Local students perform in slam poetry film
1
2
Two local college students are featured in a documentary, "Louder Than a Bomb," which is making its Massachusetts premiere next week at the Woods Hole Film Festival in Woods Hole.
Smith College junior Novana Venerable and Hampshire College junior Adam Gottlieb were among students from the four Chicago high school poetry teams that the film follows as they prepare for and compete in "Louder Than a Bomb: The Chicago Youth Poetry Festival," the world's largest youth slam. The event, now in its 10th year, features hundreds of participants, representing dozens of teams from Chicago, its suburbs, rural Illinois and northwest Indiana.
The film captures the lives of some of the student poets as they discover how important writing is in their world. While the topics they tackle are often deeply personal, what they put into their poems - and what they get out of them - is universal: the defining work of finding one's voice.
Venerable says slam poetry has been an important part of her life since she was a high school freshman. And while she says her competitive days may not last forever, writing and performing will always be a part of her life.
"Being able to participate in something like "Louder Than a Bomb" gives everyone the sense of community and world around them that is very hard to get elsewhere," Venerable said.
"Louder Than a Bomb" will be screened twice at Woods Hole, on Monday and Aug. 7. The same week, it will also be shown in New York City at the IFC Center, as part of the DocuWeeks Theatrical Documentary Showcase, which is designed to qualify films for Academy Award consideration.
For information, contact ltab@siskeljacobs.com.
