Waiting for Beckett

Trudell

2005

A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels, spoken word performances, and politics.

Gravel In Her Gut and Spit In Her Eye

2005

Dorothy Johnson was a Western writer ahead of her time. Women saved men, heroes died unwept and unsung, whites lived with Indians and benefited from the experience. Three of her stories were made into films and many critics consider "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" to be the cornerstone of the modern western. This documentary looks back on Dorothy's life, and her place in history.

Bukowski: The Last Straw

2008

The Last Straw is a film documenting the very last live poetry reading given by Charles Bukowski at The Sweetwater, a music club in Redondo Beach, California on March 31, 1980

Great Poets: In Their Own Words

2014

A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from some of Britain's greatest poets.

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?

2007

Documentary tracing the extreme life of outlaw writer, performance artist and punk icon, Kathy Acker. Through animation, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments, director Barbara Caspar explores Acker's colorful history, from her well-heeled upbringing to her role as the scribe of society's fringe.

Autography

2004

A documentary that portrays not only the poet and painter Mario Cesariny but as well his life, his journey and his individuality.

Nobody

2017

Half blind and half deaf, ostraziced Cuban writer Rafael Alcides tries to finish his unpublished novels to discover that after several decades, the home made ink from the typewriter he used to write them has faded. The Cuban revolution as a love story and eventual deception is seen through the eyes of a man who is living an inner exile.

Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man, Celebrated Writer

2005

Ralph Ellison was an African-American writer and essayist, who's only novel Invisible Man (1953) gained a wide critical success. Ellison's ambitious journey from a childhood of hardship and poverty to celebrated African American writer is chronicled in this inspiring program through exclusive interviews and personal recollection.

Paul Robeson: 20th Century Renaissance Man, Entertainer & Activist

1994

Paul Robeson was a celebrated African-American Actor, Athlete, Singer, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist. Robeson's many achievements are chronicled in this program, ranging from playing with the NFL to graduating from Columbia Law School, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films to founding the American Crusade against Lynching as well as Council on African Affairs. Robeson was one of the most talented performers of his time and a dedicated humanitarian who ultimately sacrificed fame and fortune for what he believed in. His association with Leftist Politics during the era of the Cold War, and frequent denouncing of American political parties led to his eventual blacklisting with other prominent writers and artists during the McCarthy Era. His talents in all areas are remarkable, and his dedication to attaining a peaceful coexistence between all the people of the world is truly admirable.

This Is How a Child Becomes a Poet

2023

The last day of Patrizia Cavalli’s home. Before it’s all gone.

Sono Guido e non Guido

2016

Posted by: İlhan Sami Çomak

2016

The story puts İlhan Çomak at the center, even though he is not physically present in the film. It focuses on the 21 years that İlhan spent in prison and his family’s experience of those years without him. The narrative is constructed through the letters İlhan wrote and aims to describe his life, his emotions and longings. The film constructs İlhan’s history through a chronology in the prison but refrains from restricting it only to a “prisoner’s quest for justice”, and rather tells a story of the situations he finds himself in over the years and his emotions and their equivalents in life.

Das Schreiben und das Schweigen - Die Schriftstellerin Friederike Mayröcker

2008

After her first film about Friederike Mayröcker, filmmaker Carmen Tartarotti decided to make a second film about the poet 15 years later.

Colette, l'insoumise

2019

The incredible life of novelist, screenwriter, actress and nude dancer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954), who led her life to the beat, constantly reinventing herself through words, scandals and metamorphoses; a peasant woman who became an icon of the European Belle Époque; an artist who defied religion and social prejudices to live a hedonist existence worthy of her desires; a real woman who turned herself into a fictional character…

Even Today He’d Speak His Mind

1975

Documentary about the German poet Erich Weinert.