THE leading poet and dramatist Tony Harrison is to appear in Edinburgh ahead of a season of his rarely shown film poems.
On 19 November, Harrison will take part in a live event at the Edinburgh Filmhouse with long-time collaborator, the filmmaker Peter Symes.
The duo will discuss the making of their films and their themes: class, war, and how Greek mythology can inform our understanding of Europe’s past and present.
'Film poems' are documentary or experimental films where poems replace commentaries.
The season of films, which were all originally produced for the BBC and Channel 4 and date back to the 1980s and 1990s, have been rarely screened since broadcast.
The retrospective brings together Harrison’s short films into three programmes plus there will be a screening of Prometheus, a full-length film directed by Harrison himself in 1998.
The season includes Harrison’s controversial V.
Originally screened in October 1987 on Channel 4, V was attacked in press for its ‘torrents of obscene language’ and ‘streams of four-letter filth’.
Peter Symes said: "I am thrilled that there is a season of Tony Harrison’s film poetry, most of which has only been seen once.
"It will offer everyone the chance to reassess and enjoy his innovative and powerful contribution to the genre, and hopefully may lead to the work becoming more easily available."
The season of Tony Harrison’s film poems is curated by David McLachlan in partnership with the Scottish Poetry Library and Edinburgh Filmhouse.
Harrison was born in Leeds in 1937.
His collections of poetry include The Loiners, which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1972, V, which was made into a film in 1987, winning the Royal Television Society Award, and The Gaze of the Gorgon, which won the Whitbread Poetry Prize in 1992.
Harrison has written for the National Theatre, the New York Metropolitan Opera, the BBC and Channel 4.
www.spl.org.uk
THE Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has signed a new deal with CinemaLive which will broadcast the show to audiences in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The one-off broadcasts will be available to residents in the country’s biggest cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver and Auckland.
Canadian screenings take place on 28 October, 4 and 7 November at almost 50 cinemas across the country and then in more than 150 Southern Hemisphere cinemas on 24 and 25 November.
Audiences will see this year’s ‘The Sky’s the Limit’ themed show including international performances from Malawi and Oman to the Czech Republic and the USA, as well as the Massed Pipes and Drums and the Tattoo Dance Company.
Lynsey Fusco, head of marketing at the Tattoo, said: "Our research tells us that despite ever-increasing international ticket buyers to our Edinburgh event, there is still a huge demand for the Tattoo overseas.
"We are listening to our audiences and taking the show to them."
www.edintattoo.co.uk
SCOTTISH Youth Dance (YDance) has been short-listed in the Inspirational Work in Education category in the One Dance UK Awards this year.
The panel for the annual awards reviewed over 800 nominations to shortlist three nominees in each of the 23 categories.
Anna Kenrick, artistic director of YDance said: "Education work is at the heart of what we do at YDance as we strive to ensure all children in Scotland have access to high quality dance in their schools and communities.
"Dance not only develops creativity, confidence, mental and physical health, it also allows children to understand the world they live in and understand themselves. It is crucial to the education of our next generation. We are delighted to be nominated and recognised for the work we are doing in Scotland and the UK.”
The final winners will be announced on 24 November.
YDance is core funded by Creative Scotland.
www.ydance.org.
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