Using cicadas as a metaphor, this cine poem, Palimpsest, is a philosophical musing into the idea of life.
Poem, Film, animation & Editing: Tova Beck-Friedman
Music: Jimena Contreras
Palimpsest - the poem
I
my life reflected
in a cicada
reflected in an insect
an insect hibernating
17 years underground
17 years in the dark
waiting for the ripe
moment to emerge —
emerge from a slumberto the only thing
it’s destined to attain
procreate
and
expire
II
an eraser in hand
wiping-off scribbled pages
writing — erasing
again and again
only slight variations
modest changes
create
and
efface
III
when my ancestors
departed this world
they left behind
muted markings
— vestiges —
upon which I compose
Screenings:
Mosaic World Film Festival, Rockford, IL 2025
REELpoetry/Houston, TX, 2025
Ideal International Film Festival, Maharashtra, India, 2025 (Award Winner Experimental Film)
Festival internacional Signos da Noite, Paris, 2024
Second Poetic Cinema Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2024
London Cinematic Horizons, London, UK 2024
RESONANS – A Fringe of Nature & Culture, Red Door Gallery, Copenhagen 2024
Poetry in Motion, Colorado US, 2024,
Reels International Film Festival, Maharashtra, India 2024. (Experimental Film Award-winning).
Festival Fotogenia, Mexico City, 2024
