Adopted by UNESCO in 1999, World Poetry Day is an invitation to reflect on the power of language and the full development of every person’s creative abilities. It also supports linguistic diversity through poetic expression and offers languages and dialects at risk of extinction the opportunity to be heard within their communities. Schools are involved through the Abruzzo Provincial School Office.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: *The Gruffalo* by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang (United Kingdom/Germany, 2009)
An animated short film based on the picture book *The Gruffalo* written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It tells the story of a clever little mouse who walks through the woods and, to save himself from a fox, an owl, and a snake, invents a terrifying monster called the Gruffalo, describing its frightening features and claiming that it’s waiting for him for dinner, thus scaring off the predators. To his surprise, he then encounters the real Gruffalo, who wants to eat him, but the mouse uses his wits and his “monster” to strike fear into the Gruffalo, causing the Gruffalo to flee in terror after seeing the predators run away from him.
LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL: BRIGHT STAR by Jane Campion (United Kingdom, 2009)
It tells the intense and tragic love story of the last three years of life (beginning in 1818) of the English Romantic poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his neighbor, the lively and headstrong Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Despite the poet’s financial struggles and the hostility of his friend Charles Brown, a deep bond develops between the two “
,” ultimately thwarted by tuberculosis, which forces Keats to move to Rome, where he will die.
HIGH SCHOOL: PATERSON by Jim Jarmusch (USA, 2016)
“Few films deal with poetry while managing to make it their very essence.” Quote. Marianna Cappi Paterson lives in Paterson, New Jersey—a city of poets, from William Carlos Williams to Allen Ginsberg, now in a state of decline. A thirty-year-old bus driver, Paterson leads a routine life alongside Laura, a woman full of plans and enthusiasm, and Marvin, an English bulldog. Every day, Paterson writes poems in a secret notebook he never parts with… The film quietly observes the triumphs and setbacks of everyday life, as well as the poetry that emerges from every little detail.