Frame of Mind: Reel Poets

This week, Frame of Mind takes your brain on an excursion into the mind-bending world of poetic film.

Frame of Mind airs on Thursdays at 10 pm.

The characters, filming methods, and content are all a hop-skip-and-a-jump away from the ordinary. From Richard Bailey’s quirky takes on questing and Texas storytelling to a memorial of an influential Texas artist, this episode will expand your understanding of the power and breadth of the visual arts.

Bart Weiss, director of Dallas VideoFest and curator of this episode, says the things you will see in this episode are not what you will see on regular television. And that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be.

“The thing that is really helpful to an audience is to adjust your expectations as you’re watching the films,” says Bart. “If you’re like, ‘What happens next?’ you’re never going to be satisfied, but if you change your expectations…then the experience can be much richer.”

The genre these films fall into is called poetic film. Poetry, as defined by Russian Formalist critic, Roman Jakobson is “organized violence against ordinary speech.” Poetic film can be understood in the same way, as measured departure from ordinary film. To understand and appreciate these films, take on this perspective and suspend the assumption that film must subscribe to one formula.