Jerry Bermans’s Letters feature in Issue Ten of
Soanyway: Ten Conversations. Subtitle a turn in
conversation Soanyway is online here:
https://www.soanywaymagazine.org/issues. This issue explores
conversations, exchange and dialogue, with
loads of brilliant practices from dance to text
and visuals. Recipes for Baking Bread is about
dialogue across generations. Berman’s letters
also provide a rare, and objective accounts of
Holodomor. I write about this in my thesis
in comparison to Christoper Isherwood’s ideas
about objective writing, Isherwood wrote “I am
a camera” in Goodbye to Berlin. He was an
objective, reflective observer of events. Svetlana
Alexiviech in Chernobyl Prayer is part of
her text. In one chapter, after hearing stories of
Chernobyl survivors’ experiences with journalists,
who refused their food for fear of contamination,
Alexievich writes “(Now we are sitting at the
table, having lunch)” (Alexievich, 2016, p. 233). Berman’s
letters are objective, descriptive and human. He
writes with perspective and with detail.
Recipes for Baking Bread: Jerry Berman’s Letters film
still, 2021. Source: Author.
I am working on preparations for my viva.
My work is a complete thesis map. This
shows my ideas, in each chapter, with page
numbers. This builds on my early structure
diagrams and is for fast references when I
defend my work.
Original Thesis Maps 1, 2021. Source: Author.
Original Thesis Maps 2, 2021. Source: Author.
Original Working Maps, 2021. Source: Author.
Viva: Final Thesis Maps (in development) 2021. Source:
Author.
I have a catalogue for film festivals I am
submitting to. This is spreadsheets, and entries
using Film Freeway. This is a brilliant site,
I can collect my press packs, project images
and information and submit quick responses to
festivals. I loved going to festivals after I worked
on The Accident, and I hope this work is well
received.
Film Festivals Spreadsheets, 2021. Source: Author.
References:
Alexievich, S. (2016) Chernobyl Prayer.
Translated by A. Gunin and A. Tait. London:
Penguin Books.
