Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World
What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? The ultimate line from what is perhaps Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Mary Oliver’s most beloved poem, The Summer, has brought tears to many an eye as the full meaning of it is contemplated. Even as Stephen Colbert tells us that at the beginning of every summer he sends it to his kids, and then attempts to recite it on camera, each time his emotions overtake him. As director Sasha Waters presents deep research into the elusive poet’s works and her life with agent and life-long partner Molly Malone Cook, Mary’s dear friend John Waters reveals the long friendship he shared with the beatnik poet. In her own words, Mary tells how poetry and the beauty of the world saved her, and we learn how her poetry not only shares that same beauty in words, but in turn continues to save countless readers beyond her exceptional life. —Joni Cooper
Program Notes
Total film program 93 minutes
Director/s
Sasha Waters
Sasha Waters is a director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and sound editor of documentary and experimental films. Among her works are Whipped (1998), This American Gothic (2008), Chekov for Children (2010), and Garry Winogrand: All Things are Photographable (2018), winner of a SXSW Film Festival Special Jury Award for Best Feminist Reconsideration of a Male Artist. She is a professor of Film and Art Foundation at VCUarts in Richmond, VA.
Tickets
Book Passage