We Are the Dinosaur
"We Are the Dinosaur" is a street-rant lament for the state of the planet delivered to an unsuspecting public seemingly content to yawn and go about its business while the Poet bumrushes the Courthouse, whispers in the ear of the Anonymous Businessman, suggests a cannibal diet at the site of the Nation’s first capital, takes flight at the Oculus near the World Trade Center, and swims against the implacable tide of humanity in Times Square. With a wrench-raucous score by Marc Ribot, energized-intrusion cinematography by director H. Paul Moon, and an over-the-top-and-then-some performance by poet Bob Holman, this poem promises to either explode the dead-soul reactions of the populace to climate crisis or become a deconstructive language bomb that blasts open the Gates to Kingdom Come.
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H. Paul MoonDirectorEquus Caballus (Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2016 Official Selection); Mining the Mother Lode (Zebra Poetry Film Festival 2018 Official Selection)
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Bob HolmanWriterThe United States of Poetry (PBS, 1996); On the Road with Bob Holman (Link TV, 2010); Language Matters with Bob Holman (PBS, 2015)
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Bob HolmanKey CastThe United States of Poetry (PBS 1996); On the Road with Bob Holman (Link TV 2010); Language Matters with Bob Holman (PBS 2015)
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Kyabell GlassAssociate DirectorPanorama (2023)
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Project Type:Experimental, Short
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Genres:Poetry
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Runtime:2 minutes 49 seconds
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Completion Date:June 1, 2023
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Production Budget:76 USD
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Country of Origin:United States, United States
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Country of Filming:United States, United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Zebra Poetry Film FestivalBerlin
Germany
October 13, 2023
World Premiere
Official Selection -
Midwest Video Poetry FestMilwaukee, Wisconsin
United States
October 15, 2023
North America Premiere
Official Selection -
Aotearoa Poetry Film FestivalWellington
New Zealand
November 2, 2023
New Zealand Premiere
Official Selection -
Art Visuals & Poetry Film FestivalVienna
Austria
November 15, 2024
Europe Premiere
Finalist -
VIDEOBARDO Festival Internacional de VideopoesíaBuenos Aires
Argentina
December 1, 2023
South America Premiere
Official Selection -
International Video Poetry FestivalAthens
Greece
April 19, 2024
Greece Premiere
Official Selection -
Weimar Poetry Film AwardWeimar
Germany
May 31, 2024
Weimar Premiere
Finalist -
La Poesia Che Si Vede International Poetry Film FestivalAncona
Italy
June 28, 2024
Italy Premiere
Finalist -
Hombres Videopoetry AwardSanto Stefano di Sessanio
Italy
October 26, 2024
Winner, Best Performance
H. Paul Moon is a filmmaker based in New York City and Washington, D.C. whose works concentrate on the performing arts. Major films include “Sitka: A Piano Documentary” about the craftsmanship of Steinway pianos, “Quartet for the End of Time” about Olivier Messiaen’s transcendent WWII composition, and an acclaimed feature film about the life and music of American composer Samuel Barber that premiered on PBS. He was cinematographer/camera operator/colorist for director Josephine Decker's “First Day Out” in the anthology film “collective:unconscious.” Rolling Stone called it “a Malick-esque portrait,” Austin Chronicle acclaimed the “Lubezki-level single-shot photography,” New Yorker cited the “ecstatically onrushing continuous takes,” and Slant Magazine praised the “intricate and exhilarating tracking shots” with “explosively colorful cinematography.”
His film “The Passion of Scrooge” was an operatic adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” awarded “Critic's Choice” by Opera News as a “thoroughly enjoyable film version, insightfully conceived and directed” with “first-rate and remarkably illustrative storytelling.” The Dickensian called it “a beguiling formal experiment to bring Dickens’ classic into contemporary and personal relevance” and “a distinctive addition to the long history of Carol adaptations.” The film was the inaugural title of “Opera Philadelphia Channel Presents” in 2022.
Moon has created music videos for numerous composers including Moondog, Susan Botti and Angélica Negrón, and three opera films set in a community garden. He is currently finishing another documentary feature about Western poetry, further additions to his project “Whitman on Film,” and settings of poems by Bob Holman.
His films have been screened to live audiences at over two hundred film festivals around the world, with several awards and museum exhibitions. Highlights include works featured in exhibitions at the Nevada Museum of Art and the City Museum of New York, PBS television broadcasts, and best of show awards in over a dozen international film festivals.
Founder of the Bowery Poetry Club and the spoken word label Mouth Almighty/Mercury, Bob Holman is a poet best known for his defining role in the spoken word, slam, digital and film/video worlds. His films include the Poetry Spots series for WNYC-TV (six years, 3 Emmys), a 5-part series The United States of Poetry on PBS and Language Matters, a documentary on poetry and endangered languages, also on PBS. He has read his work on MTV’s Spoken Word Unplugged and HBO Def Poetry Jam and has published a dozen books, most recently Bob Holman’s India Journals that documents the making of Ginsberg’s Karma, a film about the Beats in India and the birth of the hippie movement. He has three children and five grandchildren and lives above the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.