Still from the 1982 documentary film "Fear of Poetry," showing close-up for a circular clock with the work "poetry" in the center.

Screenings Conversations

Fear of Poetry screening with Jack Skelley & Sabrina Tarasoff

WED JUN 2, 2021 7 PM PDT

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Gail Kaszynski’s 1983 documentary Fear of Poetry is an improvisatory 40-minute foray into a fervent, formative period in the lives of poets such as Dennis Cooper, Benjamin Weissman, Amy Gerstler, and Bob Flanagan, who took part in Cooper’s famed Wednesday Night Poetry readings. Drawing on archival footage from those gatherings, including interviews and readings, Fear of Poetry presents a snapshot of Venice in the 1980s: a chorus of punks, poets, artists, and performers co-existing in a place where, according to Flanagan, “love is still possible.”

The online screening is preceded by a livestreamed conversation between Jack Skelley and Made in L.A. 2020 artist Sabrina Tarasoff. (1983, dir. Gail Kaszynski, color, 40 min.)

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All public programs are free and made possible by a major gift from an anonymous donor.

Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, the Elizabeth Bixby Janeway Foundation, The Samuel Goldwyn Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, an anonymous donor, and all Hammer members.

Digital presentation of Hammer public programs is made possible by The Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.

Hammer public programs are presented online in partnership with the #KeepThePromise campaign—a movement promoting social justice and human rights through the arts.