National Poetry Month in April was incredibly busy this year, with the launch of nine new City Poems Project poetry videos, as well as an online screening of last year’s poetry videos at REELpoetry Houston 2024, plus the inclusion of a program of 14 poetry videos from last year’s City Poems Project with the Mount Pleasant Community Arts Screen (MPCAS)!
NEW SITE-BASED POETRY VIDEOS
The brand new batch of 9 site-based poetry videos were produced with Professor Kate Hennessy’s SFU IAT 344 class this term. You can watch all nine of them on the VPL YouTube Playlist here. Despite the wrap-up of the 2023 poetry video contest, Kate had enjoyed the challenge and structure it offered, and wanted to dive in once again. I couldn’t say no to the opportunity to have more site-based poetry videos created by her talented students. Thank you to the terrific local poets who gave permission for their poems to be turned into poetry videos and who were consulted by the students. These are the new site-based poems the students could choose from:
“Lost Lagoon” from Flint and Feather by E. Pauline Johnson, an iconic Mohawk poet from Six Nations who lived in Vancouver and is buried in Stanley Park.
“Gravity, Gravitas” from Falsework by Gary Geddes, about the Second Narrows bridge disaster in 1958.
“Take a St. And” from Undercurrent by Rita Wong about the St. George Greenway and local lost streams
“Ad hominem” from With/holding by Chantal Gibson about the colonial legacy of explorer Simon Fraser, whose name adorns several institutions and buildings around the City of Vancouver.
“Our Punjabi Market” by Kuldip Gill, about a vibrant neighbourhood in East Vancouver. This poem and many more can be found in A Verse Map of Vancouver edited by George McWhirter.
Last fall, Vancouver’s historic cemetery, Mountain View Cemetery, commissioned another poetry video, “Found” (based on a poem of the same title, “Found” by James Wang that was submitted to the City Poems Contest Stage 1) for the annual All Souls event there October 25-November 1, 2023. The poem is about the unknown Chinese workers buried there long ago. The poet worked with videographer Analee Weinberger to produce a lovely meditative poetry video that integrates archival photographs.
MOUNT PLEASANT COMMUNITY ARTS SCREEN
MPCAS curator, Alger Ji-Liang chose 14 of last year’s poetry videos for screening as part of a special program (Poet Laureate’s City Poems Project) which will be shown three times every weekday alongside other programming for the next 12 months until March 2025. The screen is located on the southwest side of Kingsway at East Broadway opposite Kingsgate Mall. (Screening schedule here.) We held a celebratory Watch Party (with popcorn and doughnuts!) at the grunt gallery with students, teachers and poets to celebrate this momentous event.
OTHER SCREENINGS
I also want to congratulate all those student poetry teams and poets whose poetry videos have been selected for screening elsewhere–either in town or at festivals around the world! Here are some of the places where they’ve been selected for screening, with more possible selections for festivals to come:
- Chinatown Storytelling Centre: animated ECUAD poetry video, “Contrasts” based on a poem by Donna Seto selected for rotational screening
- Aotearoa Poetry Video Festival 2023 (Wellington, New Zealand): animated ECUAD poetry video, “This was meant to be for Nora” was screened and won best student poetry video
- Cadence Poetry Video Festival 2024 (Seattle): ECUAD’s animated poetry video,”This was meant to be for Nora” and SFU IAT 344’s “Postcard Home from English Bay” selected for online screening
- Duemila30 Festival 2023 (Milan, Italy): first year ECUAD team’s poetry video, “What do I remember of the evacuation?” was shortlisted for this festival for young filmmakers focused on sustainable development and social inclusion.
- Canadian Roots Exchange 2023: UBC FNIS 454 video, “Know who you are, know where you come from” selected as one of 8 videos screened in Banff, Alberta for a national Indigenous-led youth organization.
- Other festivals: Vivian Li’s poetry video, “The Garden” has been selected for screening at the Whistler Film Festival (Whistler, BC), Bloomsday Film Festival (Dublin, Ireland), So Limitless and Free International Film Festival (Montreal, QC, Award-winner), and Poetry Film Festival (LA, USA).
COLLABORATION WITH VANCOUVER HERITAGE FOUNDATION
One of the purposes of the City Poems Project was to provide resources for elementary, secondary and post-secondary instructors who wish to teach their students about Vancouver’s historical, cultural and ecological sites, as well as about poetry generally. It’s wonderful that the Vancouver Heritage Foundation is interested in including a list of several of the poetry videos in its Heritage Study Guide for Teachers! Long live City Poems Project poetry videos!