Guys Reading Poems

The idea of making a poetry film occurred to me after discovering my late grandmother's poetry collection. Not only did the poems themselves interest me, but equally important, my grandmother made notes in the margins about her life and how the people she knew and events she experienced connected to the lyrical metaphors of Edna St. Vincent Millay or the insight of Emily Dickinson. She circled or starred some poem titles...or stanzas within them. Sometimes a line was underlined with a corresponding note, "Reminds me of Jenny."

My grandmother grew up in a time and culture when emotional expression was not so commonplace. Reading poetry was a way for her to understand her own emotions. So each poem I discovered in her collection provided clues to a deeper understanding of my grandmother as a woman. That was the spark that made me decide to use poetry as cinematic "clues" to understand the psyche of our lead character in GUYS READING POEMS. It's worth noting that the film functions as one giant puzzle. Watch one piece and it may not make a lot of sense. But in the tradition of great mindbender films, when you have all the pieces, they come together in a satisfying and, hopefully, moving conclusion.

I feel compelled to pay tribute to three special artists who collaborated on the project. Cinematographer Michael Marius Pessah masterfully pulls off the neo-noir look of the film, while editor Patrick Kennelly discovered the rhythm not only of the poems, but of a fragmented human mind fumbling towards wholeness. And Joachim Horsley's score mournfully underscores a childish imagination forced into survival mode.

Thank you for your consideration.