Filmpoem is an artists’ moving image project founded by Alastair Cook. We deliver cultural projects and promote the work of poets, filmmakers and composers. Filmpoem has been commissioned by cultural organisations such as Southbank, Poetry International, Poetry Society, Scottish Poetry Library, Alchemy, Antwerpen Boekenstad, Poëziecentrum and Haus für Poesie.
“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 text sparking the imagination with visual connections and metaphor.” – Alastair Cook, Anon 7
Filmpoem’s current core team comprises editor and director Alastair Cook, electro-acoustic composer Luca Nasciuti and cinematographer James William Norton. We are based in the United Kingdom of Words, travel well and are open to commission. The full archive of Alastair's poetry-film is held by the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Life Breath Songs
Òrain Beò-analach is a three film cycle from the People’s Poem project supported by the Scottish Government and driven by the Makar, Kathleen Jamie Commissioned by the Scottish Poetry Library, the triptych is called “The Life Breath Songs – toward a nature poem, written by the people of Scotland”, and is curated and arranged by […] read more

My Heart Always Goes Back to the North
My Heart Always Goes Back to the North is a three poem cycle of work by Hugh MacDiarmid – Perfect, In the Hedgeback and My Heart Always Goes Back to the North. Each is interlinked, overlaid and yet distinct. Directed and edited by Alastair Cook, with cinematography from James W Norton, Filmpoem commissioned celebrated musician […] read more

Filmpoem 60 The Sword
Olav H. Hauge was one of Norway’s most prominent poets in the post-war period. An apple grower by trade, his poetry was rooted in home in Ulvik where he lived and farmed – he pursued a broader knowledge through extensive reading. His collections have been published in twenty-five languages and a museum in his honour […] read more
All images and films are copyright Alastair Cook 2023 unless expressly indicated otherwise.