I’m often asked by viewers or colleagues to define what poetry film is. For a long time, I would define it by explaining what it isn’t (it’s not a film about poetry, nor poets, etc.). Then I heard Bob Holman, an American poet, saying that there is no such thing as poetry film, but only different kinds of poetry: there is the spoken or performed poetry—the most ancient kind. The second type is written poetry, and even though it can be read aloud in public, it is more a text than a show.     The third kind is the filmed poem, or since the HD era, the Video Poem—a type of visual poetry. The basis for most video poems is written poetry, but for good video poems, the written words are only an inspiration. The words become part of a new poem created by the director. The video has a strong and complex relationship with the written poem, but it is no longer the same piece of art.

An essay I wrote about the genre of Poetry -film: Poetry and film can’t live together

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Young David

   Poetry film | 5 min. | 2005 | Based on a poem by Yehuda Amichai | Produced by Micha Shagrir

    :Watch the film

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דויד הצעיר from Avi Dabach on Vimeo.

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Nidon (Condemned)

Poetry film | 5 min. | 2011 | Based on a poem by Haim Lensky

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Zman (Time)

Poetry film | 3 min. | 2015 | Based on a poem by Mei-Tal Nadler | Music by Harold Robin

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Igra Rama

Poetry film | 3 min. | 2010 | Based on a poem by Tal Nitzan | Music by Anat Gutman

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Pond (Teich)

Poetry film | 5 min. | 2010 | Based on a poem by Monika Rinck | Music by Andre Feldhaus

The film was produced  at the Film-Workshop held during the 5th ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival, Berlin 2010

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Spring '82

Poetry film | 3 min. | 2009 | Based on a poem by T. Carmi | Acrobatics & Choreography  by Reenat Caidar