Call for work: 9th International Video Poetry Festival in Athens
photo: The Reorientalist, 2013 by Juan Ford
The International Video Poetry Festival in Athens attempts to create an open public space for the creative expression of all tendencies and streams of contemporary visual poetry. The IVPF has been around since 2012. It is one of the largest international platforms for video poetry. Every year, it offers poets, film and festival makers from all over the world a platform for creative exchange, brainstorming and meeting with a broad audience. With poetry readings, live performances, concerts, retrospectives, exhibitions, performances, workshops and lectures present in various sections the diversity of the genre of video poetry and spoken word music.
The International Video Poetry Festival happens in two different zones. The first day is the Show Room Video Poetry, a unique zone that will include video poems, visual poems, short film poems and cinematic poetry and performances by artists from all over the world (America, Asia, Europe, Africa). The second day is the Live Improvisation Zone with multimedia poetry readings, concerts with experimental music, workshops and live spoken word performances.
Poets, filmmakers, video and digital artists, media and performance artists are called to submit creative works to the 9th Annual International Video Poetry Festival in Athens, Greece. The festival celebrates and will screen a large scope of video projects developed through the medium of poetry. The International Video Poetry Festival will also host a series of panels, guest speakers, workshops, and public dialogues regarding film and video poetry. In addition to the screenings, programmers also curate a video art exhibition.
There are no restrictions regarding when the film was produced or if the film has premiered regionally or internationally. There are no restrictions on subject matter, theme, topic, or the language of origin. The International Video Poetry Festival will accept submissions of poetry films, filmpoems, digital-poetry, poetry video, Cin(E)-Poetry, spoken word films, videopoema, visual poetry, choreopoems, poetrinca, media poetry, and all films and videos that are driven visually by text or voice.
Live performances, video mapping, installation proposals, and grand-scale video art presentations that contain strong aspects of poetry are encouraged. The IVPF also calls for experimental film and video work that explores poetry or literature whether it be oral, written, visual, or symbolic. This includes non-narrative work and the avant-garde. The International Video Poetry also invites you to film video poems based on Allen Ginsberg’s and Gregory Corso’s poetry.
The IVPF strongly considers artwork that examines and challenges traditional visual communication methods while continuing to function as a tool for exploring poetry.The International Video Poetry Festival will consider documentaries that focus on poets, poems, poetry, poetic technique, literary movements, and historical events within these realms. The documentaries must have English or Greek subtitles.
The IVPF also calls for video work that explores poetry and literature whether it be oral, written, visual, or symbolic. This includes the film essay or cinematic essay, non-narrative work, and the avant-guard. We will also strongly consider work that challenges traditional and current visual communication methods while continuing to function as a mode for exploring narrative and personal expression.
Organizer and promoter of the International Video Poetry Festival are the Institute for Experimental Arts in co-operation with Void Network.
Every year the committee of the Institute for Experimental Arts the 10 most outstanding video poems of the annual festival. Τhe committee is composed of the official member of the nonprofit cultural society Institute for Experimental Arts.
Deadline: All submissions must be submitted, emailed, or postmarked no later than November 27, 2020.
One to two project titles per submission form is allowed. All languages are allowed (including English or Greek subtitles).
Rules & Terms
Please visit our website for the rules and details on how to submit. IVPF can also receive your submission through FilmFreeway.
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Sissy Doutsiou is an international multidisciplinary artist residing in Athens, Greece. Sissy is an actress, spoken word artist, curator, educator, artivist and host. She has hosted and produced numerous intergenerational poetry, spoken word events as well as performed at festivals; including 1st Biennale in Athens, Sardam Literature Festival in Cyprus, Weimar Poetry Award and Vienna Art and Poetry Video Festival. She co-founded and curated the annually International Video Poetry Festival since 2011 and the International Experimental Film Festival since 2023. Sissy was a featured artist for 2019 in Financial Consequences: an International Poetry Festival in London School of Economics and Political Sciences. Sissy will be releasing her first LP, “Insult of Public Modesty” in the Fall of 2025. Sissy’s work examines her personal life experiences, social justice issues, and healing through trauma utilizing art as the medium.
