IN THE MOMENT: WORLD POETRY DUELS AND IMPROVISATIONS (2022)
Directed by Steven Zeitlin & Amanda Dargan
60 minutes
IN THE MOMENT features charismatic poets and musicians who are masters of the art of improvisation, dueling with one another and commenting on the meaning of these traditions and of life itself in improvised rhymes. The film introduces viewers to payadores, emboladores, decimistas, band bertsolari poets, as well as freestyle rap. The poets hail from Argentina, Canary Islands, Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Trinidad, the Basque region of Spain, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and the U.S. Preceded by: Richard Levine AFTER BASHŌ 2026, 8 min, DCP Twenty haikus by Bob Holman – written while he was following "A Narrow Path Into the Interior," the walk that Japan's National Poet, Matsuo Bashō, took in 1689 – are the starting point of this animated collaboration by filmmaker Richard Levine, musician Phillip Johnston, and poet Bob Holman. The poems originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine. Followed by Q & A with Steve Zeitlin and Amanda Dargan!