With the report that follows, Melville House author Zachary German continues his occasional reviews of unusual book events… this time, covering readings in the form of a film:

This past Saturday night, Chelsea’s PPOW Gallery (quickly becoming a hotbed of NYC literary activity, this year having hosted events for n+1 Magazine and Ugly Duckling Presse) presented the premier screening of Luca Dipierro and Michael Kimball‘s new film, 60 Writers/60 Places, which, as the title suggests, shows sixty short readings by sixty different writers in sixty different places.

Directors Luca and Michael chat after the screening.

Luca and Michael introduced the film. Luca said that it was about the “interaction between writers and the place they’re reading.” He talked about the strenuousness of having at one point filmed twelve readings in two days, as well as the reluctance of some people to allow them to film at their location. He recalled an unsuccessful attempt at recording Giancarlo DiTrapano reading in a Hell’s Kitchen peep show, which led them to the front door of a nearby church. Luca said the recording they made there was more far more successful than it would have been in the peep show. Michael talked about editing the film, and recalled drawing each shot on an index card and shuffling them around on a table until he found the correct order.

The format of the film is a black screen with white letters stating the reader’s name and location of the scene, followed by a few seconds of the reader staring into the camera, a brief reading, and a few more seconds of staring.

Tao Lin read a poem about girls he wanted or did not want to date, while standing to the left of a hot dog cart in what appeared to be Union Square. Sam Lipsyte read about energy bars, in a cardboard box-filled office. Rick Moody, in a “Mud Hens” jersey, read in a baseball field. Deb Olin Unferth read in a laundromat, in front of active machines. In these and other shots, the ambient sound, provided before, during and after the reading, really did what Luca spoke about, in showing the interaction between writer and space.

Former Melville House intern Catherine Lacey (center) talks to Zachary German (left) at the event.

Some of the most interesting readings occurred in settings with observers nearby. Jen Michalski read in a deli, with the butcher, to the back right, providing constant facial response to the poetry.  Michael Hearst read in a woodshop, to the left of a working carpenter. Leslie F. Miller, perhaps most enjoyably for me, read in a rehearsal space, with an adolescent girl providing both audience and guitar accompaniment to Miller’s poetry. Jessica Anya Blau gets served what appears to be a martini while reading on a patio. In the film’s last shot, Will Eno, reading a poem about bees, is surrounded by them, for his reading in a park.

I enjoyed “60 Writers/60 Places.” I wasn’t sure if I would, as I often do not enjoy readings. I guess the brevity of the readings combined with the juxtaposition of readings out of the typical bar/book store setting made it good, for me.