Musings Of Another Writer

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Special post for World Poetry Day

inVERSE

poetry.reimagined

FIVE OF THE WORLDS OLDEST POEMS REIMAGINED FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

inversefilm.uk | @inversefilm | inversefilms

For yesterday is but a dream,

And tomorrow is only a vision.

But today, well lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness.

And every tomorrow

A vision of hope.

Salutation to the Dawn by Kālidāsa (attributed) - India, c.400 CE

Launching on World Poetry Day on 21st March 2021, inVERSEis a collection of five of the world’s oldest surviving poems re-imagined for the 21st century through the medium of film, by the award-winning film maker Jack Jewers.

Each film takes an ancient poem as a prism through which to explore the world today. With historical poems ranging from the 1st Century Italy to 1500 BCE Mesopotamia, these five shortfilms explore time and the human condition using the language of the ancients and the modern film making techniques of the 21st century. In celebration of humanity’s long relationship withpoetry on World Poetry Day, these five films are a reminder thatin these troubled modern times, poetry still has the ability tosooth and inspire.

Far from being dry, remote echoes of a long-gone age, each poem chosen for the collection feels like it could have been written yesterday. And why shouldn’t they? People are people. Our dreams are nothing new. Our ancestors had the same hopes and fears that we do. And if we can understand this, perhaps it helps to put some of the problems of our modern world into perspective.

The five films being released to mark World Poetry Day on Sunday 21st March are:

• Love Song - An Egyptian love poem written in 1400 BCE reveals a meditation on the meaning of relationship and gender in 2021.

• Long Wall - A poem about loss and suffering from the Han Dynasty in China, opens up a conversation about Europe’s refugee crisis.

• My Heart - Originating from ancient Mesopotamia, “My Heart Flutters Hastily” is a delightful reminder that those giddy, dizzy feelings you can get when you really like somebody are nothing new.

• The Look - A first century poem taken from Ovid’s Ars Amarosa is reimagined as a celebration of inclusivity and tolerance.

• The Dawn - The ancient Indian poet Kālidāsa’s Salutation to the Dawn transforms into a rallying cry for a better tomorrow led by young street protestors.

All five of the films are available free to watch via the inverse website inversefilm.uk.

ABOUT THE FILMS

Love Song

Based on the poem The Flower Song Anon. Egypt, c.1400 BCE. (Abridged).

Watch here: https://inversefilm.uk/watch/love-song

A timeless declaration of love and desire, this poem feels as fresh today as it did when it was written – a long, long time ago. The imagery is strikingly sensual; how the narrator describes the sound of their true love’s voice as being like the taste of sweet wine; or wishing they were her very her clothes, so that they could forever be close to her body. It’s passionate, erotic, and quite beautiful

Production Notes: None of the couples you see in the film had met before they came into the studio on the bright, spring day on which it was filmed – with one exception. The older couple are Alfred and Leila Hoffman, who were 92 and 83 at the time of filming, who have been together for over 60 years. The velvet-voiced narration is provided by Adam Roche, host of the Secret History of Hollywood podcast – required listening for all classic movie fans.

Long Wall

Based on the poem He Waters His Horse By A Breach in the Long Wall Anon. China, c.120 BCE

Watch here: https://inversefilm.uk/watch/long-wall

Jack Jewers says: The first time I read this anonymous poem – dating from the Han Dynasty in China, sometime around 120BCE – I was blown away by its age. How can a poem this rich and vivid be so old? The idea for this whole series of films grew from there. The poem conveys such poignant feelings of separation and loss that it seemed to be perfectly suited to a tale of refugees, far from home.

Production Notes: The refugee crisis is close to actress Sophia Eleni’s heart. Her mother fled the war in Cyprus in the mid-1970s, Most of the footage that ends the film was donated by the charity Refugee Rescue, who undertake tireless work saving desperate people at sea.

