Renga(1989)

movie - first aired/released 1989-01-01 - 9 min

Directed by Alan Mukamal, Bud Lassiter, Dena Penniston, Eric Theise, Erik Anderson, Geoffrey Luck, John McGeehan, Kim Tempest, Kurt Easterwood, Laura Poitras, Nathaniel Dorsky, Paul Baker

“Renga is a linked-verse form of Japanese poetry that, though still practiced today, reached its peak between the 13th and 16th centuries. It is characterized by being a group composition, typically in the presence of judges and an audience, with poets rapidly contributing stanzas such that each new stanza addresses only the previous stanza; there is no overarching plot development, and the overall structure is a chain, not a conventional, linear narrative… In 1989, I had the great privilege to be involved in a film renga that was produced in the graduate film seminar led by Nathaniel Dorsky at the San Francisco Art Institute.” —Eric Theise