The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts created this 32-minute documentary about Dickinson's life. It focuses on the house in Amherst where Dickinson spent the vast majority of her adult life. Known as The Homestead, Dickinson was born in the home and gradually shut herself away within it as she became an adult.
This short film is a spoof of pretentious short films. The film breaks down into three different storylines—all parodies—two of which feature Emily Dickinson. We don't know if we're more interested in the one about Dickinson and her "psycho-sexual visions of her past affairs" or the one in which a present-day woman named Emily Dickinson "is trapped by the imperialist policy of modern America war."
When filmmaker Jim Wolpaw embarked on a quest to find the "real" Emily Dickinson, he found that the reclusive poet's nature eluded him. After exhausting the typical routes of a documentary filmmaker—biographers, historians, and such—he holds a "casting call" for a Hollywood-type film of Dickinson's life. The documentary takes an unusual turn from there.
This entry in the celebrated documentary series looks at Emily Dickinson. The documentary is noteworthy for the famous writers who are commentators, such as Adrienne Rich and Joyce Carol Oates.
This award-winning, Canadian short film is based on the poetry of Emily Dickinson. It made the rounds of the film festival circuit about ten years ago, but might be hard to find now.
Acclaimed actress and Dickinson devotee Julie Harris narrates this documentary about the poet's life. Harris leads viewers through Dickinson-related sites in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she spent nearly all of her life.