A Silent War: Sakura

Back

Details

Location

South Belfast

Year

2021

Date

Length

55sec

Audio

sound

Format

Digital

colour

Source

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive

Courtesy

Department for Communities, Northern Ireland Screen, Ross Thompson, Susan Hughes, Tory Campbell

Rights Holder

Northern Ireland Screen, Ross Thompson

It is illegal to download, copy, print or otherwise utilise in any other form this material, without written consent from the copyright holder.

Description

Sakura is part of A Silent War, a COVID-19 response poetry project written by Ross Thompson during the first lockdown. The poem represents a moment of ephemeral beauty as scented spring blossom catches the poet’s imagination, reminding him of the enduring persistence of the life force amidst the dark days of the pandemic. 

In the poem, nature weeps softly with the world, but endures, a sense that resonates with Terence McDonald’s film, Requiem for Sally (1979), which also uses the motif of cherry blossom as a symbol of the fragility of life. In her creative response to Sakura, Artist, Filmmaker and Musician, Susan Hughes drew on the visual imagery from McDonald’s film, which itself shows the influence of Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1979). The resulting film contains heart-stoppingly beautiful visual moments, with a delicate, yet stately soundtrack that celebrates and laments those fleeting moments of illumination.

Notes

Sakura by Ross Thompson, Lockdown 2020

 

A cherry blossom at the bottom of your street

has wept, casting petals, said to be edible, 

 

onto rain-soaked tarmac, flavouring newly fresh

air with vanilla tobacco of sweet meadow. 

 

Confetti the colour of pink coral now lies

beneath your feet: a sign that you are still alive. 

Credits

Poet: Ross Thompson

Reader: Tory Campbell

Audio Mastering (Original reading): ST Mastering

Musician: Susan Hughes

Artist/Filmmaker: Susan Hughes

A Silent War Creative Producers: Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell & Ann Donnelly

Funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen

Links

×

Please scroll to review and accept our terms and conditions (last updated on ) before viewing the moving images content.

To remember your terms and conditions acceptance, you can register as a site member or allow cookies on your browser.