Henry Ferrini
Encyclopedia
Henry Ferrini is an American
non-fiction filmmaker best known for his portraits of Jack Kerouac
and Charles Olson
.
Ferrini attended Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, MA where he studied music. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter
under a CETA Grant he learned the craft of filmmaking while making The Light, the Quality, the Time, the Place, a meditation on environmental responsibility. In 1980 he started Ferrini Productions a film and video production company that produces independent films with grants from cultural agencies and private individuals.
Ferrini has worked as a cinematographer
on many independent documentaries. His own films are acknowledged for his painterly eye and his non-linear story-telling style, which focus on the relationship between the artist and their connection to place.
He resides in Gloucester, Massachusetts
, with his wife Susan Steiner and their son, Isaac.
(1913–2007) chose poetry
as a way of life. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
, in "The Sea and Ourselves at Cape Ann," called Vincent, "the conscience of Gloucester." This sixty-minute film poem demonstrates Ferrini's unrelenting commitment to art and life.
Radio Fishtown (1990) From his cramped and lonely studio in Gloucester, Simon Geller ran the only one-man radio station in the country. Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema
, the Boston Globe called Radio Fishtown, "a piece of poetic silver." The film explores the relationship between listeners and a man everyone heard but few ever saw.
Middle Street (1994) is crowded with churches, municipal buildings and funeral parlors. Narrated by Willie Alexander
, Middle Street travels over wharves, through religious festivals and into the flicker of home movies to chart a return course to one's youth.
Witch City (1996) Salem, Massachusetts
is a place that exists as both a city and a metaphor. Called, "a tale of two cities" by USA Today the film reveals that commercialism
and greed are the new metaphors for a witchcraft
business that turns the tragedy of 1692 into the city's meal ticket. A film by Joe Cultrera, Henry Ferrini, John Stanton, Bob Quinn and Phil Lamy.
Lowell Blues (2000) remembers the place Jack Kerouac
could not forget. By fusing visual history, language and jazz into a 30-minute film poem, Lowell Blues uses the voices of Robert Creeley
, Gregory Corso
, David Amram
and Johnny Depp
to reveal the wonders of Kerouac's childhood holy land.
Last Call: Dreams, Main Street and the Search for Community (2002) Photographed and edited by Ferrini and directed by John Stanton. Last Call takes a personal look at a Nantucket barroom that flourished during the '60s but did not survive the island's transformation from hardscrabble fishing town into one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in America.
Polis is this (2007) Charles Olson
, poet/educator, was the big fire source for a generation of artists and poets. Stan Brakhage, Amiri Baraka
and Anne Waldman
, to name a few, made pilgrimages to his cold-water flat at 28 Fort Square. The sixty-minute film moves from Massachusetts to Black Mountain College
to Cape Ann
following Robert Creeley
's precept that "Form is never more than an extension of content." The filmmaker and writer Ken Riaf put this idea to good use as the film grows organically out of the content rather than ideas imposed from outside. The film stars John Malkovich
, Pete Seeger
, Michael Rumaker
, John Sinclair
, Diane di Prima
, Jonathan Williams
, Vincent Ferrini
, John R. Stilgoe
, and Ed Sanders
. William Corbett of the Boston Phoenix called Polis is This "the best film about an American poet ever made."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
non-fiction filmmaker best known for his portraits of Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
and Charles Olson
Charles Olson
Charles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
.
Ferrini attended Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, MA where he studied music. During the administration of President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
under a CETA Grant he learned the craft of filmmaking while making The Light, the Quality, the Time, the Place, a meditation on environmental responsibility. In 1980 he started Ferrini Productions a film and video production company that produces independent films with grants from cultural agencies and private individuals.
Ferrini has worked as a cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
on many independent documentaries. His own films are acknowledged for his painterly eye and his non-linear story-telling style, which focus on the relationship between the artist and their connection to place.
He resides in Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Massachusetts' North Shore. The population was 28,789 at the 2010 U.S. Census...
, with his wife Susan Steiner and their son, Isaac.
Filmography
Poem in Action (1990) Early on Vincent FerriniVincent Ferrini
Vincent Ferrini , age 94, was an American writer and poet from Gloucester, Massachusetts.-Early life:Vincent Ferrini was born in Saugus, Massachusetts on June 24, 1913. Vincent's parents emigrated from Riano and Bella, Italy in the province of Abruzzi to work in the shoe factories of Lynn,...
(1913–2007) chose poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
as a way of life. Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Lawrence Ferlinghetti is an American poet, painter, liberal activist, and the co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers...
, in "The Sea and Ourselves at Cape Ann," called Vincent, "the conscience of Gloucester." This sixty-minute film poem demonstrates Ferrini's unrelenting commitment to art and life.
Radio Fishtown (1990) From his cramped and lonely studio in Gloucester, Simon Geller ran the only one-man radio station in the country. Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema
Robert J. Lurtsema
Robert J. Lurtsema was a public radio broadcaster.Lurtsema hosted the classical music show Morning pro musica on WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1971 until his death from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis...
