Astoria Pictures is an edgy, independent, accessibility-oriented, profit-sharing, “Canadian” film production and distribution company founded in 2022 by writer/director/producer Kevin Andrew Heslop.
AP’s first release, mo(u)vements., is an edgy poetry anthology on film. Together with a chapbook from Rose Garden Press, the film connects a breadth of voices to address the pressing themes of modern “Canada.”
The poems of mo(u)vements., translated into French by Sophie Lavoie, into ASL by Connect Interpreting Services, and into LSQ by TraduSigne, were written by the following poets: Sachiko Murakami, Spenser Smith, Brandon Wint, Síle Englert, Shane Neilson, Paola Ferrante, Susan Holbrook, Shaun Robinson, Arleen Paré, Catriona Wright, Jenny Berkel, Julie Bruck, and Dominik Parisien.
The film features cinematography and editing by Nicole Coenen and Jérôme Conquy and performances by Niki Carr, Ruth Douthwright, Dorit Osher, David John Phillips, Dorit Osher, Jennifer Shirley, Adam Muxlow, James Bryant, Arie Trewartha-Maaskant, Kaz Neilson, Kane McIntyre, Jace Milton, Shannon Arntfield, and Sophia Palumbo, with a host of supporting roles named in the film’s credits.
Here’s what folks are saying about mo(u)vements.:
mo(u)vements. propels us into a dance with the preoccupations of contemporary Canadian poets. In film, Kevin Andrew Heslop’s interpretations are a visually arresting meld of genres that deepen their source material, casting a wider net than the traditional audience of English-language Canadian poetry. mo(u)vements. is restless and awakening, a journey that pushes through issues of racial injustice, misogyny, and ableism, taking us over bridges, and down under the ocean, into the “snow globe zoo” of aquariums, and to the northern lights of pain. This anthology is a bridge; between English-language poetry and French, between the visual and oral, between film and dance and the concrete word, between the issues of our time and the language that moves us to understanding. — Paola Ferrante
Kevin Andrew Heslop’s mo(u)vements. is a remarkably collaborative, politically urgent, vibrant and visceral poetic-filmic anthology which locates its complex thematics in the sociopolitical underbelly of contemporary “Canada.” Bringing a wide range of diverse artistic voices in conversation and community, Heslop and company explore the visuality and embodiment of poetic language, dually enriching each poem’s unique expressive world and broadening the accessibility and appeal of Canadian poetry en large. Particular attention should be paid to the work’s prominent accessibility focus, as the chapbooks (including audiobooks) and films are available in both English and French, with ASL and QSL interpretations. mo(u)vements. is an interrogation of, and a challenge to, ontological divides between the verbal and non-verbal, semantic and haptic, visual and linguistic, activism and the written word; tugging at the transmedial edges of film, dance, and language itself, Heslop takes us on a unique experiential journey through some of the more pressing concerns of our time, woven together in a tight meld of genres, mediums, and modes of expression.
— Camille Intson
mo(u)vements. is poetic alchemy. The shifts across language, medium, and the very seed paper booklet bounding the text all attest to the transformational attention and intention that Heslop brings to the project. To witness this rich and varied interpretation is a joy, to contribute to it a privilege. – Dominik Parisien
mo(u)vements. is a creative, generous and ambitious anthology of poetry. Beyond collecting a variety of voices, styles and themes, it offers different ways to interpret them: each poem is offered in English or in French; as audio or as text; as American Sign Language or Langues des signes du Québec; on the page or interpreted through film. In this way, mo(u)vements. invites readers to engage with its work over and over again, constantly seeing something new in it. The result is a collection as thoughtful and expansive as it is playful and pointed. In mo(u)vements, care has been taken not only in choosing and collecting poetry, but in making it as accessible and engaging as possible. — Gabrielle Drolet
As a collection, mo(u)vements. is where imagery is defamiliarized, where language is distanced from its roots, where silence sits within the frame staring back. — Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi