These 3 filmpoems are a further collaboration between visual artist Wendy Pye and poet Maria Jastrzębska. They arose from a continuation project of the Polish-led cross-arts project, Snow Q. Snow Q’s aim was to re-imagine Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen story exploring contemporary themes of migration, exile, sexuality, gender, social isolation and loneliness.

Maria Jastrzębska’s poems were written in the voices of Crow, a multilingual, timeless trickster, migrant and crone, and Gerda and Kai two young, non-binary identifying young people. The poems include ‘Ponglish’ – a hybrid language of Polish and English. Wendy Pye responded to Maria’s poems and directed and edited the films, using a combination of her own video material with archive footage. Composer Peter Copley wrote the music and Dagmara Rudkin contributed visual art for Lullaby and Crow.

 

This project was funded by The Arts Council England

Maria Jastrzębska’s poem is written in the voice of a Crow, a multilingual, timeless trickster, migrant and crone whom responds to the protagonist of “The Snow Queen,” Gerda (and to anyone else who will listen!) who has asked for help in the quest to find her friend Kai, lost in the snow and ice. The poem includes ‘Ponglish’ – a hybrid language of Polish and English.

The poem is read by actor Rita Suszek and was highly commended in the Forward Prize 2019.