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Book Cover
Streaming video

Title Al Purdy Was Here
Published Films We Like, 2015
[San Francisco, California, USA] : Kanopy Streaming, 2019

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Description 1 online resource (streaming video file) (92 minutes): .flv file, sound
Summary What does it take to carve out a career as a poet? Why on earth would anyone attempt it? AL PURDY WAS HERE is the portrait of an artist driven to become a great Canadian poet at a time when the category barely existed. Al Purdy is a charismatic tower of contradictions: a "sensitive man" who whips out a poem in a bar fight; a factory worker who finds grace in an Arctic flower; a mentor to young writers who remained a stranger to sons. Purdy has been called the last, best and most Canadian poet. "Voice of the Land" is engraved on his tombstone. But before finding fame as the country’s unofficial poet laureate, he endured years of poverty and failure. Official Selection: **Toronto International Film Festival**
Notes Title from title frames
Film
In Process Record
Performer Al Purdy, Bruce Cockburn, Eurithe Purdy, Gord Downie, Gordon Pinsent, Joseph Boyden, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Sarah Harmer, Tanya Tagaq
Event Originally produced by Films We Like in 2015
Notes In English
Subject Nature.
Poetry.
Artists.
Literature.
Americans.
Documentary films.
Poetry as Topic
Literature
Nature.
poetry.
artists (visual artists)
Americans.
Artists.
Documentary films.
Literature.
Nature.
Poetry.
Genre/Form Documentary films.
Documentary films.
Documentaires.
Form Streaming video
Author D. Johnson, Brian, film director
Purdy, Al, actor
Cockburn, Bruce, actor
Purdy, Eurithe, actor
Downie, Gord, actor
Pinsent, Gordon, actor
Boyden, Joseph, actor
Atwood, Margaret, actor
Ondaatje, Michael, actor
Harmer, Sarah, actor
Tagaq, Tanya, actor
Films We Like (Firm),
Kanopy (Firm)