager Fælleds Venner, XR, and friends.
We will talk about what groups of humans are doing to
build, preserve or fight for biodiversity, and humanity’s
sustainable equitable place in it. We will find out more
about how right here, right now, Danes are moving into
ecovillages, stopping construction sites on wild nature
areas, and how all this gives us hope.

RITA HOWIS

4.
ART: AMAZON DEFOREST
BY RITA HOWIS
SHORT FILMS

SHORT FILMS
We Are Stained
Do you need another explanation on what is happening
? On what you can do ? No, you already know and
if you don’t, you lie. What you need is to see. The
clock is ticking. Our world is collapsing. Our earth is
warming up. Our icecaps are melting. Our oceans
are rising. Our forests are burning. Our animals are
dying. This is a little reminder of what is happening,
on what we have done, on what will be.
About: Emma dell’Elba is an Italian-Norwegian fineart
photographer and make-up artist, born in Oslo in
1992 and brought up in Italy. Graduated in photography
at Laba - Libera Accademia di Belli Arti - in 2015,
and in Make Up and Special Effects at New Line Academy
in 2016, both in Florence. Currently she works
as a Photographer and Make-up Artist in her studio
in Florence, Italy.
Emma dell’Elba
Italy /Norway
76

SHORT FILMS
Mar-te
A poetic dystopia reveals that, in 2060, reflections
about the extinction of whales will haunt the colonization
of Mars.
About: Eduardo Prado Cardoso is a poet and filmmaker
from Brazil (1987), living in Lisbon.
Eduardo Prado Cardoso
Portugal
77

SHORT FILMS
When everything disappears
On the 22nd of October 2019 a flood devastated
l’Espluga de Francolí, destroying everything that
it found and causing multiple deaths. Only a few
months later, a second flood made the recovery of
the village even more difficult; the global pandemic
of Covid19 that we are still living today, in the same
way that water does, has taken away everything that
was part of our normality.
Marta Arjona
Maite Blasco
Jèssica Estadella
Spain
danspxl.com
78

SHORT FILMS
Zeit Zu Gehen – Car as Extinct Species
Car-free Vienna in the year of 2120. China, a 95-yearold
native from Vienna, who witnessed the extinction
of the car in the green 20s only from fragmented stories
by her parents as well as by her late wife, tells about
her personal memories in Zeit Zu Gehen. China’s late
wife, Reni, was a journalist and climate activist and had
played a major role in the extinction of the automobile
species. With the help of that knowledge she has
gained through her wife and the nebulous machinations
of her parents, China is making a first attempt to
reconstruct the history of the extinct species.
Silvan Hagenbrock
Sophie Bösker
Austria
79

SHORT FILMS
Mami Wata
Gaia is a little girl who lives with her grandmother, who
cultivates a piece of land. Cristina is an albino child,
daughter of a businessman who wants to expropriate
the land of Gaia’s grandmother to bury harmful
waste. The two girls become friends but their lives
will be tragically divided.
Paola Beatrice Ortolani
Italy
80

SHORT FILMS
Timeless Drift
Short poetic documentary showcasing the Coppermine
River in the Canadian Arctic through the
long journey of a driftwood log witnessing some of
the life and history tied to the river all the way to the
Arctic Ocean.
About: Wildlife Biologist turned cinematographer, I
own Umingmak Productions, dedicated to document
the Arctic environment and its people. I live in an outpost
near Kugluktuk, Nunavut (Canada). I contributed
cinematography to documentaries and nature series
and produced some local video projects
Mathieu Dumond
Canada
umingmakproductions.ca
81

SHORT FILMS
Images of Guanwu
Located in Taiwan, Guanwu has a unique cloud forest
landscape and thick mist all year round, which allows
a variety of extraordinary species to prosper within.
Following the footsteps of two musician sisters who
have grown up in the embrace of Guanwu, we see
the season changes and the succession of animals in
Guanwu. With the unique humanistic aesthetic sense
of “poetry in art and art in poetry”, we hope to tell
the story of the tenacity of life. Through the decades,
Guanwu has experienced the blow of typhoons, mudslides
and floods, causing its terrain to change drastically
and threaten the well-being of the animals living
on the land. We hope to cleanse people’s souls and
awaken people’s awareness of environmental issues
through this film.
Ya-May Liu
Yue ChenChin-Fa Chen
Taiwan
82

SHORT FILMS
Pōneke
Pōneke is a modern love letter to place, space and
time within a post second-migration world. This video
is a collection of three of the locations within Pōneke
that exist within both te ao Pākeha (the European
world) and te ao Māori (the Māori world). (Karaka -
Tau) Recorded in one of the old karaka tree plantations
of Kati Māmoe people amongst ancient trees
that still stand.
About: Ruby Solly (Kai Tahu, Waitaha) is a taonga
puoro practitioner, writer, musician and music therapist
living in Pōneke Wellington. Sebastian J Lowe is
an anthropologist from Aotearoa New Zealand. Victoria
Baskin Coffey is a Visual Anthropologist with an
enduring interest in the ways that images make the
world. She is currently completing a PhD looking at
the digital-visual image practices amongst transgender,
gender nonbinary, & gender variant communities
of India.
Ruby Mae Hinepunui Solly
(Kai Tahu, Kāti Māmoe,
Waitaha)
Sebastian J Lowe
Victoria Baskin Coffey
New Zealand
83

SHORT FILMS
Gaachh : The Tree
An anonymous man, who proofreads for a publishing
company, finds a seed while going to the office. He
looks for a place to plant it and in turn becomes late
for work. His boss becomes angry and questions his
sincerity. After work, the man goes back daily to the
seed to play violin for it. One day, he obscurely finds
that a plantlet has grown out of his head.
About: Somnath Ghosal is a prolific writer of alternative
Bengali literature of this time. He started his career
as a professional writer from 2002. He has long been
associated with the Bengali Music Industry as a lyricist.
He organised various cultural events and awareness
campaigns for social causes. As the proprietor
of renowned Record Label Company “The Aatman
Audio” he released over 100 albums.In 2013, as an
independent film maker, writer and lyricist, he made
his first short film endeavour “The Rehearsal”. “Liquid
Memory”, another Docu-Fiction of him, was made in
2018. In 2020, he made “Gaachh, The Tree” a silent
short film beautifully depicting the bond between
man and trees.
Somnath Ghosal
Ansuman Ghosal
India
84

SHORT FILMS
Alles hat Grenzen NUR DER MONDFISCH
NICHT
An environmental musical, in which nature acts and
speaks in a diversity of voices. Surfacing evocatively
from micro- and macrocosmic layers, she resonates
with water as the source of life and resounds as
exploited resource. She echoes from the trenches of
an inverted world and speaks out as a human being.
Reverberating through ecological-cultural depths,
images, sounds and associations push to light, giving
shape to a vision of humanity in tune with nature.
About: Sylvia Eckermann works in the field of electronic
arts since 1989 and has realized interactive installations
and media related artworks in various countries.
Gerald Nestler works within the fields of economy,
media and the arts. He has been exploring and analyzing
these fields as guiding paradigms of our time in
their relations to social and individual life and as topics
for artistic investigation and intervention.
Sylvia Eckermann
Gerald Nestler
Austria
85

