Frame to Frames: Your Eyes Follow – finalists, PROGRAMME and judges for the poetry film prize in LYRA 2022
LYRA 2022 is fast approaching and the theme this year is Breaking Boundaries: New Worlds. On 3rd April at the historical location of the SS Great Britain (in a theatre not the ship itself!) Helen Dewbery of Elephant’s Footprint will be curating a selection of poetry films on the festival theme. Her artists are: Carolyn Guinzio, Diek Grobler, Dariia Kuzmych, Tom Stockley, Eduardo Yague and Shirley Camia. I will be showing the selected films for the Ekphrastic Poetry Film Prize ‘Frame to Frames: Your Eyes Follow’. Please see POETRY FILM PROGRAMME HERE.
The finalists for Frame to Frames: Your Eyes Follow are:
Marc Neys & H.K. Hummel, Marc Zegans and Peg Simone, Colm Scully & Margaret Creedon, Jutta Pryor & Lois P. Jones, and Eve Kalugin, with an additional film by myself (not in the contest!). The winner will be announced at the live screening.
I would like to take this opportunity to announce the fantastic judges for the ekphrastic poetry film prize. I am so pleased that they have taken on this onerous but rewarding task. A heartfelt thanks to all of you.
ANNA SAUNDERS
Gloucestershire poet, Anna Saunders. Picture by Clint Randall www.pixelprphotography.co.uk
Anna Saunders has been described as ‘a poet who surely can do anything’ by The North, ‘a modern mythmaker’ by Paul Stephenson, and Tears in the Fence said of her ‘Anna Saunders’ poetry is reminiscent of Plath – with all its alpha achievement and radiance’.
She is the author of Communion, (Wild Conversations Press), Struck, (Pindrop Press) Kissing the She Bear(Wild Conversations Press), Burne Jones and the Fox (Indigo Dreams), and Ghosting for Beginners (Indigo Dreams). Anna’s new book is Feverfew (Indigo Dreams). The collection has been described as ‘rich with obsession, sensuousness and potency’ by Ben Ray, and as ‘a beautiful and necessary collection’ by Penny Shuttle. She is also the Executive Director of Cheltenham Poetry Festival and works as a creative writing tutor and mentor, communications specialist, journalist, broadcaster and copywriter/editor.
Anna is often inspired by painting in her poetry and Burne Jones and the Fox was made into a poetry film by Diana Taylor of Redcliffe Films.
CHARLES OLSEN
Charles Olsen (Aotearoa New Zealand, 1969) moved to Spain in 2003 drawn by his interest in Velasquez and to study flamenco guitar. His paintings have been exhibited in Madrid, Barcelona, Oporto, Paris, Wellington and the Saatchi Gallery, London. His short film The dance of the brushes won second prize in the I Flamenco Short Film Festival, Madrid, 2010, and he has published the poetry collections Sr Citizen (2011) and Antípodas (2018). His poems and translations are included in NZ Poetry Yearbook, Landfall, Cordite Poetry Review, Blackmail Press and Neke. Charles contributed two essays, Poetry Film in Portugal and Spain, and Poetic Sound to ‘The Poetics of Poetry Film’ (Intellect Books 2021) and his essay, Poetry and Film in Colombia, is included in The London Magazine, 2021.
In 2017 he was awarded the XIII distinction Poetas de Otros Mundos by the Fondo Poético Internacional and he received the III Antonio Machado Poetry Fellowship of Segovia and Soria in 2018. Together with poet Lilián Pallares, flamenco pianist Pablo Rubén Maldonado and flamenco dancer Selene Muñoz, he created the performance Agita Flamenco which was presented in the New Zealand pavilion of the Venice Biennale in 2011 and the Sala Manuel de Falla of the SGAE, Madrid, 2012. Charles and Lilián direct the audiovisual producer antenablue ‘the observed word’ and their poetry films have been included in international festivals and featured in Moving Poems, Poetry Film Live and Atticus Review. Their collaborative Māori language film Noho Mai, won Best Poetry Film in the 8th Ó Bhéal International Poetry Film Festival, Cork.
Charles Olsen in Segovia, 2018. Photo Lilian Pallares.
MARY MCDONALD
Mary McDonald is a Canadian writer and multimedia artist whose work explores word through sound, image, and movement. McDonald’s multidisciplinary practice encompasses text, photography, poetry film, music and immersive sound, interactive AR (augmented reality) installations, and community participatory arts projects. Her poetry films and AR installations have been exhibited widely in Canada and internationally. McDonald’s poetry film and AR installation, On the Margin of History was awarded first prize in Digital and Performative Multimedia Art at Arts 2019, Surrey City Art Gallery, BC, Canada.
Mary McDonald
Mixing the Arts
The prize will be announced on the 3rd of April at the screening. This is an annual prize so submissions that have missed the deadline for this screening will be held over for next year. I am VERY EXCITED to find out who has won!
FREE admission with tickets available at https://www.lyrafest.com/#events/e72158