My Heart

Based on the poem My Heart Flutters Hastily Anon. Mesopotamia, c.1500 BCE

Watch here: https://inversefilm.uk/watch/my-heart

Originating from ancient Mesopotamia, “My Heart Flutters Hastily” is a delightful reminder that those giddy, dizzy feelings you can get when you really like somebody are nothing new. Whether it’s in a world of dating apps and socially-distancedlove, or from a time that feels unimaginably distant, people have been falling in love the same way forever.

Production Notes: inVERSE started life in a world before anyone had ever heard the word ‘Covid’ and lockdown was something to do with home security. So when the world ground to a half in the spring of 2020, Jack had to find alternative ways of finishing the project. Working with Los Angeles-based actress Joanne Chew, Jack devised a method of directing over Zoom while she recorded the takes on her phone, as selfies. The result is the lightest of the five films, and the sweetest.

The Look

Based on the poem Take Care With How You Look from Ars Amarosa by Ovid. Italy, 1st Century CE. (Abridged).

Watch here: https://inversefilm.uk/watch/the-look

The Romans knew how to have a good time. The Look is an abridged version of ‘Take Care With How You Look,’ a chapter from Ars Amarosa (“The Art of Love”), by the poet Ovid. Its themes of rejecting false nostalgia about the past, and embracing the richness of the modern age, sounded to me like a celebration of inclusivity and tolerance. Of course, Ovid was writing about a very different age to our own, but the message holds as true today as it always has been. And what more fabulous harbingers this message than Drag Queens United?

Production Notes: This is the only INSIGHT short that was put together from found footage, rather than filmed specially for the series. The lovely, colourful, joyous shots of Drag Queens United were taken at Amsterdam Pride in 2017.

The Dawn

Based on the poem Salutation to the Dawn by Kālidāsa(attributed) - India, c.400 CE

Watch here: https://inversefilm.uk/watch/the-dawn

Considered the greatest poet of ancient India, Kālidāsa is a founding figure of world literature. And yet, a lot of mystery surrounds Kālidāsa. Some scholars even question whether he was a real person, suggesting instead that his work a kind of collected greatest hits of the ancient Sanskrit world. And perhaps it's appropriate that such an inspiring poem was written by a semi-mythical figure. It sounds to me like a rallying cry for a better tomorrow. And who better to get that across than young street protestors?

Production Notes: ‘Bullet time’ is an effect that makes objects and people look like they are frozen in thin air. Creating true bullet time requires two things we did not have – time and money. So instead, Jack took a low-fi approach. Aside from a few simple computer-generated touches to enhance the overall effect, everything you see is done for real. The protestors are all professional dancers, who had the strength and balance necessary to be able to keep still for extended periods of time – often in difficult and uncomfortable poses.

ABOUT THE POEMS

The five poems that the have been reimagined for a 21st century audience are:

• The Flower Song Anon. Egypt, c.1400 BCE. (Abridged).

• He Waters His Horse By A Breach in the Long WallAnon. China, c.120 BCE

• My Heart Flutters Hastily Anon. Mesopotamia, c.1500 BCE

• Take Care With How You Look from Ars Amarosa by Ovid. Italy, 1st Century CE. (Abridged).

• Salutation to the Dawn by Kālidāsa (attributed) - India, c.400 CE

You can read all five poems on the inverse website here: https://inversefilm.uk/the-poems

PRESS ENQUIRIES

For all press enquiries please contact:

Bei Guo at Midas on bei.guo@midaspr.co.uk or 07704501242

Tory Lyne Pirkis at Midas on tory.lyne-pirkis@midaspr.co.uk or 07765503053.

ABOUT JACK JEWERS

Jack Jewers is a filmmaker and writer. Passionate about telling stories in all media, his body of work crosses film, TV, and digital. His short films and web series have been shown in and out of competition at dozens of film and web festivals, including Cannes, New York, Washington D.C., Marseille, Dublin, and London’s FrightFest.

In 2014 he developed and directed Night School, a web series based on the popular young adult novels of the same name. It quickly grew from a couple of low-budget short films to become one of the highest-profile British web series to date. Jack’s numerous short films as director include the critically-acclaimed Shalom Kabul, a dark comedy based on the true story of the last two Jews of Afghanistan.

