Two art forms that continue to resonate on the Westside combined this past month in an affair crossing all genres and generations.
In April, Beyond Baroque in Venice hosted the third International Poetry Film Festival Los Angeles, dedicated to bringing poems to life through the visual medium. Ranging from student films to professional productions, various poems were used as scripts for filmmakers, creating their own short-form interpretations of the written works to a rousing reaction from the Beyond Baroque audience.
A panel of judges selected winners in the categories of Best Animation, Best Experimental, Best Narrative and Best Student film, showcasing the international flavor of the festival. Taking the Best Animation crown was France’s Cedric Lyrac for "How to Make a Portrait of a Bird," while Best Experimental went to Ukraine’s Anastasia Kirii for "My Beloved, Grey-Haired." The Best Student film was also an international entry, that being Germany’s Florian Schlotzhauer for "The Carousel." A home victory for the United States did come in the Best Narrative category, with Lourdes Figueroa and Peggy Peralta winning for "Las Marimacha Fragments."
Festival Founding Director Lynn Holley said that when entries start coming in from all over the world, "that’s when you know you have a film festival." Holley added that some films were based on classic poems, while others took extracted ideals from poems as the basis for a movie. The mix of filmmaking ability and poem interpretation made picking victors a pickle for Holley and other judges.
"Having done other film festivals, and having judged some very big film festivals in the nation, (poetry film) becomes actually more complicated than most other disciplines of filmmaking or poetry writing," Holley said. "It’s a challenge sometimes, (sometimes) the poem is great (but) the film’s not so great, (or the) poem is weak but we love the film … looking at entries, (we try) to find that good middle ground, and that’s difficult."
A veteran of the film festival ecosystem, Holley decided to start the poetry-focused festivities in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, originally slating it for online-only before finding Beyond Baroque as a partner venue. Working through the Film Freeway platform to select films each year, Holley wanted a focus on relation to "the environment around" where the film is screened, but eventually made room for a host of international entries.
Selecting just over 30 of the 100 submitted films in 2024, Holley feels like the right films were plucked for the competition, including the personal favorite category of animation.
"I think it’s the kid in all of us … there’s something about (animation) that we are all connected to," she said.
The night before the festival, Beyond Baroque held a special screening of "Life is a Saxophone," a documentary capturing the life of legendary poet Kamau Daáood and his 1984 live concert at Watts Towers Arts Center. Screened for the 40th anniversary of the film, the night included a panel discussion featuring musician Roberto Miguel Miranda and artist Gale Fulton Ross.
"It was very organic because it came from the area, it was actually perfect for that (kickoff) … it was important and highlighted an individual who is well-respected," Holley said.
Holley added that poetry itself continues to be in the fabric of the Westside because it is a "classic literary tool" that is "a wonderful way of looking at using words in a succinct manner to get an image." She pointed to the impact of Amanda Gorman, a former Beyond Baroque alum, and her poem reading during the 2021 inauguration of President Joe Biden as an example of the art form’s power.
"Everybody heard it, and they understood it, and it was much better than (when) someone (gets) up there and just reads something or (lectures)," Holley said.
For more information on the festival, and how to submit a film for the 2025 event, visitpoetryfilmfestival.org.
