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Special Award 2023

Art Visuals & Poetry Film Festival 2023

17th of November 2023, 18:00
Location: Factory in the Künstlerhaus, Am Karlsplatz 5, 1010 Vienna

Festival poet Manfred Chobot

Festival poem "la luna"

 

2023 the festival has launched a poetry film competition based on the festival poem "la luna" by Viennese poet Manfred Chobot. The poem was provided in a sound studio recording with an English translation by Mark Kanak.

Seven selected interpretations of "la luna" will be shown in this competition block. They come from England, Ireland, Japan and Cyprus. The film prize is endowed with 500 Euros and will be awarded by the festival's film jury.

 

Moderation: Sigrun Höllrigl

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la luna
UK | 2023 | 2:38 min
Director: Janet Lees
Poet: Manfred Chobot

Poetry film based on the poem 'la luna' by Manfred Chobot, voiced here by Christian Reiner. Translation by Mark Kanak.

La Luna
JP | 2023 | 2:55 min
Director: POETAQ
Poet: Manfred Chobot

The theme of this poem is 'peace.' When we look at the boundary between the east and west, or north and south, in the craters of the moon, we, as Earthlings, reflect upon the folly of 'dividing ourselves.' Boundaries (rivers) often overflow, yet the place to return to is ultimately the nurturing ocean. Romulus and Remus were also nurtured by the same mother. That mother is the 'moon,' under which they can rest in tranquility. This could be described as a serene anti-war poem.

La Luna (The Moon)
IE | 2023 | 2:01 min
Director: Colm Scully
Poet: Manfred Chobot

 

An interpretation of the poem by Manfred Chobot.

La Luna
CY | 2023 | 1:55 min
Director: Eleana Theophilou
Poet: Manfred Chobot

 

A filmic exploration of the poem "La Luna" by Manfred Chobot.

 

 

 

 

La Luna
UK | 2023 | 14:56 min
Director: Malcom Barrett
Poet: Manfred Chobot

La Luna is a reflection on cultural and sociological differences and explores this through the words by Manfred Chobot using the River Po and its Greek mythology filtered through Roman culture. The visual content though doesn’t use the river Po but largely an English river system that in its own small way reflects the events and qualities of the Po. The film has five sections including the introduction that opens the sequences, after which the sequences are entered with Germanic words and then closed by English words. The film starts with the spoken reading of the poem against a huge body of water (sea). Not particularly the sea mentioned towards the end of the poem but that of Oceanus which Selene (or Luna) rises from. There are also gender identifications such as Selene (or Luna) being female and sister to her brother Sol (sun or Helios). Night and day, dark and light. The rivers, such as the Po and Danube are also male, born from the earth which is female (Gaius). As Selene (or Luna) ages, she becomes personified and divides, so that one aspect of Artemis (or Diana) is that she is represented as the person of ‘three ways’, represented in the film by both bright moon images, and a dark disc which is the pathway to Hades but also by Diana of the hunt. The moon re-appears at the end, Romulas and Remus, as the Po returns to the sea, the two apparent sources ending with two principal discharges into the sea. The film ends with a return to land covered in mist and unknowing.

 

La Luna
UK | 2023 | 2:05 min
Director: Diana Taylor
Poet: Manfred Chobot

 

The moon passes over the earth observes all the conflicts and the harmony and influences us in our sleep.

 

 

 

 

 

LunO
CY | 2023 | 13:38 min
Director: Michael-Angelos Englezos
Poet: Manfred Chobot


We have interpreted Manfred Chobot’s poem “La Luna” as commentary on the inherent divide expressed in the philosophical and religious modes and mores of Western civilisations. This divide is expressed as opposing poles of “mind-matter” ,“ideal-pragmatic” and even as a schism between “god-human” or even “man-woman”. The film highlights the similarities between apparent opposing forces and stresses the desperate attempt for reconciliation of said opposites – all while conveniently ignoring the out-in-the-open secret of their true and unshakable unity.

 

 

 

 

English
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Festival poem by Manfred Chobot translated

Translation by Mark Kanak

 

 

 

 

 

la luna

 

when you comb through my undergrowth

the hunters blow their horn

and raise their mugs

for the moon is within reach

with a western and an

eastern half and a crater in between

could be that it’s splitting

to the north and to the south

therefore no discourse may break

from the fence the strife

we sow elsewhere

it’s more appropriate to bend rather

than break the post

for the north speaks a plain

drained by a river

that always overflows its banks

raised by a god

pouring into fertility

swallowed by the sea in mouths

po and po

twins like romulus and remus

who formed one sex

po suckled by two teats and po

touching the cheeks of the moon

dissolved dreamlessly

and peacefully

in slumber

 

 


Download of the sound recording of "la luna" under Creative Commons. Speaker is Christian Reiner

 

The festival poem "la luna" 2023 was written by Viennese poet Manfred Chobot. It was published by Deuticke Verlag in 2000. However, the rights to the poem currently returned to the author. Manfred Chobot makes the poem "la luna" available free of charge as part of a cooperation. We as a festival have commissioned translator Mark Kanak to translate the poem to allow for international contest submissions and distribution world-wide. The Art Visuals & Poetry Festival Film Festival provides the filmmakers with the poem rights in German, as well as the rights to the sound recording, and additionally the rights to the English translation under Creative Commons free of charge as part of the poetry film competition. Further submissions of the produced poetry film after "la luna" to other festivals are also possible without restrictions and worldwide. Please mention the participating artists in the end credits: Poem Manfred Chobot. Translation Mark Kanak. Speaker Christian Reiner.

