Diane Di Prima

Retrace les Beats depuis la rencontre d'Allen Ginsberg et Jack Kerouac en 1944 à l'Université de Columbia jusqu'à la mort de Ginsberg et William S. Burroughs en 1997. Trois acteurs proposent des interprétations dramatiques du travail de ces trois écrivains, et le film relate leurs amitiés, leur arrivée dans la conscience américaine, leurs voyages, les parodies fréquentes, la mort de Kerouac et la politisation de Ginsberg. Leur mouvement se connecte au bebop, à la musique de John Cage, à l'expressionnisme abstrait et au théâtre vivant. Dans des interviews récentes, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kesey, Ferlinghetti, Mailer, Jerry Garcia, Tom Hayden, Gary Snyder, Ed Sanders et d'autres mesurent la signification et l'impact des Beats.

Maria Beatty's documentary exploring the insights and influences of the American Beat Poets. The film conveys their consciousness and sensibility through interviews with William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Diane Di Prima, among others. Also weaves in additional commentary from contemporary musicians, poets and writers such as Marianne Faithfull, Richard Hell, Lydia Lunch and Henry Rollins. Also expands upon how the poets reached new levels of creativity and inspired social change.

After World War II a group of young writers, outsiders and friends who were disillusioned by the pursuit of the American dream met in New York City. Associated through mutual friendships, these cultural dissidents looked for new ways and means to express themselves. Soon their writings found an audience and the American media took notice, dubbing them the Beat Generation. Members of this group included writers Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg. a trinity that would ultimately influence the works of others during that era, including the "hippie" movement of the '60s. In this 55-minute video narrated by Allen Ginsberg, members of the Beat Generation (including the aforementioned Burroughs, Anne Waldman, Peter Orlovsky, Amiri Baraka, Diane Di Prima, and Timothy Leary) are reunited at Naropa University in Boulder, CO during the late 1970's to share their works and influence a new generation of young American bohemians.

Documentary about Charles Olson, exploring his life and the significance of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours.