Billy Wilder Theater

Innovative filmmakers searching for new cinematic forms have frequently turned to poetry as a source of inspiration and to poets themselves as collaborators. In the 1960s and 70s, in particular, especially with respect to the Beat poets, it became clear that poetry and avant-garde film, both together and in parallel, had achieved a major evolution of visual and written language which continues to fuel popular and artistic culture today. As the UCLA campus welcomes the 2010 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the Archive presents two nights of films exploring the intersection of mid-century poets and filmmakers and the casual, humorous and often rigorous cross-pollinization between these artists of the page and screen.

Anyone with a Filmforum membership card can get two tickets for the price of one to either of these screenings, only available at the door, not in advance.

Advance purchase and full notes:

http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/public/calendar/calendar_f.html

Program curated by Timoleon Wilkins.

SATURDAY, APRIL 24 7:30 PM

ROBERT FROST: A LOVER’S QUARREL WITH THE WORLD (1963, 35mm, b/w, 52 min.)
DIR: Shirley Clarke.

Shirley Clarke’s Academy Award-winning portrait of Robert Frost captures the warmth and humor of the incomparable American poet through a verité cinematic language that rises to meet the colloquial power of his work. Whether sharing his philosophy to an audience at Sarah Lawrence College or reflecting on his career at home in Ripton, Vermont, Frost exudes a captivating love of life and art.

Preceded by
PORTRAIT OF THE POET AS JAMES BROUGHTON, PART ONE

(1974-1980, 16mm, color, 40 min.)
DIR: John Luther Schofill. 

Initially intended as a simple portrait of Broughton, Schofill's magnum opus became a six year undertaking, employing a dense array of layered imagery and sound in an inspired study of Broughton's vision and spirit.

TRT: 92 minutes