THE POETS is a documentary that follows two acclaimed West African poets, and lifelong friends, Syl Cheney-Coker and Niyi Osundare as they travel through their home countries of Sierra Leone and Nigeria to explore what has shaped their art. As the film unfurls, they find answers all around them; in the stunning landscapes, the culture, the history, political strife, terrible tragedies, their family homes, and their friendship. Weaved with the poetry of Cheney-Coker and Osundare, The Poets is an exploration of how art is shaped by life experiences, and of the power and urgency of art in the face of political adversity.

The Poets

Chivas DeVinck works his way up from the soil to the stars to find out what constitutes Nevada outside of Las Vegas. Milieus, places and people are intertwined in a collage. The magnetic core of the whole is the subterranean water from which everything seems to grow and for which everyone strives. What looks like an arid desert landscape or a sleepy little town from afar, turns out on closer inspection to be an atmospheric representation of the rural U.S.