The Walker Art Center, in downtown Minneapolis, dimmed its Cinema’s lights to roll its 6th annual reveal of Motionpoems newest films. Its name is pretty self-explanatory; Motionpoems brings two art mediums together to give breath to contemporary poetry in short film format.
mediums together to give breath to contemporary poetry in short film format. The nonprofit organization MotionPoems INC. was co-founded by poet Todd Boss and filmmaker Angella Kassube in 2008 here in Minneapolis. On their website MotionPoems explains what they do by saying “We give dynamite poems to dynamite filmmakers ... and step back!” The end product is dynamite. This year’s collection of poems was told as narratives over filmmaker’s interpretation. Film interpretations ranged from a girl petting a dead deer in a black room and lying down next to it, while a poem about afterlife was being read, to a literal film about a mother’s protective nature against a coming tornado, to an animated dog being sent to space by his owners, all three were visual stunning and represented the thought provoking poems in unique ways.
protective nature against a coming tornado, to an animated dog being sent to space by his owners, all three were visual stunning and represented the thought provoking poems in unique ways.
In my opinion the one that took the cake was Sarah Blake’s poem “A Day at the Mall Reminds Me of America” with film by Ayse Altinock. Blake’s poem takes us through a journey of a pregnant woman wondering at the mall if she will have a daughter and if “Kayne knows that these girls [teenage Americans] are experimenting.” Blake expresses concern over the life of the American teenage girl. While the poem is being read Altinock takes us on a side story of a sister the writer mentions early in the poem. The young teenage girl is your average American youth with a best friend, a trip through the mall, and boy, dead, in a wardrobe in her secret clubhouse. Altinock, who is Turkish born, said she wanted mystery and love to be shown in her film because it’s what she thinks of when she thinks of “The American teenage girl.”
Overall, this year’s entries were fantastic, some haunting and spectacular. Is it too soon to say I can’t wait to see what they have next year?
To learn more about MotionPoems and see previous years films go to : http://www.motionpoems.com/
And to see my particular favorite “A Day at the Mall Reminds Me of America” by Sarah Blake and film by Ayse Altinock visti Altinock’s website: http://www.aysealtinok.com/