 

 

MANFRED CHOBOT was born in Vienna in 1947. He is a freelance writer and poet who now lives in Illmitz (Burgenland), Vienna and Corralejo (Fuerteventura). In his works Chobot deals with current affairs and cultural fringe phenomena. He is a board member of the Graz Authors' Assembly, the European writers' association Kogge and IG-AutorInnen, as well as a member of the literary circle Podium. In 1971 he and his wife opened the Yppen Gallery, later renamed the Chobot Gallery. With his picture poems he participated in photo exhibitions in Austria, Germany and France. As a founder, freelancer, publisher and editor, the author has worked for radio, television, theater, publishing houses and magazines. He participates in international literary festivals, readings and congresses. His work has earned him numerous awards and grants. In 2019, he was awarded the Golden Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna. Chobot's works appear in Spanish, French, English, Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Hindi, Bangla, Slovenian, Dutch, and Lithuanian.

Other awards: 2003 Honorary Doctorate of Literature from WAAC (World Academy of Arts and Culture), 2006 Literature Prize of the Province of Burgenland, 2007 BEWAG Literature Prize, 2017 Kathak Literary Award, Dhaka / Bangladesh, 2022 Laureate of the Burgenland Foundation Theodor Kery. http://www.chobot.at

 

MARK KANAK, author, translator, radioplay artist, lives in Berlin.  Prose/poems (German and English) in journals, etc. Numerous translations into English (Serner, Brinkmann, Rühm, etc.). Most recently published: Walter Serner's "Last Loosening: A Handbook for the Con Artist and Those Who Aspire to Become One (2020, Twisted Spoon), Blixa Bargeld: Europa Crosswise (2022, Contra Mundum Press).  His radioplay "Tollhaus" (starring Blixa Bargeld) was nominated for Radio Play of the Year at the German Record Critics' Award (Wortkunst) and Best Radio Play (German Audio Book Award).

 

 

 

 

English
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Poem "la luna" by Manfred Chobot

 

la luna

 

wenn du mein unterholz durchforstest

blasen die jäger ins horn

und heben die becher

denn der mond ist zum greifen nahe

mit einer westlichen und einer

östlichen hälfte dazwischen ein krater

mag sein er halbiert sich

nach norden und nach süden

deswegen mag kein diskurs

vom zaune brechen den zwist

säen wir anderswohin

es ist angebrachter den pfosten

zu biegen als zu brechen

für den norden spricht eine ebene

entwässert von einem fluss

der allemal über seine ufer tritt

aufgebracht von einem gott

sich ergießt in fruchtbarkeit

vom meer in mündern verschluckt

po und po

zwillinge gleich romulus und remus

die ein geschlecht errichteten

po von zwei zitzen gesäugt und po

berührend die backen des mondes um sich

traumlos aufzulösen und friedfertig

verschlafen

 

 

The poem "la luna" was first published in 2000 within the poetry collection "römische elegien" by Manfred Chobot at Deuticke Verlag (Vienna). Manfred Chobot´s poem is translated into English for dubbing and subtitles. The sound file is available for download under Creative Commons free of charge for the poetry film competition. The rights for "la luna" are nowadays held by Manfred Chobot, the publisher does not exist any longer. The copyright declaration can be downloaded here  for documentation. Note for filming: Please mention the translator Mark Kanak, the speaker Christian Reiner and the poet Manfred Chobot in the end credits of your poetry film.

 

Download link of the sound recording of the poem read by actor Christian Reiner

 

MANFRED CHOBOT was born in Vienna in 1947. He is a freelance writer and poet who now lives in Illmitz (Burgenland), Vienna and Corralejo (Fuerteventura). In his works Chobot deals with current affairs and cultural fringe phenomena. He is a board member of the Graz Authors' Assembly, the European writers' association Kogge and IG-AutorInnen, as well as a member of the literary circle Podium. In 1971 he and his wife opened the Yppen Gallery, later renamed the Chobot Gallery. With his picture poems he participated in photo exhibitions in Austria, Germany and France. As a founder, freelancer, publisher and editor, the author has worked for radio, television, theater, publishing houses and magazines. He participates in international literary festivals, readings and congresses. His work has earned him numerous awards and grants. In 2019, he was awarded the Golden Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna. Chobot's works appear in Spanish, French, English, Slovak, Czech, Polish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Hindi, Bangla, Slovenian, Dutch, and Lithuanian.

Other awards: 2003 Honorary Doctorate of Literature from WAAC (World Academy of Arts and Culture), 2006 Literature Prize of the Province of Burgenland, 2007 BEWAG Literature Prize, 2017 Kathak Literary Award, Dhaka / Bangladesh, 2022 Laureate of the Burgenland Foundation Theodor Kery.
 

 

 

 

English

Festival poet 2021 Antonio Fian (Austria)

The 2021 festival poet of the Art Visuals & Poetry Film Festival is the Carinthian writer Antonio Fian, who lives in Vienna. He is very well known domestically for his satirical columns in the Austrian daily newspaper Der Standard. The following festival poem "ruhwunsch" by Antonio Fian is to be filmed in very different ways around the world as part of a poetry film competition called SPECIAL AWARD

 

 

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