Renga

Directed by Nathaniel Dorsky, Dena Penniston, Bud Lassiter, Erik Anderson, Paul Baker, Kurt Easterwood, Kim Tempest, Geoffrey Luck, Laura Poitras, Eric Theise, Alan Mukamal and John McGeehan

“Renga is a linked-verse form of Japanese poetry that, though still practiced today, reached its peak between the 13th and 16th centuries. It is characterized by being a group composition, typically in the presence of judges and an audience, with poets rapidly contributing stanzas such that each new stanza addresses only the previous stanza; there is no overarching plot development, and the overall structure is a chain, not a conventional, linear narrative… In 1989, I had the great privilege to be involved in a film renga that was produced in the graduate film seminar led by Nathaniel Dorsky at the San Francisco Art Institute.” —Eric Theise