Jack has won several accolades for his film work, including an award from the Royal Television Society and a nomination for Best Short Film by BAFTA Wales. He has been invited to speak about his work at several major film and TV industry events, including Series Mania in Paris. Jack has also worked in advertising.

Through his production company, Queen Anne’s Revenge, Jack is currently in development on the fantasy TV series Whatever After, featuring Jessica Brown Findlay. He is also working on a small slate of feature film projects, including a thriller set in the international protest movement, entitled Generation Revolution.

Away from the cinema in all its forms, Jack has a deep interest in literature and history. He writes historical fiction, and is the co-founder of the publishing company Moonflower Books.

He lives near London with his wife, the author Christi Daugherty, a small menagerie of pets, and a friendly ghost. But that’s another story.

Film Credits

The Long Wall

Poem: He Waters His Horse By A Breach in the Long Wall Anon. China, c.120 BCE

Directed, Produced & Edited by: JACK JEWERS

Director of Photography TOM BLOUNT

Narrator: SOPHIA ELENI

VFX: LUKE RUSHWORTH | BIG YELLOW FEET

Colourist: PAUL FALLON

Makeup Artist: EMILY COLLINS

Camera Assistant: EMILY TAIT

Production Assistants: JUSTINE DUHART | SIMON HALL

Music: ‘Homecoming’ by Peter Broderick & MachinefabriekPublished by Erased Tapes Music

Love Song

Poem: The Flower Song Anon. Egypt, c.1400 BCE. (Abridged).

Directed, Produced & Edited by: JACK JEWERS

Director of Photography: TOM BLOUNT

Narrator: ADAM ROCHE

Colourist: PAUL FALLON

Camera Assistant: EMILY TAIT

Makeup Artist: EMILY COLLINS

Production Assistant: JUSTINE DUHART

Filmed at Mowlam Studios, Bethnal Green, London

My Heart

Directed, Produced & Edited by: JACK JEWERS

Actress: JOANNE CHEW

Music: “Flight As A Feather” by Simon Porter Performed by the English Session Orchestra Published by Audio Network

Take Care

Narrated, Edited & Produced by: JACK JEWERS

Director of Photography: GUILLAUME VERSTEEG

Used by kind permission of G3B Studios and the Queens Themselves

Music: ‘Lightly Drift’ by Helen Jane Long Published by Audio Network

The Dawn

Poem: Salutation to the Dawn by Kālidāsa (attributed) - India, c.400 CE

Directed, Produced & Edited by: JACK JEWERS

Director of Photography: TOM BLOUNT

Narrated by EMMA KNIEBE

The Protestors: YASMIN COGAN DE ABREU | CELESTINA BANJO | WILLIAM JOHN BANKS

VFX: LUKE RUSHWORTH | BIG YELLOW FEET

Colourist: PAUL FALLON

Makeup Artist: EMILY COLLINS

Camera Assistant: EMILY TAIT

Production Assistant: JUSTINE DUHART

Music: ‘Wake the Stars’ by Philip Guyler Published by Audio Network

Sunday, 14 March 2021

Review: Born Digital by Robert Wigley

This is the story of Generation Z, the so-called “Digital Natives” generation. They are the first to grow up with ‘smart’ technology (eg smartphones, wireless etc) and as such have experienced a life from birth that no previous generation has. This brings both blessings and huge potential problems.

Having written this during the pandemic, Wigley - whose CV reads like a Who’s Who of top financial and business positions - synthesises mounds of research about how living in an increasingly digital world can affect us, but specifically the generation who grew up knowing nothing else. From how using social media literally rewires our brains, to changing job markets, and what it means to live in an attention economy, Born Digital is a hugely important book to show us how the oligarchy of tech titans is impacting our world and how we need to be better informed to navigate it.

The book covers a huge amount - how we learn, how we date, how we empathise (or don’t), how we work, and so much more. It’s a brilliant example for the “forewarned is forearmed” concept - we won’t be likely to change the digitisation of the age but we can learn how to take our power back and make this technology work for us, rather than be exploited by it for a company’s bottom line.