RITA HOWIS

5.
ART: RAYNISFJARA
BY RITA HOWIS
POETRY FILMS

POETRY FILMS
The Prophetess
Drawing from the observations, experiences and
thoughts gathered throughout her life, the prophetess,
in a surge of hope and altruism, shares her conception
of a world which should have been, could or
will be: a manifesto, for a fictitious or latent generation.
The text is freely inspired by a Francis Ponge poem,
The Law and the Prophets (1930), reinterpreted and
rewritten to better anchor it to the contemporary context
as well as to my own ideals.
About: Marco Joubert is a Canadian filmmaker born
in Montreal. Primarily a director, cinematographer,
screenwriter and editor, he is also an actor, producer
and musician. Six of the short films he has directed,
co-directed, co-created or photographed were
rewarded by the attribution of eight awards, in addition
to earning some twenty nominations. Thematically,
his work revolves around the specificity of the
human condition: the implications of our capacity to
think and reason; the gap between material comfort
and our basic needs; the difficulty of communicating
with others; and the ever-looming presence of
our mortality. It is about the creation of otherworldly
realities that still have the power to resonate with our
common experiences as human beings.
Marco Joubert
Canada
mjoubert.com
88

POETRY FILMS
Ode to the Climate
The evidence of the climatic changes pushes the
Humans to ask Mother Nature “why?”. Her answer is:
«Not me, but you, rebellious Humans, transfigure me
for egoistic purposes». This Ode to the Climate might
be the last invocation before the catastrophe, or an
appeal to human intelligence. Performed and filmed
during the first dramatic lockdown, in distance teaching
and learning (April-june 2020).
About: Vittorio Caratozzolo is a middle school - 1
Grade teacher. This project was created in collaboration
with his 3 A Class of fabulous students.
Gaia Cipriano
Vittorio Caratozzolo & 3 A
Italy
89

POETRY FILMS
Time Travel
Our lives belong to the Time. Who owns the Time?
Vittorio Caratozzolois a secondary school - 1° grade
Teacher.
Leonidas of Tarentum
Vittorio Caratozzolo
Italy
90

POETRY FILMS
The Ashes (A poem for my brother)
An artist draws a picture of his brothers favourite trees
and reflects on his ashes.
About: Diana Taylor has been working in Bristol, UK
with local Poets making poetry films since 2009, and
her films have been shown in major venues in around
Bristol including the Watershed , the Arnolfini, Colston
Hall M Shed and the BBC Big Screen.
Diana Taylor
United Kingdom
91

POETRY FILMS
I want to breathe sweet air
“I Want to Breathe Sweet Air,” a film poem in three
parts with acclaimed writer Lucy English, is a stunning
and terribly beautiful visual indictment of careless land
development and the impact of climate change on the
natural environment, incorporating footage shot specifically
for this project as well as footage from the vast
library accumulated by Outlier Moving Pictures during
six years of documenting environmental destruction.
About: Pam is an independent filmmaker who received
her PhD from the University of Iowa and taught at
Northern Illinois University, St.Mary’s College, and
the University of Notre Dame. She directed the largest
student film society in the US while she was at the University
of Iowa, and also ran films series for the Snite
Museum of Art in South Bend, IN. She is an occasional
contributor to Moving Poems Magazine.
Jack is an independent filmmaker who has produced,
directed, or shot a variety of experimental and personal
projects. His features and documentaries have
shown at the Sundance, Raindance, Telluride, Tribeca,
Edinburgh, Chicago, Houston, and Taos film Festivals,
winning several honors.
Lucy English
Pamela Falkenberg
Jack Cochran
United States
92

POETRY FILMS
Building the Ark
In times of great change, even stories we’ve known all
our lives can have new things to tell us. Building the
Ark is a poem about the essential relationship between
humans and our companions in the natural world.
About: Pat Boran is a much-published Irish poet who,
since the arrival of Covid-19, has been making short
poetry films inspired by places within walking distance
of his home. The footage is shot on his mobile phone
and the poems, over repeated visits, written on site,
blurring the distinction between scouting, research
and filmmaking.
Pat Boran
Ireland
93

POETRY FILMS
Glass that will bend
A poem-film about the appetite for desire itself. Filmed
in the Yanaka neighbourhood of Tokyo, which is innate
with small reprieves of everyday mysticisms.
About: Xiao Yue Shan is a poet born in Dongying,
China and living in Tokyo, Japan.
Xiao Yue Shan
Japan
shellyshan.com
94

POETRY FILMS
Sometimes light requires you more
A poetic video about the spring/summer light that
always comes so suddenly in Northern countries like
Finland, which has 4 seasons. You wait for the light and
beauty of fast growth of nature but it always surprise
You. Are you ready to be part of that wonderful light?
About: Eija Temiseväis a Finnish sculptor and a video
artist, born 1956. Living and working in Espoo. Educated
in the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki.
Graduated as a bachelor of art (sculptor) in
1986. Started making videos in 2013. Eija Temisevä is
interested in the relation between nature and human
beings, also psychological and existential issues.
Moreover observations of outer objects and the incidents
between them.
Gaia Cipriano
Vittorio Caratozzolo
& 3 A class
Italy
95

POETRY FILMS
And the sun asks man
When the unknown does not ease
the heat makes it sore
the wind comforts
inside the walls, the words are whispered:
I am a prisoner
And the sun asks man: Who is to blame?
About: Eija Temisevä is a Finnish sculptor and video
artist, born in 1956. Educated in the Finnish Academy
of Fine Arts in Helsinki 1982-1986. Graduated as
a bachelor of art (sculptor) in 1986. Her films, which
she calls “video fragments” have been screened in
various festivals since 2014.
Eija Temisevä
Finland
96

POETRY FILMS
Archive Litany / Archivo Letania
Anne Waldman’s investigative hybrid-poem explores
the nuances of interspecies communication and compassion.
It draws on animal lore, animal encounters
(with grey wolf and manatee), dreams, evolutionary
biology, neuroscience, and Buddhist ritual to render
a text of remarkable sympathy, reciprocity, and power.
The poem asks questions as well as urges further
engagement with the endangered (including our
human selves).
Part performance litany, part survival kit, part worried
mammalian soundings, Waldman explores what
it means to inhabit our condition through language
and imagination inside a wheel of time. This is the
mature work of a philosophical field poet with a shamanic
metabolism.
Anne Waldman
Natalia Gaia
Ambrose Bye
David Rojas Azules
Aliah Rosenthal
Mexico /US
97

POETRY FILMS
Anatomy of a flower
An experimental reading of a poem by Rupam Baoni,
from her collection ‘chronicles of entering my body’
Hypatia Publications (2021).
Rupam Baoni
Vankshita Mishra
United Kingdom
vankshita.com
98

