FemmeFilmFest Interview: Dayna Reggero on her poetic journey with ‘Earth • People • Words’

One of 20 films in competition at the 4th Femme Filmmakers Festival is Earth • People • Words, a documentary short drawing it’s inspiration from various art forms and human imperfections. Poets speak and we listen.

Director, Dayna Reggero, was kind enough to spare us a few minutes of her time for us to get to know her project better. Be enlightened and then go ahead and watch Earth • People • Words right here.

Have you had any kinds of struggles as a filmmaker perhaps due to your gender?

I think many communities including women do struggle and have to hire each other, work together, and support each other.

Please tell us about the Climate Listening Project. What is it? How did you found it?

The Climate Listening Project is a collaborative film and art activism effort to connect hopeful conversations on climate change impacts and community solutions. I created the Climate Listening Project five years ago to set an intention about how I want to contribute. I’m not trying to convince anyone that climate change is real, I’m just listening to the real people who are impacted by climate change and the real people creating climate solutions.

Why are documentaries so important in the grand scale of cinema?

Documentaries are important because they are the stories told direct from the storytellers. I think all art is important, all cinema is important, but documentary has a special place in my heart as an important tool for showcasing unheard voices.

How does one actually go about writing a documentary? As opposed to fiction film.

I go into my Climate Listening Project films with a basic treatment and vision, but because it is a listening project, I don’t always know exactly what it will become. Fiction films have a script, and although I start with questions I want to ask, I try to be present in the listening, asking follow up questions, following a story, and going deeper. The Climate Listening Project not only focuses on our changing climate, but how we are changing as individuals, listening to our own realities, healing ourselves, and allowing ourselves to be our whole selves. I am not filming to fit a narrative, I am creating the film around their stories, so the film becomes through listening.

The title Earth People Words gives us a broad idea of what it is about, but what are you wanting to say here exactly?

Poetry holds humanity together. It is story-intelligence—how to listen, how to say, how to hold space for silence in between. Poetry’s techniques offer thought structures holding oneness, where everyone belongs, where all life is sacred. Poetry is not new to the conversation of climate or human rights. It is the vessel that always has held, and continues to hold, Earth, People, and Words in unity and balance.

How did you gather these people and their stories for the film?

This film features four poets who I had the opportunity to film at a poetry event called Wordfest in Asheville, North Carolina that is curated by Laura Hope-Gill. Laura is the executive producer of this film and a beautiful human. The film features Joy Harjo, who was named the nation’s first Native American Poet Laureate in 2019; Sean Hill, who Athens Magazine wrote is “an authentic Southern voice that speaks for the African-American community and”…”his talent for telling stories from the past earn him a place among the best poets of our time”; Elizabeth Bradfield, a queer writer and naturalist in some of the globe’s most remote places who just released her new book, “Toward Antarctica”; and Laura Hope-Gill, a deaf poet who was honored as the first Poet Laureate of Appalachia’s Blue Ridge Parkway.

What personal experience do you have that would be suited to your project?

While I have been making documentary films, I have traveled across America and around the world to listen to individuals and share their stories in hopes that others will listen. I believe in the power of storytelling and the power of listening.

How do you edit such a film? How do you decide what goes where? When to overlap sound and visuals? How much footage did not make it to the finish product?

This film is unique in my work because it was mostly all filmed in one day. Most of the interviews were filmed in a tiny office space. It was a difficult effort because I would have loved more time, space, and crew with the amazing poets, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to listen to their stories and share their important voices. I was lucky to collaborate with editor and transgender activist Polly Schattel who provided expert technical editing skills that really took it all to a new level. Also, there was no B-roll so I asked the poets for permission to include their poems with artwork in the film to create visually beautiful transitions with their powerful poetry.

Who did the artwork and the music? And what shift in tone were you looking for when using these?

This film features hand-drawn watercolor paintings by artist and biologist Shannon Bodeau. I was honored to collaborate with Shannon. I shared four poems by the four featured poets and they created beautiful visuals that really showcase the poetry in a powerful and special way.

Will you be following the Femme Filmmakers Festival?

I am excited to watch films and celebrate the filmmakers at the Femme Filmmakers Festival! I am honored and grateful to be a part of this important event.