I’d say this book is important for everyone to read, but particularly the people whose age range it explores. They are, the ones, who have never known life any other way and it’s important to know that social media in particular is designed to consume them.

Friday, 19 February 2021

Review: Ruthless Women by Melanie Blake

I read Melanie Blake's previous novel, "The Thunder Girls", and absolutely loved it. Again drawing from her extensive experience in the entertainment industry, Melanie constructs a fast paced, enthralling, sensual and explosive novel about the world of soap opera. It's a soap opera about a soap opera, if you will.

There are a lot - and I mean a lot - of characters to get your head around, so make sure you keep a bookmark by the cast list at the front of the book.

"Falcon Bay" is one of Britain's longest running soaps, but it is falling sharply in popularity. The showrunners know desperately that they need to do some major work to get them back on top.

Enter the new network owner - Madeline Kane. A glamourous, sharp, clever woman from America, she is there to ensure the show gets back on top. Her ideas include a live Christmas day show, a horrifying prospect logistically, but something that will certainly get everyone's tongues wagging - which is what the show needs.

There's not too much I can reveal without spoilers - the amount of twists and turns dropped throughout the novel are impressive and rather a lot to keep up with. However, I can guarantee that the dynamics of the characters, both on and off set, make it an entertaining and somewhat suspenseful read as it reaches the finale of the novel.

However, there is something I should add that is somewhat spoilery but I won't reveal the context of it. One of the characters is revealed to be a transwoman, which I was initially worried about as there are too many instances in which the state of someone's transition is the butt of a joke. However, Melanie handles this situation really well, and the reveal of the character's transition has valid reasoning. It is not treated unkindly - it is normalised.

If you are a fan of rom coms and soap operas, then this novel is perfect for you.

Sunday, 10 January 2021

Review: One Chance by Terroll Lewis

This is the remarkable true story of Terroll Lewis, a young man who grew up in Brixton, London, surrounded by drugs and gang culture. By the time he was fifteen, the reality of being stabbed, shot at, and involved in buying or selling drugs was completely normalised. He was able to live with his nan and granddad, who gave him a secure base but they had no idea about his gang life.

By the time he was 20, he'd seen and experienced more than most people would see in a lifetime, and he was barely out of his teens. The most gut-wrenching part of the book was when Terroll was accused of murdering one of his best friends, simply because at the crime scene there was another Black man of a similar build. During his time in prison, Terroll thought about what he could do to turn his life around, and make a difference in his community. He had unwittingly groomed the young people on his estate to be part of gang culture, and regretted it.

There is an important thing about gang culture which I learned from this book. Members are extremely loyal, clever, and protective of their blood and chosen family - traits that we all value. The violence and drugs are a part of it, of course, but what Terroll and his friends put first was their community.

It was this that Terroll chose to focus on what he was acquitted and released from jail. He founded a fitness class, which grew like wildfire, then got the funding he needed to start a gym. He used the opportunity to mentor young men in his community, and still continues to this day.

Another thing that I learned from this book is that there are too many communities who are left behind, too many children who have no idea of the opportunities that they can take advantage of, so they turn to what is at hand. It teaches the reader that there is so much more to what we can see in "gang culture". These are young men (primarily) with families and friends they want to protect, and society needs to invest in them so they can turn their energies to more positive things - exactly what Terroll Lewis was able to do.

"One Chance" is a fascinating, insightful, and ultimately uplifting story that will bring hope to anyone who reads it.

Friday, 18 December 2020

My Top Ten Books of 2020

In no particular order, they are:

1) Travellers in the Third Reich, Julia Boyd

2) Surge, Jay Bernard

3) Second Sister, Chan Ho-Kei

4) The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, Eva Rice

5) Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire (Akala)

6)) Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams

7) On The Come Up, Angie Thomas

8) The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

9) Saving Mona Lisa, Gerri Chanel

10) The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern

I hope you'll be able to check these out if you haven't already!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Becky :)

My Books of 2020

I've been lucky enough to read a great amount of books this year. A lot have been reviews by request, and the rest either I've wanted to read for ages or recommendations I've had from Twitter and Instagram. In a first for me, there are more non-fiction books on the list for this year than all my previous years of reviewing put together.

