Description

This Sleeping Heart is a poem that was presented as part of Humanity in the Ruins, a short film by Mary Moynihan and others, inspired by artists who resisted fascism throughout history. It comprises scenes, poems, dance, and song based on imagined moments from the lives of artists who stood up for human rights in the face of fascism and hatred. The film tells the tragic story of those who lost their lives in the struggle against tyranny, from the Spanish writer and revolutionary Federico García Lorca, to the influential German war photographer Gerda Taro. It also pays homage to those who survived their conflicts and went on to champion the cause of human rights and equality. This includes figures such as the French politician Simone Veil, who was interned in the Auschwitz concentration camp. These tales of hope, horror, and humanity pose one abiding question: how far are human beings willing to go to perpetrate evil, and to fight it?