ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival

The focus of this year's ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival is on the USA. Selected poetry films from this year's entries will present the current facets of the US film and poetry scene. Readings and performances complete the range of films at the festival cinema Schloßtheater in Münster, a scientific lecture on the Beat Generation provides exciting background knowledge.

What drove the early representatives of the beat generation to the medium of film?

How do international filmmakers take up the poems of the Beat Generation in their poetry films today? In her lecture "Beat & Picture: A flashback and flash forward to the poetic and cinematic activities of the Beat Generation", the specialist in American studies Dr. Martina Pfeiler invites us to take a closer look at the cinematic and lyrical heritage of the Beat Generation. The 90-minute lecture followed by a discussion will take place on Sunday, 30.9. at 1:30 p.m. in the Schloßtheater in Münster.

One programme is dedicated to the poet Spoon Jackson imprisoned in the USA: Rainer Komers' "The Spoon Film" portrays the black lyricist who was accused of murder at the age of 19 after a domestic confrontation. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after a questionable trial before a court with a purely white jury. In 1985 he took a poetics course at San Quentin State Prison and has been writing poetry ever since. Spoon Jackson will be heard in a live phone reading from Solano State Prison in Vacaville. Sunday, 30.9. at 3:30 p.m. in the Schloßtheater.

"I Come from the Fire City" by Daniel Daly

The live performance of Bas Böttcher and Wolf Hogekamp on Saturday, 29.9. at 10:00 p.m. in the Schloßtheater is called "Poetry Clip Gala". Bas Böttcher is one of the co-founders of the German spoken word scene and his texts are considered classics of contemporary stage poetry. He was described in the media as a "pop poetry pioneer" and compared to Jandl or Ringelnatz. Together with Wolf Hogekamp he released the first Poetry-Clip-DVD in 2005.

Analogous to the video clips that musicians use to stage their songs on film, the poetry clip is based on poetry. On Friday, 28 September at 10:30 p.m. at the Schloßtheater, ZEBRA will present a series of turbulent, funny and critical poetry clips - short films in which Spoken Word artists demonstrate their skills.

The festival is organized by Filmwerkstatt Münster in cooperation with Haus für Poesie, Berlin. It is supported by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Münster.