Filmpoem was founded by artist Alastair Cook in 2010 and is dedicated to the filming of words; based in the world festival capital of Edinburgh, Filmpoem has grown to become an international poetry, film, festival and workshop project. The combination of film and poetry is an attractive one. For the poet, perhaps a hope that the filmmaker will bring something to the poem: a new audience, a visual attraction, the laying of way markers; for the filmmaker, a fixed parameter to respond to, the power of a text sparking the imagination with visual connections and metaphor.
Liz Lochhead, Scotland’s National Poet, led a Filmpoem Workshop in Greenock, with twelve children from Greenock Boxing Club Scotland. I Prefer Both was written read and filmed by the chidren in under two hours! This film is made all the more wonderful by the fact that everyone gave their time to the community voluntarily, and […] read more
So, Filmpoem made a children’s workshop film with Southbank Centre for Poetry International – made with seven children from Love to Learn, a community which increases refugee children’s access to learning opportunities, this was a joy to make, loved it. With thanks to Bea Colley, Luca Nasciuti and Carolyn Jess-Cooke. Please do share, these kids […] read more
Filmpoem director Alastair Cook invited Makar Liz Lochhead, the National Poet of Scotland, to read three of Robert Burns’s poems and together with Italian composer Luca Nasciuti they have created three beautiful interpretations of some of Burns’s most loved works: A Man’s a Man for a’ That (above), Such a Parcel of Rogues in a […] read more
All images and films copyright Alastair Cook 2015 unless expressly indicated otherwise.
