WHAT IS A FILMIC BROADSIDE?

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Modern poetry broadsides are rooted in the tradition of illuminated

manuscripts produced during medieval times. In those days, monks would

copy important text in black or even gold ink between ruled lines on

sheets of vellum paper. These were then given to other monks for

proofreading. They would then add titles in blue or red ink and pass the

pages on to illustrators who would add images, color, and the requisite

gold illumination. High demand for these manuscripts led to the need for

more scribes. By the fifteenth century, cloistered nuns were producing

these manuscripts. The work was long and tedious, carried out in the

silence of rooms lit only by narrow windows, cold in winter and sultry

in summer.

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The invention of the printing press brought all this to an end. But the

tradition survived.

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In modern times, independent printers create broadsides. Poems are

designed and printed on paper, often hand-made, with small silkscreen

presses. These prints are collectible, frequently in numbered editions.

In this way, like an illuminated manuscript, the poem becomes a material

thing to be touched and seen, engaging the senses.

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In this tradition, “Documentary on Mourning” uses film as a new

broadside medium to illuminate four poems by Stellasue Lee: “No Heart

Can Be Hidden in the Ground,” “Between Life and Loss,” “A New Heart in

Heaven,” and “Dusting.” It is, in effect, a filmic broadside, the

marriage of visual, oral, and literary art to create an immersive poetry

experience.

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