Steve Dalachinsky has departed

Steve Dalachinsky has departed

It is impossible to wrap my head around Steve’s departure. I met Steve and Yuko at an Art opening for Mary Beach in the early 2000.  When I permanently moved to NYC in 2007, they were incredibly supportive. They took me around and Steve got me several readings &  introduced me to a lot of great music & musiciens.

When I asked them to be part of my film Thing Fall Where They Lie along with Eric Sarner & Katalin Pataki, they were once again totally supportive. We shot for one week. These two pairs of artists had never met each other and their backgrounds were four different countries and four different mother-tongues. What was supposed to be some sort of historical portrait of Bagnères-de-Luchon, my hometown in the French Pyrenees, became an exercise in poetic drift through their personal  stories. They all fell in love with each other, they shared love for jazz and poetry — their sensitivities coupled with a joyous curiosity took over. For seven days, shooting in cinéma vérité style, I followed them in the once upon a time glamorous spa where we all re-imagined the lives of a famous jazz violinist and of Karl Marx’s grandson, both buried in Bagnères-de-Luchon. 

Steve was inexhaustibly funny, smart, bringing so much to the group dynamic of group — & yes! He was happy for a full week! I personally never saw him so consistently happy for one full week.  I spent countless hours editing the film, and it truly was a joy, I loved looking at Steve on the screen, his soft gaze, his pursing lips, his deambulations….

We have not lost Steve, he departed before us.  Thank you for being you, Steve, and to you Yuko, be strong! We need you! Much much love and we hug you tight.

I am so blessed to have known you, Steve: you enriched and brought much joy to my life. I love you forever.

Film Trailer:
https://vimeo.com/261864528

Steve’s last reading — shortly before the massive brain hemorrhage. He transitioned at 5:04 next morning:

New York Times obit

Art Forum obit

 

 

New Film Trailer & Upcoming Travels

New Film Trailer & Upcoming Travels

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT:
Above is the trailer of my latest film:
THINGS FALL WHERE THEY LIE (2018)
Directed by Nicole Peyrafitte
RUN TIME: 57:43 m
Synopsis:
A filmmaker invites 4 characters for a 5-day visit to Bagnères-de-Luchon, the once-upon-a-time famous and fashionable spa town in the French Pyrenees. The four visitors are Eric Sarner, a poet, translator and broadcaster born in Algeria, now living in Berlin; his wife Katalin Pataki, a Hungarian-born librarian — they met when both lived in Uruguay; and Yuko Otomo, a poet and visual artist born and raised in Japan, who lives in New York with her husband, Brooklyn-born poet, visual artist and jazz critic Steve Dalachinsky. The film follows this group of real-life characters as they are prompted to react to a daily itinerary of (old folklore) events, mysterious (burial) places, excursions, and locals revealing — or not — the connections to the many layers of the town’s and the filmmaker’s history. Can Karl Marx’s grandchild and swing era jazz violinist Michel Warlop meet? Can four languages find each other over lunch and be the talk of the town? Who is buried in what grave? Where did that wedding ring roll? Is he a real shepherd and who is riding on the one (town) horse? What is a better clue: a prehistoric cave or a Spanish border town? Jump on the train and ride that line: Things Fall Where They Lie, and not the other way around.

MAY 26-27
GLASFRYN PROJECT presents:
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE – a celebration
in the Black Mountains of Wales Glasfryn, Llangattock, Powys
Pierre Joris
Charles Olson now.
Nicole Peyrafitte
Basil King: Mirage. A film directed by Nicole Peyrafitte, co-directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, starring Basil King.
Full program: here

JUNE 6-10
Marché de la Poésie
Nicole’s new book Land0scape out with éditions Plaine Page
Reading/Signature TBA

JULY 20-28
Festival Les Voix Vives de Méditerranée

Details TBA, but both Pierre Joris & Nicole Peyrafitte will present daily performance/readings
More info: here