ARTIST’S STATEMENT: Paula Harris (poet): I wrote this poem about someone who I really wanted (at the time) to have a relationship with – a relationship relationship, rather than a friends relationship – and in my head there was this thought that if we could take the whole world back to basics, to slow down, to have more time, then I could really love them the way that I was wanting. But I also knew that it wouldn’t happen, that they would never love me back like that.
The idea behind the poetic short films project is to make poems more accessible and less intimidating. Trying to slide poetry in front of people by stealth, I guess. I’d forgotten about what I was really feeling when I’d written this poem until April said that it was the one that she wanted to make a film of, and she mentioned the feeling of melancholy she got from the poem, and I was immediately like, oh, yeah, that’s exactly it, I was feeling so much longing to love and be loved, and so much melancholy that it wasn’t going to happen.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT: April Lampre (director): At the beginning of the production Paula sent me a wide range of poems that she had written; ‘I want to love you in analogue’ was the one that really stood out to me. I felt that the poem was truly about longing for another person to make your life better, to improve it in some way, but there was also a melancholy there where the words were pointing out that this probably won’t happen. I’m quite into narratives that are melancholic so I think this is why it connected with me. Plus, the words are quite descriptive and I saw the possibility of making this film very visual and experimental.