Greta Bellamacina - who has been commissioned by CHEERIO, along with her husband, the artist Robert Montgomery, to make a film about legendary beat poet Michael Horovitz - is a woman of many talents; poet, actress and filmmaker are all strings to her bow. To celebrate the release of her latest film, HURT BY PARADISE, which she both stars in and directed, we spoke to Greta about the film, poetry and finding magic in the mundane.

Poetry is at the core of your film, HURT BY PARADISE. What draws you to poetry as an art form?

I like the profound and hard nature of poetry. Poetry is for the suffered and the suffering, the broken and the unanswered. I find it one of the most freeing languages to speak in. I am yet to find another art form that cuts straight in with no return.

The written word is a theme in the film – characters write poetry, conduct online relationships via text, receive rejection letters. How did you start writing?

Like many things I started instinctively. I’ve always felt a profound need to write things down. Writing almost feels like a religion. You quietly bare your soul, again and again. You sit in solitude with your thoughts and your fingers. Words have always felt like quiet prayers. There is something renewing about putting down words like bricks, like a song, like a halo. I don’t know why, but it feels like the truest form of love. 

The film itself is constructed like a poem; scenes are punctuated by slides with ‘Verse One…’, ‘Verse Two…’ written on them, and lines of recited poetry are layered over shots. What was the intention behind that? 

I wanted the characters to feel incomplete and multifaceted, like a poem, like life. These things are  complicated and unexplained and searching. I wanted the characters to feel as lifelike as possible. I didn’t want the main resolve to be the plot but instead I wanted it to be something small, a small awakening in the characters instead. 

How does poetry influence your filmmaking? 

In film you want to create a world within a world. You want to find the magic within the mundane, just like with poetry you want to find the sacred in the everyday. To quote Arab Strap, “a wallflower in the darkness”.

Music seems to play an important role in the film. How does music inspire you? Does it inspire your poetry?

We used a lot of our friends bands music in the film, the soundtrack is very much a homage to the voices of our surroundings. The live music of Bruno Wizard and the voices of the band Ambulances.

I wanted the soundtrack to feel like you were wandering the empty streets of Camden or on the night bus home with your iPod. I wanted to try and capture that melancholic state of mind.

The film often feels like a love letter to London, with beautiful sequences of shots of the city interspersed through the film. How much does place inspire you creatively?

I am like a moth. I like to follow the light around the house. I find it hard to work when the sun is out. I like to be close to the light in some way. I also need a certain amount of space from my work in order to finish it. I often work on a few projects at one time, I find this helps give a perspective. Especially when editing, there needs to be enough oxygen to bring it back to life. Most of the time my best thoughts are in the morning or the evening, life seems to get in the way in the middle. 

I know that you’ve recently moved to the countryside. Does the poetry you write change when you’re in the country? If so, how?

The sky is much more open here. The days feel longer and my thoughts seem to grow more. The countryside and the cities have their own clockwork. I feel deeper in the weather here. I think my poetry becomes closer to it too. Life fizzes in a  different way. The world feel more high res and awake. It is hard to miss it. Nature is a great healer, I feel very lucky to be closer to it. 

What inspires your poetry?

A lot of things. It can be a stranger, a road sign, a fallen down building, something on the news. I like finding the unexpected.

 How has the lockdown affected your work & process?

Lockdown felt very reflective. Like someone has been holding up a giant mirror and we were all forced to look inside of it for a very longtime. I am not sure how lockdown affected my process but it definitely forced me to slow down. I started writing a new collection called Biography Of The Wind. It is sort of a diary of the wind hitting objects, a world before the cars and the make believe and consciousness. 

Has becoming a mother affected your poetry and your relationship to writing? If so, how?

I’ve felt a new closeness to my lineage as a woman and my voice. I think this has filtered into my work, not just as a writer but as a performer also. I feel more compelled to tell stories of complicated women. Motherhood is one facet to being female, I think it’s important for it not to be the only defining one. 

Do you have a trick for getting into a creative headspace, or do you just write when inspiration strikes?

I try to keep a daily routine, I think this is useful to keep a pace and momentum going. Sometimes you don't feel creative but it is important to give yourself a quiet space to think and digest and explore. 

What tips would you give to aspiring poets?

Give your whole heart.