, the Boston Globe called Radio Fishtown, "a piece of poetic silver." The film explores the relationship between listeners and a man everyone heard but few ever saw.
Middle Street (1994) is crowded with churches, municipal buildings and funeral parlors. Narrated by Willie Alexander
Willie Alexander
For the football player of the same name see Willie Alexander .Willie "Loco" Alexander is an American singer and keyboard player based in Gloucester, Massachusetts....
, Middle Street travels over wharves, through religious festivals and into the flicker of home movies to chart a return course to one's youth.
Witch City (1996) Salem, Massachusetts
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,407 at the 2000 census. It and Lawrence are the county seats of Essex County...
is a place that exists as both a city and a metaphor. Called, "a tale of two cities" by USA Today the film reveals that commercialism
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
and greed are the new metaphors for a witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
business that turns the tragedy of 1692 into the city's meal ticket. A film by Joe Cultrera, Henry Ferrini, John Stanton, Bob Quinn and Phil Lamy.
Lowell Blues (2000) remembers the place Jack Kerouac
Jack Kerouac
Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
could not forget. By fusing visual history, language and jazz into a 30-minute film poem, Lowell Blues uses the voices of Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
, Gregory Corso
Gregory Corso
Gregory Nunzio Corso was an American poet, youngest of the inner circle of Beat Generation writers...
, David Amram
David Amram
David Amram is an American composer, musician, conductor, and writer. As a classical composer and performer, his integration of jazz , ethnic and folk music has led him to work with the likes of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Willie Nelson, Langston...
and Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
to reveal the wonders of Kerouac's childhood holy land.
Last Call: Dreams, Main Street and the Search for Community (2002) Photographed and edited by Ferrini and directed by John Stanton. Last Call takes a personal look at a Nantucket barroom that flourished during the '60s but did not survive the island's transformation from hardscrabble fishing town into one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in America.
Polis is this (2007) Charles Olson
Charles Olson
Charles Olson , was a second generation American modernist poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, the Beat poets, and the San Francisco Renaissance...
, poet/educator, was the big fire source for a generation of artists and poets. Stan Brakhage, Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
and Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman
Anne Waldman is an American poet.Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the “Outrider” experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political activist....
, to name a few, made pilgrimages to his cold-water flat at 28 Fort Square. The sixty-minute film moves from Massachusetts to Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College
Black Mountain College, a school founded in 1933 in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was a new kind of college in the United States in which the study of art was seen to be central to a liberal arts education, and in which John Dewey's principles of education played a major role...
to Cape Ann
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...
following Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley
Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...
's precept that "Form is never more than an extension of content." The filmmaker and writer Ken Riaf put this idea to good use as the film grows organically out of the content rather than ideas imposed from outside. The film stars John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
, Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, Michael Rumaker
Michael Rumaker
Michael Rumaker is an American author , to Michael Joseph and Winifred Marvel Rumaker. He is a graduate of Black Mountain College and Columbia University ....
, John Sinclair
John Sinclair (poet)
John Sinclair is a Detroit poet, one-time manager of the band MC5, and leader of the White Panther Party — a militantly anti-racist countercultural group of white socialists seeking to assist the Black Panthers in the Civil Rights movement — from November 1968 to July 1969...
, Diane di Prima
Diane di Prima
Diane Di Prima is an American poet.-Early life:Di Prima was born in Brooklyn. She attended Hunter College High School and Swarthmore College before dropping out to be a poet in Manhattan...
, Jonathan Williams
Jonathan Williams (poet)
Jonathan Williams was an American poet, publisher, essayist, and photographer. He is known as the founder of The Jargon Society, which has published poetry, experimental fiction, photography, and folk art for more than fifty years...
, Vincent Ferrini
Vincent Ferrini
Vincent Ferrini , age 94, was an American writer and poet from Gloucester, Massachusetts.-Early life:Vincent Ferrini was born in Saugus, Massachusetts on June 24, 1913. Vincent's parents emigrated from Riano and Bella, Italy in the province of Abruzzi to work in the shoe factories of Lynn,...
, John R. Stilgoe
John R. Stilgoe
John R. Stilgoe is an award-winning historian and photographer who is the Robert and Lois Orchard Professor in the History of Landscape at the Visual and Environmental Studies Department of Harvard University, where he has been teaching since 1977. He is also a fellow of the Society of American...
, and Ed Sanders
Ed Sanders
Ed Sanders is an American poet, singer, social activist, environmentalist, author and publisher and has been a longtime member of the band The Fugs. He has been called a bridge between the Beat and Hippie generations.-Biography:...
. William Corbett of the Boston Phoenix called Polis is This "the best film about an American poet ever made."
External links
- Ferrini Productions
- Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place
- Jack Magazine review of Lowell Blues
- Boston Globe Review of Lowell Blues
- "Viewpoint" Explores Radio
- Gloucester Daily Times Radio Fishtown Review
- North Shore Sunday Radio Fishtown Review
- Mountain Xpress Review of Polis Is This
- Don Byrd Review
- Worcester Telegram & Gazette News
- Worcester Local News
- ArtVoice- Buffalo's #1 Newsweekly