Uprooted 2018–20 touring screening
Uprooted is a curation by Sarah Tremlett on poetry films created on migration and the refugee crisis. It had a small tour of the South West, where the inaugural screening was at North Cornwall Book Festival in October, 2018, followed by Bath Spa University Empathy conference in November and Lyra Poetry Festival, Bristol, April, 2019. Joining forces with Canadian multimedia artist Mary McDonald Uprooted was also shown in the USA at Reelpoetry, Houston, 2020. Here we also included Mary’s beautifully executed and deeply poignant poetry film On the Margin of History with Serbian poet Natasha Boskic and Syrian poet Mohamad Kebbewar.
It begins with an interpretation of the poem ‘The Damascene Collar of the Dove’ from The Butterfly’s Burden (2007) by Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine, 1941–2008) by filmmaker Waref Abu Quba (Syria).
Each event interleaved live poetry with the screening of the poetry films, in different and powerful ways. Houston was particularly memorable for the poets chosen and their responses to the films.
Uprooted for LYRA programme
The aim of the curation was to show how artists can provide a different, more empathetic view
than is portrayed in the media. We have films from artists such as: Ghayath Almadhoun and Marie
Silkeberg, Jan Baeke, Alfred Marseille, Maciej Piatek and poet Hollie McNish.
Please get in touch if you would like to host a screening at your festival.
‘Wonderful’ Patrick Gale, North Cornwall Book Festival. ‘Thought provoking and so many different types of film’; ‘Really revealing’; ‘We really support what you are doing’; ‘Powerful – and giving artists a voice’ ‘How do you make poetry films?’ The films generated a big response; the audience all cheered at Holly McNish’s film: Mathematics. www.liberatedwords.com