POETRY FILMS
Whether Water Meetings
A short videopoem with drum/ electric guitar track
contrasting with the more subtle — yet still musical —
sounds of nature.
The point is not to argue that one type of sound is «
better » than the other, but that they can coexist in a
complementary fashion.
About: Award-winning artist, writer, musician, filmmaker.
Articles in many journals including the Brooklyn Rail
and Canadian Notes and Queries.
Has presented to academic conferences in Oxford,
Bath, Liverpool, Berlin, Seoul, Osaka, and elsewhere.
Selected by festivals in Korea, Ireland, the U.K.,
the US, China (Hong Kong), Kazakhstan, Australia,
Greece, Pakistan, Serbia, Portugal, Russia, and India.
Finn Harvor
Republic of Korea
99

POETRY FILMS
Voderglaernisch Mountainportait
Claudio Landolt reads poems from his new book
“Nicht die Fülle nicht Idylle nicht der Berg” at the foot
of the mountain Vorderglärnisch.
The mountain portrait consists of a soundpiece, which
Landolt composed from over 100 hours of fieldrecordings
on and in the Vorderglärnisch, and a book
of poetry. In this poetryfilm, his sound composition
and some of the texts come together for the first time.
Claudio Landolt
Karim Patwa
Switzerland
100

POETRY FILMS
Daughter
Daughter is a video poem about the struggles of being
born a woman, through which strength and resilience
are built.
“And if the flames I have in my throat
seem alarming to you
then learn how to cope with fire
because I have thunderstorms in my veins
and after years of others forecasting my life
I have finally become my own weather.”
Fragment of Daughter, by Isabella Bazoni.
Isabella Bazoni
United Kingdom
101

POETRY FILMS
S.A.D.
Seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) is no longer confined
to winter depression. As the climate crisis grows,
this disease occurs more frequently. When the environment
is disturbed, we humans also suffer from disturbance
– because we are just part of the environment.
Inspired by the sonopoem of Ilaria Boffa, which
deals with this current situation, Maria Korporal’s video
expresses these tensions between conflict and harmony.
Using animated charcoal drawing on a deformed
video of the seashore, the transformation of images
leads us into a haunting universe.
About: Maria Korporal was born 1962 in Sliedrecht,
the Netherlands. She studied graphics and painting
at the St. Joost Academy of Fine Arts in Breda.
During her studies she began working with photography
and she graduated with, among other things,
a video installation. After her studies, in 1986, she
moved to Italy, where she returned to painting. In 1989
she co-founded the Italian publishing house Apeiron
Editori, directing production and book design. Since
1998 she has dedicated herself to using the new media
arts for her expression. Until 2013 she lived in Italy in
Sant’Oreste (RM). Since 2014 she has lived and worked
in Berlin.
Maria Korporal
Ilaria Boffa
Germany
mariakorporal.com
102

POETRY FILMS
Going to Pasárgada
“Looking out of the window, reassuring yourself that
you exist, because the world outside exists.”
Gabrielle was born in Turin in 1984, graduating in co
mmunication studies with a disertation on Herman
Hesse and Alice Miller, and has worked with literature
and film ever since. Resides in Berlin since 2009.
Odile Kennel
Gabriele Nugara
Germany
gabrielenugara.com
103

POETRY FILMS
Red roses for Gertrude Stein
“Red roses for Gertrude Stein” is an experimental and
serendipitous video poem featuring Caroline and Araminta.
The girls lazily toss a blue ball back and forth
in the air as Gertrude Stein’s “a rose is rose is a rose”
is recited.
About: Sandra Dyas is a visual artist and published
author living in Iowa City. She received her MFA in
Intermedia: Performance Art and Video from the University
of Iowa in 1998. She is a Lecturer in Art at Cornell
College, where she teaches photography, video
and performance art. Her video and photographic
work have been exhibited internationally. Sandra has
been collaborating with filmmaker LeAnn Erickson on
Homegrown Stories since its inception in 2013. The
online media project is dedicated to the aesthetics of
still photography as it applies to the moving image as
well as an intellectual interest in questions of personal
space, the act of storytelling and the primacy of place
in shaping one’s world view.
Sandra Louise Dyas
United States
104

POETRY FILMS
Plasticnic
“Plasticnic” is an animated short poem that wryly depicts
the extent and impact of the accumulation of plastic in
the environment as people ceaselessly continue to purchase,
use and discard single-use plastics. We seek out
and enjoy nature while simultaneously destroying it.
About: Fiona Tinwei Lam (poet, narrator, producer,
co-director) was born in Scotland, and resides in
Canada. Lam’s third collection of poetry Odes &
Laments celebrates the overlooked wonder and beauty
in the everyday, while lamenting harm to our ecosystems.
Her work appears in more than 40 anthologies,
including The Best Canadian Poetry in English (both
2010 and 2020 editions) and Forcefield: 77 Women
Poets of BC. Her award-winning poetry videos have
screened at festivals locally and internationally, including
at the Zebra poetry film festival in Germany. She
currently teaches creative writing at Simon Fraser University
Continuing Studies in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Tisha Deb Pillai (animator and co-director) was in born
in India and currently resides in Vancouver BC, where
she graduated with a Bachelor of Media Arts in Animation
from Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
As an animator living between Canada and India, her
work has been inspired from two vastly distinct worlds
of colours, cultures and ideas. She enjoys telling stories
from personal experiences and memories, and
weaving them into narratives with a universal theme.
Fiona T Lam
Tisha Deb Pillai
Canada
fionalam.net
105

POETRY FILMS
How long will you sleep
Inspired by a troubled meditation on a medieval saint,
this spacious poetic film is about consciousness, love
and the filmy air of eternity in the everyday.
About: Marilyn Freeman (they/them) Media Artist |
Writer | Queer | Contemplative Marilyn Freeman is an
interdisciplinary artist working at the intersections of
reckoning and resiliency, queerness and film, and contemplative,
creative and social practices. Their films
have been featured on PBS and in galleries, theaters,
festivals and spirituality centers worldwide including
The Powerhouse Arena in New York City, the British
Film Institute, Seattle International Film Festival, Montreal’s
Festival of International Cinema, among others.
Marilyn Freeman
United States
marilynfreeman.com
106

POETRY FILMS
Moving Barcelona
Moving Barcelona is a magical realist dance story
about the Catalonian capital, an autonomous region
in the Spanish State contending with an identity crisis.
A city with everything going for it is still haunted by
the ghosts of its past and despite much progress, it
finds itself unearthing old wounds.
Narrated by celebrated actor, Pep Munné, who
appeals for calm, there is a sense of reassurance that
all is okay. The movement of the city however tells a
different story.
Moving Barcelona is the eighth film in an award-winning
collection of works by the London-based filmmaker,
Jevan Chowdhury to capture the world as
a stage. Life on the street in London, Paris, Brussels,
Dallas, Prague, Yerevan and Athens has been
recorded in this growing canon.
Jevan Chowdhury
United Kingdom
moving-cities.com
107

