Samuel Beckett: Silence to Silence(1987)

Sono Guido e non Guido(it)

Posted by: İlhan Sami Çomak(tr)

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.

Even Today He’d Speak His Mind(de)

Documentary about the German poet Erich Weinert.

Bukowski: The Last Straw(en)

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

Me To Play(en)

As their bodies give way to Parkinson's disease, two New York actors put their hearts into one final Off-Broadway production of Beckett's "Endgame," the play that posits, "there's nothing funnier than unhappiness."

Merton: A Film Biography(en)

In his lifetime, Thomas Merton was hailed as a prophet and censured for his outspoken social criticism. For nearly 27 years he was a monk of the austere Trappist order, where he became an eloquent spiritual writer and mystic as well as an anti-war advocate and witness to peace. Merton: A Film Biography provides the first comprehensive look at this remarkable 20th century religious philosopher who wrote, in addition to his immensely popular autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, over 60 books on some of the most pressing social issues of our time, some of which are excerpted here. Merton offers an engaging profile of a man whose presence in the world touched millions of people and whose words and thoughts continue to have a profound impact and relevance today.

Great Poets: In Their Own Words(en)

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

Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man, Celebrated Writer(en)

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.

Something About Halfdan(da)

A moving portrait of one of the most loved and read Danish poets, Halfdan Rasmussen. The film covers both the early years with poverty and wartime on to success and the humorous nonsense verses that has made Rasmussen one of the most read authors in Denmark.

The Orphan’s Kaddish(fr)

An elderly man is working tirelessly to revive the Jewish world lost in the Holocaust. His name is Aharon Appelfeld, and he became one of the greatest Jewish writers of our time. Every day, through his murmuring voice and handwriting, the survivors, the children of Ukraine, the peasants of Yiddishland come alive in the tiny office of a Jerusalem apartment. Aharon Appelfeld, solitary, wants to fight this battle to his last breath.

Albert Camus, la tragédie du bonheur(fr)

Who's Afraid of Kathy Acker?(en)

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.

This Is How a Child Becomes a Poet(fr)

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

Leopardi. The Infinity Poet(it)

Showcases the life of Giacomo Leopardi, an Italian poet known for his melancholic verses on fleeting happiness, existentialism, and human suffering.

Waiting for Beckett(en)

Biography and in-depth look of Beckett and his work.

Van Morrison: One Irish Rover(en)

One Irish Rover, a documentary focusing on the words and music of Van Morrison, was broadcast in 1991 on BBC 2 Arena TV special and on A&E cable television program. It is a series of live songs with commentary by Morrison about music and poetry, it has some truly amazing performances. It includes the footage of Morrison and Dylan in Greece, Georgie Fame at Ronnie Scott’s, John Lee Hooker, The Chieftains and Danish Radio Big Band.

Henry Miller Is Not Dead(en)

In this artistic exploration of the life and work of writer Henry Miller, filmmaker Joe Kishton skillfully weaves clips of films and interviews of Miller with the music of Laurie Anderson. From Miller himself we hear of his difficult relationship with his parents, and of his need to create, even (or especially) when his message abrades social mores.

Nobody(es)

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.

Deargdhúil: Anatomy of Passion(ga)

This was a labour of love combining the work of some incredible artists to bring Máire Mhac an tSaoi’s poetry into the medium of film. Deargdhúil: Anatomy of Passion explores the life, work and sensual poetic imagination of the revolutionary Irish poet Máire Mhac an tSaoi. Born in 1922, her story is set against a backdrop of a tumultuous century in Irish history in which she and her family were centrally involved. At a time when women's voices were being silenced, the native tradition in the Irish language was her stage to explore the depths of female sexuality and experience without shame. Featuring the movement poetry of performance artist Maureen Fleming, interview by Louis de Paor, poetry voiced by Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, autobiography script voiced by Olwen Fouéré.

Check the Gate: Putting Beckett on Film(en)

Follows the "Beckett on Film" project, which produced film adaptations of Samuel Beckett's nineteen plays.