Had a lovely conversation with Sou from Rabbit Heart poetry film festival in the USA near Boston - Mr Sky is a finalist in the best Valentine and so a finalist for the best film in the festival. Hand on heart no thoughts about winning at all but really pleased it has been recognised and very very pleased for whoever actually wins - but Lucy and I both have a soft spot for this film.

Night Bus

A conversation on a night bus in the UK. Set against the dawn sky, a refugee attempts to forget the memories that he has left behind, and value love and the relative safety of his new life. The fourth in the series of poetry films on light and time, with Mr Sky, Solstice Sol Invictus and Summer Solstice.

Night Bus was premiered at the windswept, inspiring and unforgettable North Cornwall Book Festival (centred around the ancient church of St Endellion which apparently, according to poet Sir John Betjeman CBE, keeps praying when the congregation have left). It was part of the Uprooted screening, which featured films on the refugee crisis: set in war zones, in transition and building a new life in a strange country. Many thanks to the festival creator, talented novelist craftsman Patrick Gale for having the vision to host the screening. He not only constructs fine details within the pages of a book, but also made sure that every aspect of the event was memorable for everyone: audience, writers, artists and musicians alike.

If you have the chance to get there next October you will be transported both in landscape: rugged rocks and horizontal straggling trees, right near Port Isaac and crashing Atlantic waves, but also into the imaginations of many of our best novelists. A real escape and if you are lucky dramatic, transporting weather too!

My last film for the mammoth Book of Hours project by Lucy English, and one of the last to be made. It is the only film where she features and she says she really loves it - I hope everyone does. Part of the light and time series (including Mr Sky, Solstice Sol Invictus and Night Bus, it is a celebration of colour and sound as much as sun.

Very, very good news.  Solstice Sol Invictus selected for Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2018!! Poetry by Lucy English and myself - title and first verse by me and Lucy speaks her second verse herself.  Evocative voices by Helmie Stil, Lucy and a bit of me - see films to check it out.
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Bokeh yeah, Filmpoem and The Poetry Society present an evening of poem film in Fujairah UAE
 
About the organisations involved
           
The Poetry Society
The Poetry Society is the leading poetry organisation in the UK. For over a hundred years we’ve been a lively and passionate source of energy and ideas, opening up and promoting poetry to an ever-growing community of people. 

Our work ranges from publishing leading international poetry magazine The Poetry Review and hosting acclaimed national poetry competitions, to developing educational work and commissioning a packed calendar of performances and readings. We’re on a mission to connect people to the transformative power of poetry. 

Become a member of The Poetry Society today and you’ll join thousands of other people making a deeper connection with poetry and the poetry world. Full membership includes subscription to The Poetry Review and Poetry News, regular e-bulletins and even more poetry advice, offers and discounts: including access to our nationwide network of Stanza poetry groups.
 
The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition
Established in 1978, The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition is one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious poetry contests. Winners include both established and emerging poets, and for many the prize has proved an important career milestone. The roll-call of winners includes the current UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Tony Harrison, Ruth Padel, Jo Shapcott, Colette Bryce and Philip Gross.

The Poetry Society opens up further opportunities for all winning and commended poets each year, including invitations to read at events and festivals around the UK plus ongoing support and recognition in the years ahead. Recent winners had their poems adapted into filmpoems, shown at festivals in the UK and Europe.
 
Filmpoem 
Filmpoem is an artists’ moving image project founded by British artist Alastair Cook in 2010, committed to delivering education and community projects as well as promoting the work of poets, filmmakers and composers. Filmpoem regularly collaborates with organisations such as the Poetry Society, Poetry International and Southbank. 

Filmpoem works with The Poetry Society to commission 10 filmmakers each year to adapt The Poetry Society’s National Poetry Competition poems and deliver these new works. This year’s batch being premiered at The Poetry Society’s new venue in London UK in October and also shown at Depot in Lewes, East Sussex UK.


 
 
Bokeh Yeah!
Established in Manchester UK 2011, by Filmmaker and Educator Adele Myers, Bokeh Yeah! was founded to bring together emerging filmmakers, interested in developing their skills through sharing sessions, workshops, and collaborative opportunities. The group was administrated voluntarily and offers free peer-to-peer training to those who attend. As a community training and networking organisation, Bokeh Yeah! is dedicated to enabling talent to flourish.
 
The group explores the various processes of filmmaking and teaches technical skills such as camera operation, sound editing, lighting and much more. It hosts demonstrations of filming equipment, inviting industry professionals to present to the group and offer advice and guidance. It also showcases films made with DSLR cameras, and co-ordinates challenges to create short films in a variety of genres.
 
Over the years, Bokeh Yeah! Has encourages a variety of members to  create through structured challenges. The numerous short films ranging from poem-film adaptations to music videos have been exhibited in festivals across the world. The group’s skill sharing ethos has been demonstrated internationally at TIFAZ & Unfold Arcadia Zimbabwe and the Dimensions Arts Centre Chongqing, Sichuan Province China. Currently through Myers’ work in UAE the ideas will continue to be developed and film made in Fujairah UAE.
 
Past collaborations with Dimensions Arts Centre Chongqing, TIFAZ & Unfold Arcadia Zimbabwe, HOME UK, Manchester Literature Festival UK, Comma Press UK, Single Cell Collective UK, Manchester Craft and Design Centre UK, KinoFilm UK and Three Minute Theatre UK, all have helped emerging filmmaking talent to create short films. These organisations have offered assistance in multiple ways - providing venues for example, or via instructional talks, helping to nurture the peer-to-peer educational ethos of the group. Furthermore, some of the films created have screened at film festivals around the world including Zebra Poem Film Festival Berlin, Norway, Poland, Portugal and South Africa. ( A festival list can be provided on request ).
 
 
 

 
COME ALONG TO THESE EVENTS!
 

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My Eyes Like Rays: National Poetry Competition Filmpoem screening & poetry reading
Friday 13 October 2017, 7:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Adaptation, interpretation or illustration – how to convert a poetic image to a filmic one? Filmmakers translating the latest National Poetry Competition-winning poems into visual form answer the question with a swirling charcoal animation, a tableau of Lego men and a choreography of dancers and fallen leaves.
Filmpoem makers James William Norton, Helmie Stil and Sarah Tremlett will screen all ten NPC films at the Poetry Café this October. National Poetry Competition commended poets Sam Harvey and Laura Scott will bring the poetry – join them all for a lively reflection on the filmpoem-making process.
 
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Tickets are selling, but any more sales would be welcome, of course. Here is the Facebook link for the eventhttps://www.facebook.com/events/1565838386805628/ and here is the ticket-buying link http://poetrysociety.org.uk/event/my-eyes-like-rays-reflections-on-filmpoems/ - if you could continue to share those around, that would be most useful, thank you.
 
 
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Please could you arrive for 7pm, and we’ll start the event at 7.30pm. For those of you who have not been here before, this is where we are http://poetrysociety.org.uk/poetry-society-information/contact-us/ - the nearest tube station is Covent Garden.
 
 
FILMPOEM FESTIVAL
 
Details from organizer and sublime filmmaker Helmi Stil
 
‘The NPC films will be shown on the big screen on Saturday the 28th of October at Depot cinema in Lewes, East Sussex. There also are some amazing spoken word poets who will perform at the festival: Salena Godden, Ross Sutherland, Matt Abbott and many more.
 
I (Helmi) created a trailer mainly out of your beautiful NPC footage to promote the festival. Original music by composer Lennert Busch.’
 You can watch the trailer, see the full festival programme and you can book some tickets here:
https://lewesdepot.org/whats-on/live-events