Went to see “Deaf Jam” this evening (and no, I don’t mean Def Jam), a documentary about a young Israeli woman, Aneta Brodski. Aneta is deaf, lives in New York and makes poetry with American Sign Language. Worth catching (if you’re in Wellington that is – more about the Documentary Film Festival here). Seeing poetry performed as a visual language was very cool – all about making shapes and stories with your hands. The film also shows her writing and performing in collaboration with a hearing Palestinian poet Tahani Salah. Well worth getting along to (2 more shows in Wellies). Local poets entertained us with a live reading beforehand.
There are two other poetry-themed films in the festival: “We are Poets“, about young slam poets from Leeds in the UK who compete in the international slam poetry competition in the US, and “Lemon” about Lemon Anderson, a poet, actor and ex-con who grew up in New York, and was over here for the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival recently.
In lieu of a Tuesday poem, here’s a link to Aneta Brodsky and Tahani Salah performing.
3 comments
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22 May, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Michelle Elvy
Wonderful! Must check out this film. Thanks for posting this — looks very worthwhile. I love the idea of poetry moving like this, with the hands and whole body.
22 May, 2012 at 9:58 pm
gurglewords
If I hadn’t seen it I would never have imagined how good it would be. so much energy and expression in the interpretation of the words. Wow!
9 June, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Harvey
Thanks for telling me about the film, Janis. I’ll keep an eye out for this at the video store during the holidays.