Bristol Literary Film Festival – Frame to Frames, Cancer Alley and an exciting diverse programme
BRISTOL LITERARY FILM FESTIVAL
I am really pleased to be part of the newly launched Bristol Literary Film Festival this year. It will also be nice to catch up with Lucy English again, who is presenting the important and timely ecopoetry film Cancer Alley from Outlier Moving Pictures (Pamela Falkenberg and Jack Cochran). I will be promoting the Frame to Frames : Your Eyes Follow bilingual, ekphrastic poetry anthology (and prize) alongside examples from its QR-linked screening.
This is the fifth stop on the book tour for Frame to Frames (FOTOGENIA, Mexico City, MX; REELpoetry, Houston, USA; Weimar Poetry Film Festival, Weimar, GER; Leeds Trinity College, Leeds, UK, and next month will be Maldito videopoetry festival in Albacete, Spain.) I will include some of the films that were inspired by the painting Huapango Torero by Mexican artist Ana Segovia (including winning film Love Spell Cast in Petals by Meriel Lland and Huapango Torero by Pam and Jack).
Bristol Literary Film Festival is the brainchild of Festival Director Anthea Page, sister of well-known, award-winning poetry filmmaker Diana Taylor. She was also previously Director of the widely comprehensive yet inviting Newlyn International Film Festival (where Lucy and I were jurors). She says that ‘running the Newlyn IFF definitely helped in my decision to run a new festival in Bristol’ and in terms of its unique title she comments ‘I believe that we are the first ever to combine a literary and film festival in Bristol!’.
Not only can she boast this accolade, but the festival also supports St Peter’s Hospice ‘I have been involved with raising funds for St Peter’s Hospice for the last couple of years.’ Their website encapsulates the wonderful work they do:
‘St Peter’s Hospice is a local charity that provides care and support to adults who are living with a progressive life-limiting illness in the Bristol, South Gloucestershire and North Somerset area. We have been established for over 40 years with the majority of our support provided in people’s homes. People receiving our care have a wide range of conditions, including cancer, heart failure, lung disease and neurological illness. Support is focused around the physical, psychological, social and spiritual issues that can arise as a result of serious illness, in order to improve the quality of a person’s life. Everyone is unique, and we provide support with that in mind.’
Rather like Newlyn there are lots of interesting aspects to this festival: not only International Poetry Films but also documentaries including Colin Thomas’ ‘Dead Man Talking’ about Thomas Hardy and his methods of research, and Zennor Spirit of Place from the fascinating book by Bob Osborne with film by Diana Taylor (a perfect creative partnership).
In light of Anthea’s support of the Hospice, I am also looking forward to hearing presentations on subjects shedding light on how we respond to life-threatening illness, such as Tumorous Testicles Just Say Cancer by Afsheen Panjalizadeh, and also Martin Smith’s presentation Matters of Life and Death. Also, the extraordinary film presentation by Juliet Butler of the book The Less You Know the Sounder you Sleep, the true story of conjoined Russian twins, Masha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova. There also will be an interesting book presentation by Susie Parr on Henleaze Lake (a swimmer’s paradise) and fascinating highlights from Bristol Film and Video Society (1934 to 2024). Attendants also have the opportunity to socialise and take part in a writers’ forum and learn about Creative Writing for Wellbeing, or catch up with Bristol Poets at the Festival Café. I guarantee this will be a lovely gathering with much to discover!
Frame to Frames : Your Eyes Follow / Cuadro a Cuadros : Tus Ojos Siguen is published by Poem Film Editions via liberated words.com/store
or see top right of Home Screen.