4sp e-News

 

Now Available on DVD  -  RANT and RAVE
SPRING 2009

Lots of activity this Spring.  We are proud to announce that RANT, RAVE and RIFF have surpassed 200,000 viewings on YouTube - Poetry for the masses!  In the last month, our poetry films screened at the week long  Penn World Voices Festival in New York - "A stellar line-up of established and emerging authors (and filmakers)  from 40 countries take the stage in venues across the city for 6 packed days of conversations, panels, performances and readings."   We also had our work incorporated into a poetry video folio for the journal Drunken Boat by the curator of that venue and champion of our work, Francesco Levato, executive director of the Poetry Center in Chicago.  Franceso was responsible for our work being seen at the Split This Rock petry film program and the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin.  Thank You Francesco! 

In May I had the great pleasure of meeting fellow Armenian Paul Dergarabedian who is a rising star in the film critic circle now plying his wares with Hollywood.com.  As fate would have it, my first film series Crisis of Faith won Best Documentary in the Hollywood.com Film Festival which would lead to its airing on PBS. This bit of fate of course leads to a helpful plug from my comrade Paul for my new Moving Poetry Series.  A very fun night at the Gas Light in the Meat Packing District all arranged by my brother-in-law and PR Man at heart Stephen Learn.  A little less than six degrees of seperation.  Click the logo to watch our plug!
September 2008 - RANT to be featured at the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival this October in Berlin.  The ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival has become established as the largest forum for the international poetry film and offers film-makers from all over the world the opportunity to exchange ideas and consolidate a basis for future work. It is taking place this year from the 9th to the 12th October 2008 and is a project by the Literaturwerkstatt Berlin together with interfilm Berlin.  The Festival encourages the production of films, initiates seminars and promotes international cooperation between poets and film-makers.   Click their logo to learn more.
June 2008 - RANT to be featured at the International Video Poetry Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 2008.  The event is sponsored by VideoBardo, one of the most important archives of its kind worldwide which contains works of art from different countries and in different languages of over 250 authors and has held more than 30 exhibitions in Cultural Centers and Museums in Argentina, the U.S.A., Spain, France and Canada.  VideoBardo arose as an initiative of the "Bardo" poetry magazine when it became aware that we are living through times in which the audiovisual language has become essentially important for our culture (cinema, TV, computer screens, etc.) and that poets must participate in the shaping of this new language.  We understand videopoetry as an incipient genre which includes audiovisual works with special focus on words, the language, the script and/or symbols.  Click their logo to learn more.
June 2008 - RANT to be featured at the 1st LATIN AMERICAN POETIC SHORT FILM FESTIVAL at the NUYORICAN POET'S CAFÉ September 2008. LAPSFF's mission is to support the emerging Independent Filmmaker by providing exposure in the Down Town Cultural Center of Manhattans’ Lower Eastside. Filmmakers will present their work to a diverse audience in an intimate atmosphere.   "Poetic Film is a combination of expressive image and sound. It is original and personal. It need not be about poetry and yet, it can be set to poetry. It is lyrical, dreamlike, expresses new ideas, evokes emotion, triggers thought and heightens the spirit. If we are fortunate, Poetic Film may some day be uncovered for us to discover."   Click their logo to learn more.
February 2008 - Two selected poems from our Moving Image Series will be featured at the prestigious Chicago Poetry Center's Split This Rock Poetry Festival.  Good Morning America, written by Carl Sandburg in 1916 and The Weary Blues, written by Langston Hughes in 1923 are both recited by Allen Dwight Callahan.  If your in the Windy City in March, the festival will be on from the 20th til the 23rd.   Click their logo to learn more.

July 2007- Styles change with the times and after 7 years, we have completely redesigned our website to make it more user friendly and accessible.  Join the dialogue and share the work through our new 4SP Blog, YouTube and MySpace video sites and monthly newsletter.  Watch for our select editorials, movie reviews and YouTube video picks of the month on our interactive website. Now a website, like our films; designed to challenge, provoke and inspire.
June 1, 2007- RIFF now joins RANT and RAVE in Four Seasons' innovative new Moving Poetry Film Series. Each film contains 7 classic poems - with each poem crafted into a short film with it's own unique imagery and soundtrack. In total, you will experience 2 1/2 hours of poetry from some of the masters: Neruda, Shakespeare, Carl Sandburg, Antonio Machado, Ryokan, Rumi, Langston Hughes and others. Poems that wrestle with Love, Politics, Religion, Deception, War and more.   Learn more by navigating the menu at left.

May 29, 2007- With the volume of viewings now in the thousands, we've decided to release one new Moving Image poem from the series each month. Make sure you subscribe to our YouTube site or our e-NewsLetter for notification on new postings. Click the YouTube logo to go to our most recent posting. The poem is entitled The City of SABA and was written in the 13th Century by Jalal ad-Din Rumi. What makes this poem so interesting is how relevant it is to what is happening in our own city of SABA - Washington D.C.

March 16, 2007- A Crisis of Faith / the SERIES is headed back to its original broadcast home - the Hallmark Channel after two years on Public Television.    Hallmark will be airing Portrait of a Radical, A Crisis of Faith and a newly re edited Quest for the Grail.  Sign our guestbook and we'll keep you posted on airing dates.
March 15, 2007- A Crisis of Faith / the SERIES has been picked up by a very interesting new internet based content provider.  Think of it as YouTube with a soul.  Crisis will begin as the feature series on their homepage.  Click their logo to learn more about their site and mission and watch for our films. 
March 5, 2007- RANT will be featured at the 45th Annual Ann Arbor International Film Festival - the oldest festival in North America.  With over 2,000 film entries and 5% chosen, RANT will be in very good company.  The film screens on Sunday, March 25th at 4:30 PM just before the awards ceremony.  Click to learn more and reserve seats. 

January 30, 2007- Press can now access our new  electronic Press Kit where you can view streaming RANT and RAVE highlights, learn about the series and director and view and print our PDF Press Release.

January 22, 2007- Streaming video highlights of RANT and RAVE are now available for viewing on our site.  The can also be viewed on YouTube.  These unique and innovative new films can only be described to a potential audience by seeing a sample - words just don't seem to capture what they are  - so now you know.

RANT and RAVE are being prepped for an official release in March 2007.  In addition to DVD availability on our website and Amazon.com, the films will be available for rent at NetFlix as our first series Crisis of Faith already there.  If you are a NetFlix member, make sure to put us on your future release reservation list. 

January 4, 2007- Four Seasons launches its first official 4sp e-NEWS letter.  Among other items, the newsletter announces the launching of the new 4sp BLOG - a place for interaction, news and ideas.  Click to learn more and participate in the BLOG and click here to join our e-NEWS letter..

January 3, 2007 - RANT and RAVE are both selected to screen at the 31st annual Cleveland International Film Festival.  Called Cannes for the rest of us by TIME Magazine, the festival will be held in March.  Click to learn more and reserve seats. 

December 15, 2006 - Four Seasons Productions announces the release of the first two of three films from the moving poetry series: RANT * RAVE * RIFF.  The first two films are available for purchase along with their soundtracks on the 4SP online store and at Amazon.com.  RIFF is expected to be released February / March of 2007. 

Visit our on-line store to order our new poetry films today. 
films designed to challenge, provoke and inspire.

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