POETRY FILMS
Im(moral) Code:
An ethics manual to lose one’s way
After the republishing of the “Moral Book“(Alfonso
Reyes, 1952) by the actual Presidency of Mexico, a
text without relevance for the current century and with
no inclusion of women nor non-masculine groups, a
group of women poets made a ludic re-writing of
some of its sections as a feminist manifesto, embracing
our voices in this patriarchal society.
Later, this video poem was made, as an urgent exercise
against the violent treatment that the Mexican State
has decided to give us, the women as citizens. This is
a reunion of visions in Spanish, English and Spanglish.
Zazil Alaíde Collins
Julia Piastro
Hanlly Ramírez
María Cristina Hall
Ruby Brunton
Lucía Hinojosa
Indira Torres Crux
Tania Carrera
Isaura Leonardo
Andrea Grain Hayton
Mexico
108

POETRY FILMS
Spellbound
In Emily Brontë’s world, a young woman is under a
spell of blind forces of compulsion acting to draw
her towards an unnamed darkness from which she
cannot escape.
About: Born in 1981 in Frankenberg, GDR. In 2006 he
obtained a diploma in industrial engineering from the
University of Applied Sciences in Mittweida/Germany.
Since 2008 he has made more than 40 short films, the
majority of them on Super 8mm and 16mm film. His
films have been screened at numerous international
film festivals and won several awards.
Emily Brontë
Patrick Müller
Germany
patrickcinema.de
109

POETRY FILMS
White Clouds
This song is an adaptation of the poem “White Clouds”
by Taiwanese poet Lo Lang (1927-2015). The recording
was made by Lo’s daughter Sirong, a renowned,
award-winning singer-songwriter in Taiwan. When Lo
Lang wrote the poem in 1950, he was expressing his
deep desire for freedom. At that time, many Taiwanese
were suffering from extreme violence and political
repression at the hands of the ruling Kuomingtang,
which took over Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil
War to the Chinese Communists. This recording, made
in 2018, marks a watershed moment for Lo Sirong and
her now deceased father, as Taiwan flourishes today
as a fully democratic society.
About: Ye Mimi is a Taiwanese poet and filmmaker. A
graduate of the MFA Creative Writing Department at
Dong Hwa University and the MFA Film Department
at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she is the
author of three volumes of poetry and has internationally
exhibited several of her poetry films. Through collaging
her words and images, she improvises a new
landscape trying to erase the border between poetry
and image making. Book-length translations of her
work are available in Dutch and English.
Ye Mimi
Taiwan
110

POETRY FILMS
Tribute
A performative poetry film about pecunia, passports,
paradises and privilege.
Katia Sophia Ditzler
Germany
111

POETRY FILMS
That if we go into the desert
A poetry film about psychotic exile.
Katia Sophia Ditzler
Germany
112

POETRY FILMS
Ashera
Her manifestation was a tree – Ashera, the ancient Near
Eastern goddess, laments nature’s destruction.
About: Tova Beck-Friedman is a visual artist, filmmaker,
writer and poet. Her work fuses poetry and moving
images to create cine-poems, that have been shown in
festivals, museums and galleries including: The Poet
House, NYC; Ó Bhéal I ternational Poetry-Film Competition;
International Video Poetry Festival / Athens,
Greece and The Film and Video Poetry Symposium,
Los Angeles.
Tova Beck-Friedman
United States
tbfstudio.com
113

POETRY FILMS
Remember
Artist Katrina Neiburga, musician Andrey OID, and
poet Sergej Timofejev teamed up to make “Remember”:
a tactile-metaphysical journey through a private
living space – a trip through a world of objects and
sensations.
This work was initiated and carried out as a gesture
of cooperation and solidarity at a time when
we were all united by a common global situation,
yet one which each of us experienced in our own
way, in our own separate spaces, with our own loved
ones. Katrina’s children – her youngest son Ludvigs
and eldest Anton Gradus – participated in the shoot.
About: Katrīna Neiburga was born in Riga, Latvia in
1978. Lives and works in Riga, Latvia.
For Katrīna Neiburga, art is subordinate to a yearning
for emotion, genuineness and the preservation of living
memory. It is poetry that operates at the level of perception
and feeling: pared to the bone, saturated with
truth, searing and beautiful.
She holds an MA in Visual Communication from the Art
Academy of Latvia and has studied at the Royal Institute
of Art in Stockholm, Sweden. She has been exhibiting
since 2000 and has participated in numerous exhibitions
and biennials in Sydney (2006), Moscow (2007),
Venice (2015), Kochi–Muziris (2016) and elsewhere.
Sergej Timofejev
Latvia
Katrīna Neiburga
114

POETRY FILMS
Fat Kathy
The lives of millions depend on eight small clams working
hard to detect contamination in the city’s water
supply. Clams are the new canaries in the coal mine in
this stranger-than-fiction peek at how humans create
problems for the planet and then use living organisms
to protect themselves… from themselves.
About: Julia is a Polish director and cinematographer
born and living in Warsaw, Poland. Her award winning
films have played at festivals worldwide including Hot
Docs, Warsaw Film Festival, Kracow Film Festival and
Bogo Shorts. She was awarded with prestigious Ministry
of Culture and National Heritage scholarship
the YOUNG POLAND. She is a member of the Polish
Filmmakers’ Association.
Julia Pelka
Poland
juliapelka.com
115

POETRY FILMS
When This All Ends
A poem for the future. Of what may be left. Of what
will outlive us.
About: Kit Radford is a multimedia artist and poet.
She has worked in theatre, perform ance, installation,
visual art and publications.
Kit Radford
United Kingdom
116

POETRY FILMS
Awakening
A poetic interpretation of a spiritual awakening. The
quest is envisioned through landscape imagery, conveying
the feelings of this deep seated need for connection,
belonging and meaning.
About: Asfar writes poetry as a pastime, pondering
the eternal questions that we all concern ourselves
with as human beings - love, loneliness, hope and spiritual
fulfilment.
Asfar
117

POETRY FILMS
Edge of Disaster
“I have a small chalet, 120 kilometers north of Montreal.
There are few neighbors all around and the
forest behind seems to go on infinitely. In summer,
surrounded with trees in full leafing, I feel alone in the
world. So, this situation inspired me to write Edge of
the disaster. I imagined the survivor of a cataclysm,
protected by this cenacle of trees. How is it possible
to remain present to the world when all which was the
world is no more?”.
Sylvain Campeau
Mériol Lehmann
Canada
118

POETRY FILMS
Birthday
A film about measuring life, ornamenting it with monochromatic
sequences, deprived of the green wavelengths
of the natural world, like we measure longevity
by birthday cycles.
About: Camila is a Guatemalan artist who fluctuates
between writing, painting, music, performance, video
and teaching. Founder of ‘La clínica de la Imaginación’
in 2015 as a nomadic meeting space to research imagination.
Also works at an air plant nursery. Camila has
a degree in Literature and Language, and is currently
studying psychoanalysis.
Camila Fernandez Juarez
Guatemala
textperimentos.com
119

