Anthology Film Archives

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PEOPLE’S POETRY GATHERING FILM FESTIVAL

October 24 – October 25

The People’s Poetry Gathering, founded as a biennial event in 1999 by City Lore and Poets House, with the Bowery Poetry Club joining soon after, assembles poets from New York City and beyond to pursue discourse, exchange, and cultural preservation through poetry. In 2026, as the U.S. marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Gathering returns to Lower Manhattan for the first time in twenty years. It will feature performances and workshops by an array of artists, including indigenous, folk, youth, and literary poets and musicians, as well as collaborations with iconic venues and restaurants, free writing workshops, and a POEMobile initiative that will visit all five boroughs projecting poems onto walls and buildings alongside live readings and music.

As part of the Festival, Anthology hosts a weekend of programs featuring films about poetry, including an encore screening of Alystyre Julian’s portrait of Anne Waldman, OUTRIDER (which we premiered in the spring of 2025); Chuck Smith’s FUGS FILM! (which has not been shown in NYC since its 2025 premiere at DOC NYC); Steven Zeitlin and Amanda Dargan’s IN THE MOMENT: WORLD POETRY DUELS AND IMPROVISATIONS; and Roland Legiardi-Laura’s AZUL (1988), a meditation on the legacy of Nicaraguan modernist poetry, shot on the battlefront with the Sandinista forces. Proceeding some of the films is AFTER BASHŌ, a series of animated poems by Bob Holman and Richard Levine.

These programs have been guest-programmed by Ram Devineni and Bob Holman, and are organized by and co-presented with City Lore and the Bowery Poetry Club. Special thanks to Joanna Kiernan and To Be Heard Foundation Inc.; Bob Holman (Bowery Poetry Club); Alystyre Julian; Richard Levine; Chuck Smith; Anne Waldman; and Steve Zeitlin & Sahar Muradi (City Lore).

Upcoming Screenings

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