Poet Yogesh Patel urges UK to view poetryfilms as literary art, not just digital experimentation

MORDEN, U.K. - Oct. 28, 2025 - PRLog -- In a newly published article in Ars Notoria, titled "The Demands of the Art of Making a Poetry Film (Even Using AI)," award-winning poet and editor-at-large Yogesh Patel makes a compelling case for the artistic legitimacy of the poetryfilm — an under-recognised form that fuses poetry, cinema, and sound.

Drawing from his own experience creating the poetryfilm A Hat for Schrödinger's Cat, recently selected by the 21 Islands International Film Festival, Patel explores the intricate craft behind the work — from storyboarding and editing to sound design, foley artistry, and the creative (not passive) use of AI tools for his new poetryfilm Dumah.

The article in a broader cultural context, acknowledges the pioneering contributions of Zata Banks and the PoetryFilm Archive, which has long championed the form through screenings, education, and curation. Patel's advocacy goes back years — in 2016, Word Masala, honoured Zata Banks with an award at the House of Lords for her role in developing and promoting the poetryfilm genre in the UK and internationally.

"In Britain, we're still far behind the US and Europe in recognising the poetryfilm as serious literary art," writes Patel. "It's time to change that."

Patel challenges the widespread belief that poetryfilms are generated by prompts alone. He insists the artist remains central — from vision to final cut.

"AI is a tool — not the source. The artist directs. The AI assists," he writes.

Dumah — adapted from his Aryamati Prize-shortlisted collection 2½: Theatre of the Absurd — combines traditional filmmaking with digital experimentation, in service of poetic storytelling.

While platforms like PoetryFilm have supported this form for decades, Patel urges the wider British literary establishment to treat poetryfilms as serious literature — not just visual experiments.

"We celebrate film-poems at international festivals," he says, "but rarely honour them in UK literary discourse. That must shift."

About the Author

Yogesh Patel MBE is a British poet, editor, and publisher whose work has appeared in

PN Review, The London Magazine, World Literature Today, The Himdustan Times, and other major publications. He has been at the forefront of conversations around poetry, identity, and the evolving creative landscape.

For interviews, commissions, or event invitations and commentary, articles, poetryfilm consultant and curator, and interviews on:
- Poetry and film
- Literature and technology
- Cultural representation in the arts
Contact: www.patelyogesh.co.uk

Read the full article in Ars Notoria: https://arsnotoria.com/2025/10/28/the-demands-of-the-art-...