POETRY FILMS
When I Was A Boy, I Collected Pebbles From
The Beach
An experimental short about identity, memory and love.
Phil Gomm
United Kingdom
120

POETRY FILMS
Utility Pole
Utility Pole is a poetry film collaboration between poet
Fiona Tinwei Lam and poetry filmmaker Mary McDonald.
Mary McDonald
Canada
MaryMcDonald.ca
121

POETRY FILMS
Wishing Well
Celebrating the countless beautiful moments within
every day, the gifts of Life. Poetry film for Penn Kemp’s
poem, Wishing Well. This is part of an Augmented
Reality (AR) art collaboration including a community
participation art transmedia storytelling project #RiverReveryLdn.
Wishing Well is a meditation on the gifts of water, of
beauty and of time. The work explores, both in poem
and through visual interpretation the feelings of being
caught, held and lost within everyday moments of
beauty which can expand time and our awareness.
Open yourself to the wonder of these moments and you
open yourself into a suspended state of peace and calm.
About: Mary McDonald is a London, Ontario based
writer and multimedia artist.
Mary McDonald
Penn Kemp
Canada
RiverRevery.ca
122

POETRY FILMS
I Am Soil Breaking Off
A metaphor about national identity and migration as
a mangrove seed and its journey.
About: Paloma Sierra (she/her) is a Puerto Rican writer,
translator, educator, and curator. Her work combines
music, lyricism, and translation; and often centers on
the Hispanic population in the United States. Emerging
Poet Laureate of Allegheny County 2020-2021,
Paloma has presented her work with Project Y, Theatre
Now New York, Poetic Theater Productions, Nuyorican
Poets Cafe, and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. Her
verse dramas, poetry, and translations are published in
Bridge: The Bluffton University Journal, Persephone’s
Daughters, and Sampsonia Way. Paloma holds an MFA
in Dramatic Writing and a BHA in Creative Writing and
Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.
Paloma Sierra
United States
123

POETRY FILMS
Pattern noster
Pattern noster is a video poem about the importance
and the influence of patterns. Our world is full of numbers,
shapes, meshes, warps, trills… No meanings,
only strange mathematics and geometrical beauty.
We try to find a way to understand it, but no science,
no religion, no art could define this fractal chaos.
Whatever the figure, the infinite is only a sequenced
series of textures.
About: A self taught artist from Provence, (1969), Yves
Bommenel is an interdisciplinary artist with experience
in radio, cultural organizing, publishing and
mixed media on stage.
” For me, video poetry is that moment of grace in which
images convey to music an imaginary symbiosis of the
text, giving them a new poetics. A quest somehow…”
Yves “bobie” Bommenel
France
bobie.fr
124

POETRY FILMS
Return
‘Return’ is a lyrical meditation on the Anthropocene
that mingles the intimate and the eternal, the biological
and the inanimate, the domestic with a sense of
deep time.
A fragile poem dreaming of transcending the darkness
of the present. The abstract drawings originate
from Raluca Popa’s ongoing preoccupation with Richard
Tuttle’s work.
Simona Nastac
Raluca Popa
United Kingdom
125

POETRY FILMS
Dark Myriad 70
Dark Myriad 70 (Тьма Тем 70) is a videopoem that
aims to create a new type of poetic language, integrating
spoken word with moving image to develop
an non-illustrative style. Set against a Magrittian backdrop
the piece explores the shadows that tower over
us like Napoleon against the Austerlitz sky. The videopoem
presented here is part of an album called Dark
Myriad (Тьма Тем). The project aims to integrate the
audio-visual elements into inseparable rhythmic and
rhyming compositions. The title Dark Myriad comes
from an ancient Slavonic numbering system and signifies
the biggest possible number, which is linguistically
associated with darkness and its perceived infinity.
About: Eta Dahlia is a Russian poet and filmmaker
based in London. His work combines minimalist Russian
poetry with a range of audio-visual media.
Eta Dahlia
United Kingdom
126

POETRY FILMS
I, Sheep
I, Sheep combines video, poetry and performance to
tell the story of a single ewe and her links to a farm
and farming family.
About: The creative team, working in collaboration,
are Teresa Murjas (top right), James Rattee (bottom
left) and Jack Thacker (top left).
Jack Thacker
Teresa Murjas
James Rattee
United Kingdom
127

POETRY FILMS
Going to the Well
A group of Women seek water from three wells in this
short film of the poem “Going to the Well” by Lani
O’Hanlon
About: Fiona is an artist, photographer and filmmaker
based in Co. Wicklow in Ireland. She has exhibited her
artwork in solo and group exhibitions as well as doing
large scale work for Dublin City Council and Body &
Soul music festival. Her short Poetry-Film made with
poet Lani O’Hanlon was the winner of the O’Bheal
International Poetry Film Competition 2019 and shown
as part of the Indie Cork Film Festival.
It was also screened at the REELPoetry film festival in
Houston in 2020.
Fiona has just completed a BA in Film & TV Production
with the University of Wolverhampton University.
Lani O’Hanlon
Fiona Aryan
Ireland
128

POETRY FILMS
Shining Sheep
This poetryfilm is dedicated to the German poet and
philosopher Friedrich Hölderlin (1770 - 1843) who
was diagnosed with schizophrenia. SHINING SHEEP
(Leuchtende Schafe) is a consolation for the sleepless,
the despaired, the left alones of our own century.
About: Sascha Conrad is a German filmmaker and
author for TV and radio based in Leipzig (Saxonia).
He has been working as a freelance filmmaker since
2008. His poetry shorts with the German performance
poet Ulrike Almut Sandig have been screened in India,
Austria, Ukraine, Germany and in the UK.
Ulrike Almut Sandig
Sascha Conrad
Germany
129

POETRY FILMS
Sleeping in another galaxy
& I came from here
Sleeping in another galaxy: This poetry film is about the
permanent struggle an individual faces between following
his dreams and the bitterness of reality.
I came from here: a visual adaptation of a poem by Iraqi
poet Sargon Boulos, who left his country in his twenties
in search of another home and reached “The City
of Where”. He fled, leaving everything behind, but his
memory turned into ghosts chasing him everywhere.
About: Abhishek Singh is an Indian independent filmmaker
who is currently a MA (Film Studies) student at
Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary. During
his stay in Hungary, he teamed up with Masar Smari,
an Iraqi actor and scientist, to make poetry films on
the concept of alienation.
Maitham Radhi
Masar Smari
Sargon Boulus
Abhishek Singh
Iraq / Hungary
130

