Bradford Inspired: Poetry Films

In 2021, during a time when the Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on communities in the region, BLF developed ‘Bradford Inspired’, to ensure those who have faced hardship during the pandemic were still able to access and enjoy festival events and activity.

As part of this programme, BLF commissioned a series of remarkable poets who bring a range of cultural and artistic perspectives to create new work that would both reflect on this unique moment in history and look ahead, in hope, to a brighter future.

The five film poems were created by poets and film makers located in the UK, Pakistan, New Zealand and New York. Each of the poets worked collaboratively with leading visual artists across a range of artforms to bring their words to life, creating a series of moving and inspirational poetry films which were shared with audiences and inspired discussion across the region and beyond.

The films are intended to underline how, regardless of our backgrounds, all of us were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and how we must move forward together. Collectively the film series offers audiences both a high-quality, online cultural experience, and the opportunity to explore themes of cohesion, empathy and community, and their relevance to people accessing the work both across the Bradford district and across international boundaries.

‘Two Blue Waves’ by Courtney Sina Meredith with Filmmaker Janet Lilo

‘Squib’ by Anthony Anaxagorou with Filmmaker One6th Animation Studio

‘When All of This is Over…’ by Polarbear with Filmmaker Louis Murrall

‘When All of This is Over…’ by Tehzeeb Hafi with Filmmakers Zain ul Abdeen & Sohabi Mugheera Siddiqui

‘Thrive’ by Mahogany L. Browne with Filmmaker Jive Poetic

Lapage Primary School Film Poetry

As an extension of the ‘When All of This is Over…’ series of film poems, throughout February and March 2021, 45 children from Years 3 and 4 at Lapage Primary School took part in a series of four digitally delivered poetry workshops, led by artist Kat Francois. Through the series of workshops, children developed ideas and content for a poem on themes of light, hope and inspiration, and which would imagine the world post-Covid-19, for them, their families and their communities. The workshops encouraged children to consider themes of their local areas and the wider city, community, and diversity and inclusion.

Children worked together to write the words of their poem, supported by Kat Francois, before reading the poem collectively and individually for audio recording, forming the basis of the film animation. The imagery and language choices of their poetry celebrated their local area and the wider Yorkshire region (Lister Park and Scarborough), the urban identity of the city, the joy of community experiences, and the city’s rich cultural heritage.