Freya Daly Sadgrove is an emerging New Zealand poet, riding the success of her collection Head Girl — but acutely aware that something has to come next. With her multi-poet show Show Ponies, she’s determined to jam together poetry, punk, sex, sizzle and theatre, shaking poetry performance loose from its conventions. But not everyone is supportive of her unconventional ideas.
Check out the documentary short Ultimately Lacks Polish, by Kathleen Winter, which juxtaposes the music, movement and confronting energy of Freya’s live performances with the poet’s more mindful reflections on her artistry, her self, and her attempts to secure funding for her next big thing.
Commissioned by Going West as 'portraits of a storyteller' Kathleen’s 17-minute doco is part of the festival’s first season of Moving Portraits, a series of high-quality art documentaries in which the filmmakers and their subjects were encouraged to experiment, collaborate, and express themselves without constraint.
To view the documentary, click here. Going West has a ‘pay what you can’ option, so the film is available to watch for free or you can choose to support the festival.