POETRY FILMS
Tethered
Gaia Alari (Director, Animator) and James Morehead
(Poet Laureate - Dublin, California) team up to bring
the poem “tethered” to life with the magic of traditional
animation.
The poem is a selection from Morehead’s debut book
“canvas” (Viewless Wings Press, 2021). “tethered” features
2D animation created from 750 drawings. The
animation was created for the 9:16 story format.
About: Gaia Alari, is a visual artist based in Milan, Italy.
She collaborates with international music bands and
labels, such as: Lake Street Dive / Nonesuch Records
(Warner USA), Ada Lea / SaddleCreek +Nextdoor
Records (USA, Canada), Dana Gavanski / Full Time
Hobby + Flemish Eye Records + Ba Da Bing! Records
(UK, Canada, USA) , TOLEDO (USA), Low Cut Connie
/ Contender Records (USA), Florda (Canada), Dot
Comet (USA), Crom Lus (UK). She also works with
Paris based skate crew and brand Quotamine directing
commercials in clay animation and designing
boards and products featuring her artworks.
Gaia Alari
United States
viewlesswings.com
131

POETRY FILMS
The Cherry Tree
The Cherry Tree is a 2D mixed media animation of a
poem written by Vicki Feaver in 2020, which reflects
on a lifelong relationship between a woman and a tree.
About: Voice by Dani Limon, animation and sound
Suzie Hanna.
Vicki Feaver
Suzie Hanna
United Kingdom
suziehanna.com
132

POETRY FILMS
One Sunday in Winter
Animation, poetry and digital painting evoke a winter’s
day by the ocean.
This film poem was inspired by a day trip to Karekare,
a wild and beautiful expanse of untouched coastline
in West Auckland. Expressionist in approach, it tells
its story via hand written haikus, animated painting,
ambient sound and treated flute. An abstract landscape
of minimal brush work and kinetic gestures suggest
the motion of waves, cloud and seagulls in flight.
About: Martin Sercombe has been making poetry
inspired short films for many years. This is the first
time he has combined animated painting with the written
word, exploring a hybrid language of poetic, visual
music. His single screen works have been screened
at many international festivals in the USA, UK, Holland,
Spain, Japan, Australia and Hong Kong. His video
production company, Media Projects forms partnerships
with community groups and institutions to produce
educational resources exploring heritage, the
arts and social issues.
Martin Sercombe
New Zealand
mediaprojects.co.nz
133

POETRY FILMS
Tardigrade
An experimental poetry film on the microscopic tardigrades
shot to the moon on the Beresheet lunar lander,
followed by a brief statement on existential threats
and archival cultures, and a haiku.
About: Kim Trainor is the granddaughter of an Irish
banjo player and a Polish faller who worked in the
logging camps around Port Alberni in the 1930s. Her
second book, Ledi, a finalist for the 2019 Raymond
Souster Award, describes the excavation of an Iron
Age horsewoman’s grave in the steppes of Siberia.
Her next book, Bluegrass, will appear with Icehouse
Press (Gooselane Editions) in 2022. She teaches in the
English Department at Douglas College and lives in
Vancouver, unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm,
Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Kim Trainor
Canada
134

POETRY FILMS
Singularity
An animated exploration of poet Marie Howe’s “Singularity
(after Stephen Hawking),” a meditation on
the connections between the grandly cosmic and
the intensely personal. Read by the poet, as part of
Maria Popova’s “Universe in Verse” poetry festival in
New York City.
Marie Howe
Elizabeth Myer
Matthew Boulton
United States
135

POETRY FILMS
On the river
“On the River” is a poetic experimental film in tribute
to Barbara Strobl and Simon Etter, who received the
Mercator Prize for their outstanding research. The
stop-motion film follows the course of the river. From
its source in the mountains, the water drips, drums,
splashes, flows, foams, roars all the way to its mouth in
the sea. The strong abstraction of the images and the
powerful composition of Fritz Hauser direct the concentration
to the poetic text of Matjaž Grilj, who links
the knowledge of research with the sensuous attraction
and his personal relationship with water.
About: Katharina Weikl*1975 Born in Erlangen, Germany,
is a curator, film maker, and science communicator.As
Deputy Head of the Graduate Campus of
the University of Zurich, she is committed to promoting
young scientists, transdisciplinary exchange and
dialogue with the public. As a curator, she promotes
the dialogue between art and science through exhibitions
such as: 100 Ways of Thinking, Kunsthalle Zürich,
2018; Transactions, Manifesta 11, 2016.
Mathias Grilj
Katharina Weikl
Claudia Röthlin,
Yves Gutjahr
Switzerland
136

POETRY FILMS
Between Two Waters
A poem about men and its relation with the sea and
the time
About: Carles Pamies Sauret, Barcelona, 1964 Graduated
in Information Sciences, he has been working
in television since 1987 in all kinds of genres and formats.
Simultaneously, he develops his poetic activity
and his own audiovisual work, which gives him his
own creative universe, without sticking to trends or
groups of creators. With perpetual discontinuity, he
considers himself a sniper oblivious to prevailing fashions
and currents
Carles Pamies Sauret
Spain
137

POETRY FILMS
This Dark Water
As a poetry film, the work gives voice to concern over
the onerous manner of our presence within the environment,
and proffers lamentation upon the perpetuated
mutual damage and loss that ensues.’
About: Elin is an award-winning Visual Artist in practice
since 2010. Her practice is inter-disciplinary in
basis with digital process at it’s core, including Video
and Experimental Moving Image, 2D Digital Imaging,
and 3D Sculptural Assemblage. Through her work
she investigates aspects of collective and individual
corporeal presence, impact upon place, conditions
of self, and making visible resonances of shared cultural,
industrial, and social memory. Her work has been
exhibited and screened nationally and internationally,
and is held in a number of public collections including
that of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and
The Poetic Phonotheque, Copenhagen.
Elin Johnston
United Kingdom
elinjohnston.com
138

POETRY FILMS
Sexy Recycling
Poem by Beth Calverley from her anthology Brave
Faces and Other Smiles
About: Director and animator Nigel Smith explores
themes of plastic pollution and recycling in practical
ways, using recycled materials and wet-on-wet stop
motion animation.
Nigel Smith
Gladstone Smith
United Kingdom
139

POETRY FILMS
Haiku
“Haiku | 俳 句 ” is a symphonic audiovisual project
for two Japanese performers, alternating percussion
groups, soundscapes and rhythmicized video
sequences. The film is an experimental approach
to pay tribute to the extraordinary art of Japanese
haiku poetry.
About: Martin Gerigk (1972) is a composer of contemporary
music. His repertoire includes compositions
for orchestra and chamber music, as well as several
solo concertos. In this context he works together
with renowned international soloists and ensembles.
In addition to his compositional work he is known for
his remarkable audiovisual art and experimental films
which focus on inherent synesthetic connections of
sound and visual perceptions. Besides creating interwoven
aural and visual landscapes of music, nature
sounds and video sequences one important aspect of
his art is the illustration of the hidden poetry of nature
phenomena and sciences.
Martin Gerigk
Germany
martin-gerigk.de
140

POETRY FILMS
Breathe
“BREATHE” is a short film adapted from the crowdsourced
ecopoem of the same title by youth in San
Mateo County. The film explores the layered connections
between nature and culture through poetry. It
asks the question, how do we re-imagine a more sustainable
future.
About: Aileen Cassinetto is a Filipino American poet
and publisher born and raised in Manila, Philippines.
She was named an Academy of American Poets Laureate
Fellow in 2021 and currently serves as the Poet
Laureate of San Mateo County, California.
San Mateo County youth/
Aileen Cassinetto
United States
aileencassinetto.com
141