As close to chronological order of my reading them, they are below:

1) The Other You, S. J. Monroe

2) The Widows' Club, Amanda Brooke

3) Carbon Game, Miles Montague

4) Travellers in the Third Reich, Julia Boyd

5) The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, Ken Liu

6) Surge, Jay Bernard (poetry)

7) The Treadstone Resurrection, Joshua Hood

8) Second Sister, Chan Ho-Kei

9) LOT Stories, Bryan Washington

10) Everything Is Going To Be K.O, Kaiya Stone

11) Vagabonds, Hao Jingfang (Translated into English by Ken Liu)

12) The Queen's Choice, Anne O'Brien

13) Before I die, Jenny Downham

14) The Amber Keeper, Freda Lightfoot

15) The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets, Eva Rice

16) The Beekeeper of Aleppo, Cristy Lefteri

17) The Sideman, Caro Ramsay

18) The Beauty Chorus by Kate Lord Brown

19) Why I'm No Longer Talking To White People About Race, Renni Eddo-Lodge

20) White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo

21) Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire, Akala

22) How To Be An Antiracist, Dr Ibram X. Kendi

23) Brit(Ish), Afua Hirsch

24) Girl, Woman, Other, Bernadine Evaristo

25) Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams

26) On This Day In History, Dan Snow

27) Life On The Refrigerator Door, Alice Kuipers

28) Christmas Cakes & Mistletoe Nights, Carole Matthews

29) Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal

30) Sepulchre, Kate Mosse

31) Skincare, Caroline Hirons

32) The Hen Who Believed She Could Fly, Sun-Mi Hwang

33) Another Time, W. H. Auden

34) On Writing, Stephen King

35) The Call Of The Wild, Jack London

36) The Happy Prince and Other Stories, Oscar Wilde

37) The Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum

38) Rip Van Winkle and Other Stories, Washington Irving

39) Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

40) Through The Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

41) Normal People, Sally Rooney

42) The Railway Children, E. Nesbit

43) Robinson Crusoe, William Defoe

44) The Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

45) The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

46) A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett

47) The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

48) Hurting Distance, Sophie Hannah

49) On The Come Up, Angie Thomas

50) Playdate, Alex Dahl

51) The Englishman, David Gilman

52) The Puritan Princess, Miranda Malins

53) Set My Heart To Five, Simon Stephenson

54) CrimeDotCom, Geoff White

55) Son of Escobar, Roberto Sendoya Escobar

56) The Interpreter from Java, Alfred Birney

57) Even If We Break, Marieke Nijkamp

58) The Marriage of Innis Wilkson, Lauren H. Brandenburg

59) Psychiatrist In The Chair, Brendan Kelly and Muiris Houston

60) Number 10, C. J. Daugherty

61) Saving The World, Paola Diana

62) The Salt Path, Raynor Winn

63) My Sister’s Bones, Nuala Ellwood

64) The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

65) A God In Every Stone, Kamila Shamsie

66) Black and British, David Olusaga

67) Saving Mona Lisa, Gerri Chanel

68) Last Flight To Stalingrad, Graham Hurley

69) The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern

70) Kiss Me At Christmas, Susan Mallery

Lockdown and being on maternity leave has certainly helped with giving me lots of time to read! See the next blog post for my top ten.

Review: Saving The World by Paola Diana

This book almost breathes fire with how passionate it is. It’s a fantastic and fascinating exploration of gender equality that draws a line throughout history to show how the status of women has changed and somewhat progressed over time. However, as Paola explains, there is still a long way to go.

The brevity of this book and its whistle stop tour of different facets of the status of women and feminism make it a perfect introduction and primer for those interest in feminism and its history. The author presents her research and her opinions clearly and passionately and, while I didn’t agree with all of her opinions, it certainly gave me food for thought about why I hold the positions I do and how I can progress in my learning in this area.

One thing, however, seems for sure - if all women were respected and valued as powerful white men, the world would be in a much better position than it currently is.