Poetry and cinema have always had a great deal in common – visual storytelling, use of metaphor, emphasis on pace and rhythm, and the search for a lean, pared down artistic language. This free festival celebrated the creative possibilities of cross-fertilisation between poetery and film, including poetic cinema, cine-poems and poetry films.

Hosted by the Centre, the festival included a keynote address on 'Poetry and Chernoby’ by ecologist and poet Mario Petrucci, four times winner of the London Writers competition. The festival also featured:

• A multimedia poetry performance by Zoe Skoulding and Alan Holmes;
• A film screening of Dal/Yma by Marc and Evans;
• A discussion panel with Mark Reid (BFI) and Fil Ieropolos (Buckinghamshire University);
• Workshops for children and young people; and
• The launch of Continental Drift, a poetry feature film.

Further AWEN events were held at Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre throughout 2009. These included screenings, film introductions, Q&As, poetry readings and discussions.

AWEN was sponsored by: Chapter Arts Centre, Academi, the British Film Institute, and the Film Agency for Wales. 

Download a copy of the AWEN programme.