Ruth Stone’s poems are accessible, emotional, and funny, and they often tell compelling narratives. But they are also personal.
In Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind, a film in the documentary category at this year’s Santa Fe International Film Festival (Wednesday, Oct. 19, through Oct. 23), director Nora Jacobson (The Hanji Box) peers with intimate access into the life of an iconic American poet. Stone (1915-2011) was known for infusing her poems with allusions to the natural sciences and associated imagery. After the death of her husband, she retreated to a home in rural Vermont, and it became an intellectual center for poets and students.
“I started it in 2009 when Ruth was still alive,” says Jacobson, who completed the documentary last year. “Actually, in the film, you see her 94th birthday. I started filming her a little bit before that. I kind of had to take a break and work on other projects, but I never wanted to not finish it.”
The film was a challenge for the director, whose subject, a poet, deals in words, as opposed to a filmmaker who deals in visuals.
“The amazing thing about poetry is it conjures up images in the mind of the reader,” Jacobson says. “But in a film, the images are right there in front of you. That’s why people are disappointed when they see a film based on a book that they loved, because it can’t stand up to what they imagined in their minds.”
Rather than a straightforward documentary approach, she sought other devices to bring word and cinematic image together.
Stone’s granddaughter, Bianca Stone, did the animation, and film editor Sidney Wolinsky (The Sopranos, The Shape of Water) contributed archival footage, which Jacobson blends seamlessly with her own footage, much of which was shot at Stone’s Vermont home.
“The house is the spine of the film,” she says.
Ruth Stone’s Vast Library of the Female Mind should find an audience in Santa Fe’s vibrant poetry scene. It screens 4:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Jean Cocteau Cinema ($15). Jacobson will be in attendance.
The festival was founded by brother and sister Jacques Paisner and Liesette Paisner Bailey in 2009 as the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. The name change, which happened this year, addresses an influx of international submissions that started around 2012. International features “tend to be independent anyway,” says Paisner, the festival’s artistic director.
“There is the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and the International Folk Art Market,” Paisner Bailey told The New Mexican in July. “Santa Fe is known as an international place. We wanted to embrace that.”
This year’s selection includes more than 50 feature films and 100 shorts selected from more than 3,000 submissions from 94 countries, a significant increase from last year’s total of 1,900 entries.
Films include special presentation narrative features, such as director Michael Grandage’s (Genius) opening night film, My Policeman (7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19, Violet Crown, $65), and the closing night film Return to Seoul (7 p.m. Oct. 23, Violet Crown, $15), which was directed by Davy Chou (Golden Slumbers). Chou’s film follows a French woman’s return to Korea in a search for her biological parents, a journey that takes a surprising turn.
The festival honors filmmaker, activist, and educator Godfrey Reggio with the Lifetime Achievement Award (6:30 p.m. Oct. 22, Lensic Performing Arts Center, $30). His new documentary feature, Once Within a Time, screens on the night of the presentation ceremony. Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen), who receives this year’s Visionary Award, discusses her work and career at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 23 (Jean Cocteau, $15). Hardwicke’s international hit Twilight (2008) screens at 4:50 p.m. on Oct. 22 at the Railyard Park (free).
By Michael Abatemarco