POETRY FILMS
Bridge Vision
Vision is an attempt to make a digital project resonate
as tactile. With visuals meant to call to mind lacunae
and a poem that is traditional, somewhat metered,
handwritten, and 14 lines, it is an incantation of sorts.
Contemplating integration and disintegration, very
present themes this year, the text is layered with disintegrating
leaves. Water can be seen moving through
the holes, and scraps of the poem appear handwritten
text. It is a ghost poem.
Carolyn Guinzio
carolynguinzio.tumblr.
com
142

POETRY FILMS
Murmur of Icebergs
A poetic murmur shortens the distance between 80º
and 22º latitude north, as well as the gap between
the Arctic Ocean and the Pearl River Delta. Are the
melting glaciers and a small Chinese southern city
reclaimed from the sea existing on parallel universes,
or is it simply karma?
If we get a chance to stay awake, will catastrophe turn
out to be nothing but a bad dream?
About: Un Sio San is a renowned poet and artist based
in Macao. She obtained a dual Bachelor degree in Chinese
Language and Art (film and television direction)
at the Peking University and a dual Master degree in
East Asia Studies and Asia Pacific Studies at the University
of Toronto with the research field in documentary
films. Un has won numerous awards and has published
several books such as Wonderland, Exile in the Blossom
Time and Evolution of Love. She’s highly praised
by critics for ‘attaching extraordinary poetic significance
to space’.
Un Sio San
Macao
143

POETRY FILMS
Life Was An Incident
A videopoetry film based on the poem “Life Was an
Incident” by the young Bulgarian poet Alexander
Arnaudov.
About: Vladimir Mihaylov was born in 1971 in Sofia,
Bulgaria and studied at the National Academy for Theatre
and Film Arts “Kr. Sarafov“, Sofia. He is a cinematographer
with broad experience in feature and
documentary films, TV series, ads and music videos.
Short films of videopoetry is his personal experimental
project.
Alexander Arnaudov
Vladimir Mihaylov
Bulgaria
vidimo.bg
144

POETRY FILMS
Homeland I
A man with a crutch throws away his homeland which
is the gauze, the wound and his leg.
According to Roland Barthes, one’s homeland is one’s
childhood, taking us where memories have formed
our first homeland, the primordial and decisive one.
Homeland I, is a video about the sense of that place.
What is it exactly?
Each person is formed through childhood memories
and recalling these memories, one performs a peculiar
patriotic recognition of the first and fundamental
homeland of their existence.
Georgia Diakou
Eugenia Grammenou
Greece
eugeniagrammenou.com
145

POETRY FILMS
A Soul With No Home
A journey in the memory of a child who shares his
story of getting lost in his homeland, Damascus. Once
he grows up, his path continues to be one of searching
for home.
About: Bachar Bachoura is a Syrian filmmaker who left
when the civil war started, beginning a new journey
in Canada. Here, he changed his major to cinema and
specialized in animation. Filmmaking has become his
chosen way of storytelling and connecting through
experiences and emotions.
Bachar Bachoura
Canada
146

POETRY FILMS
Free Belly
With nature at the center of everything, the video, it
invites us to reflect on our relationship with nature,
with the green, with animals, with our roots and with
our ancestral essentiality.
Danilo Adriano Marinho
Núria Such Basiana
Spain
danilomarinho.com
147

POETRY FILMS
Back to Nature
What does nature mean to you? How does it relate to
your life? Through breathing, dancing and laughing,
this film explores the relationship we have with the
elements as well as envisioning an inclusive, eco-conscious
and enjoyable fashion.
About: Fer is a Latin Queer individual who is going
into their 4th year of Performance Production at Ryerson
University in Toronto, Canada. She was born and
raised in Chile and has moved around the world following
her passion for art, community and decolonization.
Fer Pezoa
Chile
148

POETRY FILMS
Shea, by Nasra
A family displaced by greed searches for a new home
in a foreign place. As they explore they discover pieces
of themselves; old and new. “Shea” celebrates what
has always remained in Black/African peoples, an
innate sense of home, luxury and interconnectedness.
About: Effy Adar is a Black self taught multidisciplinary
artist, DJ, organizer and curator based in Amiskwaciwaskahikan
on Treaty 6 territory. She has worked in
theatre as an actor, sound and video designer. She
uses dance, art and education for community building,
healing, and celebration. She loves making art,
teaching workshops, and working on grassroots projects.
Effy believes in creating the world we want to
live in by finding imaginative ways to learn, connect,
express, and contribute.
Nasra Adem
Effy Adar
Canada
149

POETRY FILMS
Winter Sleep
Winter Sleep, based on a poem by Sheri Benning published
in The Paris Review, offers affective critique of
the agroindustry in prairie Canada. The poem and
film, in conversation, ask viewers to reckon with the
devastating socio-environmental impact of agribusiness,
a clarifying task in re-conceiving new horizons
for being here.
“Winter Sleep” is a collaboration between writer,
Sheri Benning, filmmaker, Chad Galloway and visual
artist, Heather Benning. Sheri Benning’s fourth
poetry collection, Field Requiem, is forthcoming
with Carcanet Press in Fall 2021. Poems from Field
Requiem have been published in The Paris Review,
The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry Review, Brick
and the PN Review.
About: Chad Galloway is an award-winning director
and editor based in Vancouver, Canada. For ten years,
he has been the key creative at Trail Films, a creative
studio specializing in socially beneficial documentary.
His work has taken him into the Canadian arctic, up the
Mayan coffee mountains of Chiapas, Mexico and deep
into the backstreets of Kampala, Uganda. His work has
screened internationally, winning a number of wards
including Best Documentary and Best Director. His
recent documentary “Sadika’s Garden” is currently
airing on both the CBC and Knowledge Network.
Sheri Benning
Chad Galloway
Canada
150

POETRY FILMS
The Polar Caps of Memory
Wailing sounds on flying thoughts, a harmonic chaos.
About: Since 1980 Joachim Hofmann works as a freelance
director, cameraman and producer. His filmography
now includes about 80 short films, documentaries
and features.The films “3 tiny poems” and the “Locomotive
Conspiracy” have performed internationally
with the Goethe Institut’s touring program. Short films
like “The 7th Pregnancy” or “When the Earth Cries”
received awards and first prizes at national and international
festivals. The founding of “Fehrfeld Studios”
for the dissemination of cinematographic energy, the
Very fast Film Festival, X.screen, and the Perforated
Particle Projection Project are among the projects that
Hofmann created. Various exhibitions in the fields of
installation, photography and sculpture. Jury work
at national and international shorfilm festivals. Since
1985 teaching at the University of the Arts Bremen,
the International Academy of Arts, the University of
Bremen, the Wilhelm Wagenfeld School Bremen.
Michael Augustin
Joachim Hofmann
Germany
151

