Edgar Allan Poe 200 Project

It was a dark and gloomy day when I undertook my Edgar Allan Poe pilgrimage, my soul filled with a rising dread for the unknown horrors I felt awaited me.

Ever since discovering I shared a birthday with the great writer, I had become convinced that some malign influence was ineluctably drawing me to the hideous heart of a foul, unspeakable mystery. And in 2009, the bicentennial of his birth, there will be more reason than ever to go to Richmond, where he lived a third of his life.

In various cities he lived in or visited, there will be exhibitions, book signings, lectures and performances, but the heart of the mania will be Richmond's Edgar Allan Poe Museum, which claims the world's finest collection of Poe manuscripts, letters, first editions and personal belongings... continued

By Richard Conn/Daily News Staff Daily News Tribune Posted Dec 28, 2008 @ 10:16 PM WALTHAM —

There was much more to Edgar Allan Poe than the macabre masterpieces he's most known for, said Waltham resident Rob Velella.

Velella, a Poe aficionado, has tried to capture the poet's many dimensions through a daily desk calendar he created in celebration of Poe's 200th birthday, which is Jan. 19.

"Really each date gives the opportunity to tell a story," Velella said. Each of the 365 days of the year are filled with facts of Poe's life - his writings, relationships, travels and correspondence with other authors, such as the letters he sent to Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Velella estimated he spent anywhere from 300 to 600 hours putting together the calendar. It was basically a one-man show, as Velella did the design work, the exhaustive research and also published the calendar...continued

Sept 5, 2008 - The Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial, October 2009, Philadelphia, PA

Plans for Poe's 200th Birthday Celebration are underway! The Third International Edgar Allan Poe Conference: The Bicentennial will be held in Philadelphia, October 8-11, 2009, at the Hyatt Recency at Penn's Landing.

CFP: Abstracts for papers related to any aspect of Poe's work, contexts, life, and/or influence are invited as are panel ideas with each participant's abstract.

Email these proposals to Steve Rachman at rachman@msu.edu or Scott Peeples at PeeplesS@cofc.edu by January 3, 2009.

Please include the words, "Bicentennial Poe," in your email subject line. Contact co-chairs Steve Rachman at rachman@msu.edu and/or Barbara Cantalupo at bac7@psu.edu with ideas or questions.

All graduate students and international travelers can apply for the Susan Tane Travel Scholarship; please note the desire to be considered for this scholarship in your proposal.

August 21, 2008 - The Rocky road to a Poe biopic

It was only after Sly Stallone announced plans for a movie about the macabre author that Brent Fidler got serious about making his own Edgar Allan Poe film, which opens tomorrow at Montreal's World Film Festival. Marsha Lederman reports in The Globe and Mail.

VANCOUVER -- It took Vancouver actor Brent Fidler almost a quarter-century to get his film about Edgar Allan Poe made - with a competing project by Sylvester Stallone ultimately providing the final push. And while Poe: Last Days of the Raven is a far cry from the $15-million Hollywood production Fidler had once envisioned, he believes his small-budget feature is the project he was meant to create.

The unconventional and highly theatrical biopic takes place during the final days of Poe's troubled life. As he lay dying in a Baltimore hospital bed, Poe (Fidler) flashes back to his many personal tragedies. Interspersed among his memories are performances of some of the writer's most celebrated works - including The Tell-Tale Heart and The Raven.

The film will have its world premiere tomorrow at the World Film Festival in Montreal, which kicks off today. Poe will then travel to Los Angeles at the end of September for its American debut at the Cinema City International Film Festival.

SOURCE: The Globe and Mail

August 7, 2008 - It's hard to believe you can make a film for $25,000, but that was the budget for a newly released feature film based on the mystical life of American horror and mystery writer Edgar Allan Poe, who died in 1849.

Not only has Poe been completed, it's headed to the Montreal World Film Festival this month and then on to Mipcom in Cannes in October.

Executive producer, screenwriter, co-director and Poe star Brent Fidler just played a small part in the new Al Pacino film, Salomaybe?

"We are delighted to have our recently completed low-budget labour of love premiere in such a prestigious film festival," he said. The editor is Barry Backus, who edited the Academy Award-winning film Artie Shaw -- Time Is All You Got.

The music composer is Tuomas Katelinen, who was also the composer on the 2008 Academy Award-nominated best foreign language film, Mongol. Emmy Award winner Phil Trumbo, the special effects supervisor, was the art director on many of the world's top video games, including Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean.

The film, shot at the Raymond Burr Theatre in New Westminster, is based on an acclaimed stage play by Fidler, who claims to have a spiritual connection with the American gothic writer. Maybe things don't cost so much when you have connections, spiritual and otherwise.

Jan. 9, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Poe's birth. Fidler says a number of A-list Hollywood film adaptations of Poe's works are completed and ready for the global celebration.

August 5, 2008 - The Gay side of Poe's stories? Several classic horror tales are getting a gay makeover courtesy of Regent Studios, its sister cable channel Here! Networks and cult director David DeCoteau. The projects, some of which will be released theatrically by Regent in the fall, include Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum." All of the legendary tales in the slate will be refashioned to include gay themes, as was DeCoteau's recently released Poe adaptation "House of Usher."

SOURCE: HollywoodReporter.com

Another new Poe TV movie:
Edgar AllanPoe's House of Usher

"When a young man, Victor, visits his old friend Roderick Usher and Usher's sister Madeleine at their crumbling family estate, he discovers the two decaying as quickly as their mansion. He soon discovers that the only thing keeping the Ushers alive is a terrifying secret.

New Poe movie: Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia, starring Wes Bentley and Michael Madsen.

Poe the first to foretell "Big Bang Theory"? Read full NY Times article

Edmonton's Catalyst Theatre is currently developing a brand new piece, entitled Nevermore, The Imaginary Life and Improbable Death of Edgar Allan Poe, to coincide with the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe.