DVDS

And When I Die, I Won't Stay Dead

color & b/w. 89 min. Billy Woodberry, dist. by Grasshopper Film, www.grasshopperfilm.com. 2017. DVD $99.95; acad. libs. $375. Public performance. POETRY
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Bob Kaufman (1925–86) was a Beat poet and street poet living chiefly in San Francisco's North Beach area. Filmmaker Woodberry has collected and edited archival images and interviews with Kaufman's contemporaries, including his second wife Eileen, and with publishers and literary critics to offer the viewer this truly fascinating biography. It shows the influence of his post-World War II union and political activism, drug and alcohol use, and the New York jazz scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Kaufman's poetry was his life, yet as a person of color, he was often targeted by racist bar owners and beaten by the San Francisco police. Highlights include readings of selected Kaufman poems with an appreciation of how his work influenced other writers.
VERDICT An important film for libraries with strong collections in American social history and American literature.
Reviewed by Kelly Sinclair , May 15, 2018
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