POETRY FILMS
Slow Dive
Existential video poem about the futility of any epistemological
inclinations of a human being and about
the existential drama caused by the understanding
of this fact.
About: Caravanvideo is a creative duet between Vera
Kuznetsova and Andrei Zaitcev – two Russian filmmakers
currently working in Spain. They mainly focus on
concept music videos and experimental footage. An
important place in their work is occupied by the interaction
of human beings and nature, the collective
unconscious and the microcosm.
Juha Mäki-Patola
Andrei Zaitcev
Spain
juhamakipatola.com
152

POETRY FILMS
Everyday an Apocalypse
A poem exploring eco-grief, twinning ecocide and
covid19 as cataclysmic, apocalyptic events. A collaboration
between poet Debra Watson, musician Alicia
Macanas and videographer Mad Pirvan.
About: Mad Pirvan is a Romanian multidisciplinary
artist, based in London. She is co-founder of The
Bloody Poets and produced a series of mixed arts
events in England and Spain such as In the midst of
the rhyme, Re: Naissance and Drama Queers. She has
recently published the book and record ‘La musa suicida’
with Las Hermanas del Desorden and directed
their first audiovisual work ‘Incantation’/ Hechizo which
has been featured in various international festivals.
She has worked in theatre, radio and film. Mad has
also been part of The Poetry Brothel cast since 2013
as a poet and performer.
Mad Pirvan
United Kingdom/ Romania
153

POETRY FILMS
The Passage of the Horses
A video poem about the passage of horses.
Desirée Jung
Canada
desireejung.com
154

Tremella Radio is a community online station based in Copenhagen,
independently and democratically self-run, serving as a platform for
community’s voices and conversations that matter, and making room
for activism, plays, podcasts and DJ sets, experimental sound projects,
audiopoems, talk shows and other earworms.
Having a literary focus, some of the shows included are the European Beat
Studies Network podcast, the International Centre for Women Playwrights,
Litteraturcentrum KVU, and of course, an hour every Sunday to listen to the
Poetic Phonotheque’s poetry recordings, sent from all over the planet.
WWW.TREMELLARADIO.EU

RIKKE WINKLER NILLSON

6.
ART: JELLY NET
BY RIKKE WINKLER NILSSON
ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
Privilege
Trees are not greedy.
They collaborate,
make just enough leaves.
Cheetahs are not greedy.
They don’t hunt
any more than necessary.
I am not greedy.
I just don’t know the difference
between need and want.
Michael Favala Goldman
United States
158

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
The Future Question
Tread
and by treading
we will expand
and by proliferating
we will accelerate
and with this speed
we will compete
and with this voracity
we will possess
and from these resources
we will devour
and after this destruction
we will question
the meaning of dust
and the purpose of ash.
Pablo Saborío
Costa Rica-Denmark
159

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
What is grass?
There’s a god in the grass
and it tells us our purpose
which is to tear it all up, bit by bit.
All day we take our communion.
We inhabit a holy carpet.
There’s a voice in the trees
and a drone in the sky. To eat,
to sleep, to stand and try to die
is our purgatory. It’s easy enough
to say it – ‘weather’ is a verb.
We go along with rituals.
We entertain possibilities.
Dust rises. Fresh grass. We know
where we are going and will go
in our time – unless pushed.
We are held. We are patient.
The operation is tolerated.
Resistance is offered – otherwise
it would be obvious. We are
handled. We struggle. We dig in.
There is a thing we learn and
it comes to us naturally.
Soon
we return freely to the green
of our eyes, of our minds
and lower our heads to it.
We understand how to suffer –
maggots, blindness, foot rot, worms,
loneliness, yes, and mastitis.
We are, despite it all, used
to it all and its violence.
Jack Thacker
United Kingdom
160

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
A delightful misunderstanding
I never thought about
the particles that don’t come out of
power plants and automobiles
it was an astounding place
full of wonder, magic, and exquisite personal style
I was delighted by the decorations and the way i
was treated
and the people i was travelling with were also
delighted
I had been using my hydrating lotion for normal skin
types
but when i set off for home for christmas
to visit my family, i immediately noticed that my skin
was again getting irritated
I never thought about cosmetic pollution
the particles that don’t come
from power plants and
automobiles
Cristian Forte
Argentina
161

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
Going to the Well
Three wells,
as in a fairytale;
the first well is dry,
the second well is dry,
the third well is dry.
A woman asks if there is a well committee
someone to tell us where the water went.
We are thirsty then,
desperate for a drink.
A woman climbs down into the well
begins to dig with an old tin cup.
We wait for a trickle
some hint of moisture to wet our lips
with whatever cure is here.
She holds it up,
we lean forward to see
but in the cup there is only money.
Lani O’Hanlon
Ireland
162

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
Return
At the end, you handed me an apricot,
originally from Asia, after Plinius.
A thousand years later,
I smashed stone with stone
on the block’s stairwell.
The words leaned, arbitrarily,
to the left.
A thousand years later still,
flowers blossom before leaves -
the only gesture in a city
extinct.
Simona Nastac
United Kingdom
163

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
The woods
It’s very still here today.
No saws rumble today,
no harvester whines,
there’s no one here. Not even trees.
Can anyone spot an animal anywhere?
No. No animals tread here.
It’s long since any beasts have prowled this place,
not even werewolves.
Only the forest.
In this forest,
there’s not even wind.
This forest doesn’t rustle.
No twigs snap,
no leaves fall, no splintered trunks squawk,
not a single bird sings anywhere.
This is an Estonian forest.
Listen to the sound of silence.
Listen in silence.
Listen to the way it softly whines,
to the way
it whimpers,
to the way it wishes to say something but can’t,
to the way it buzzes like a mosquito.
Listen to the booming of silence.
The rustling of silence.
It haunts you.
Haunting silence.
Haunt, golden beast.
Hasso Krull
Estonia
Translated into English by
Adam Cullen
164

ENVIRONMENTAL POETRY
I dreamt I was
watching a disaster film
I bought popcorn and picked my seat
– slightly left of center –
No one had brought a kid along:
Anyway, this wasn’t real.
Close up: a Mumbai track shoe factory,
a child worker.
He’s learned Math, the English
alphabet,
this world and the third world,
the bleeding of his fingers a red pen
correcting his worth.
The frozen river, in its bottomless
depths
completes its burial rites.
Wide shot: the scorching winds blow, carrying
resounding farts from corn-fed cattle.
At this moment, someone called out:
This is blatantly an art house film!
This storyline is so dreary—
You’re killing me here.
The film drew to a close, a hundred years had
passed.
Production credits began their crawl. We slowly
departed.
Everyone seemed immensely satisfied
That their names appeared right at the end.
Un Sio San
Macao
Translated into English by
Jeremy Tiang
165

166
RIKKE WINKLER NILLSON

Kulturhuset Islands Brygge
Islands Brygge 18, 2300 Kbh S
kulturhusetislandsbrygge.kk.dk