~ calls for work ~

All festivals, events and calls for work are mentioned by Moving Poems with our best efforts and in good faith. However, do check all details yourself as we cannot guarantee accuracy, and make your own judgements because we cannot verify the things that we share. Events may fail for a variety of genuine reasons, or may be a scam to elicit fees.

Call for videopoetry submissions: Atticus Review

Writer and videopoet Matt Mullins asked me to share this call-out:

The Atticus Review, an online literary/mixed media magazine, seeks filmpoems/videopoems of between one and eight minutes in length for publication. You can submit via Submittable at the Atticus Review website, or you can email mixed media editor Matt Mullins directly at m-mull at hotmail dot com.

Last call for submissions of remix-ready poems to the Poetry Storehouse

After consultation with her board of advisers (me included), Nic S. has made the difficult decision to phase out submissions to The Poetry Storehouse, with a deadline of 28 February. Filmmakers and other remixers will have a bit longer: she’ll continue to archive videos and other material on the site through September. After that, the site will become dormant — though all of its content will remain online indefinitely, and filmmakers will continue to be able to use it as a source of material and inspiration.

I’ve enjoyed the project immensely but it’s becoming clear to me that it has gone as far as it can in its present configuration – ie as a one-person all-volunteer show for daily operations. To get to the next level, the Storehouse would have to think about expanding its volunteer staff and/or trying to attract investment that would allow the operational staff to grow.

The past 14 months have proved the concept of the Storehouse and shown there really is considerable untapped energy behind the concept among poets, readers and remixers alike. I think both community and buy-in exist to take the Storehouse to the next level. The way my life is going, however, I know definitely that I have neither the time nor the desire to administer additional staff and/or resources.

Read the rest of Nic’s blog post for the full details.

The “weeCinema” pop-up theater: a unique Kickstarter campaign and call for poetry-film submissions

Todd Boss and Motionpoems have come up with a proposal that’s hard not to fall in love with: a portable, miniature theater made from a shipping container, with a translucent screen at the back so that films will also be viewable from the outside (in reverse), turning the theater into a lightbox at night. It’s especially designed with continuously looping programs of short films in mind.

It could stand as an alternative to the big chain theater experience, where you’re just another member of the herd, moving through the box office. It could create an entirely different kind of intimacy among casual theatergoers who might just be happening by, in a park, on a campus, or on a pedestrian mall.

That’s from the weeCinema Kickstarter campaign, which aims to raise $20,000 by February 19 in order to buy the shipping container. The design (by award-winning weeHouse architect Geoff Warner) is in, and it sounds fantastic. I happened across the promotional video when they posted it to Vimeo six days ago, and was so taken by the idea I shared it on Facebook right away (where it garnered lots of likes).

I figured a crowd-funding campaign was on the way, but Motionpoems still managed to surprise me with one ingenious fundraising twist:

Pledge $10 or more

Entry fee. This fee enables you to answer our call for POETRY FILMS. Deadline Feb 25. Your film could be screened in the weeCinema during MSP Int’l Film Festival! Submission details: http://bit.ly/WeeCinema

(MSP = Minneapolis-St. Paul.) So there you have it: possibly the coolest Kickstarter ever. Give till it hurts.

News roundup: Read Our Lips Filmpoem Competition, Rabbit Heart DVD, animated poetry film screening in Leipzig

Spoken-word poets from the north of England are invited to submit films to the Read Our Lips Filmpoem Competition 2015.

Read Our Lips is a unique digital project that aims to give poets and spoken word artists the skills to make their own filmpoems, from storyboarding through to editing.

We believe that a filmpoem is not a recording of a performance to camera, but is instead a layering of visual elements on to a spoken poem in such a way as to create a new, coherent work of art. We are looking for films that do more than simply illustrate the featured poem in a literal way, but which seek to surprise, enhance or subvert by their choice of additional imagery.

Click through to the Facebook event listing for the competition terms and conditions. The deadline is February 23, 2015. Prizes total £225. (I especially liked this bit: “All poems will be screened online during March 2015 for entry into the viewer’s choice prize category.”)

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Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival 2014 DVDHere’s a cool thing: just in time for the holidays, a Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival 2014 DVD from Doublebunny Press.

All the best video from the 2014 Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival collected in one place, including category reels, and the Best of What Not to Submit Monday.
Films by:
Yves Bommenel, Greg Brisendine, John Mortara, Sarah Guimond, Aisha Naseem & Chris Markman, Josh Lefkowitz and Chris Follmer, David Richardson, Timothy David Orme, Meriel Lland, Megan Falley and Rachel Rae Gausp, Malt Schlitzman, Cheryl Maddalena, Sou MacMillan, Jenith Charpentier, Laura EJ Moran, Scott Woods, Michael Medeiros, Cassidy Parker Knight & Jeff Knight, and Allan & the Nieces

To sample some of the films included on the DVD, see their YouTube page.

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Here’s an upcoming screening that sounds kind of intriguing: Leipzig-Präsentation von LAB/P – poetry in motion.

Wir präsentieren 9 Animationsfilme, die in der interdisziplinären Zusammenarbeit von AutorInnen und FilmemacherInnen aus der Region entstanden sind. Die Werke ermöglichen einen spannenden Einblick in zeitgenössische Lyrik und Animationsästhetik und geben Gelegenheit, neue künstlerische Positionen zu entdecken.

Which Google Translate renders as:

We present 9 animated films that have arisen in the interdisciplinary collaboration between authors and filmmakers from the region. The works provide a fascinating insight into contemporary poetry and animation aesthetics and given the opportunity to discover new artistic positions.

Here are the details:

Donnerstag, 11. Dezember 2014
Kleiner Empfang ab 19:30 Uhr, Vorführungsbeginn 20:00 Uhr
UT Connewitz, Wolfgang-Heinze-Straße 12, 04277 Leipzig, www.utconnewitz.de

Programm:
KANTEN DEINER AUGEN (Melissa Harms & Yevgeniy Breyger)
ROSTOCK, GRAND CAFÉ (Susann Arnold & Moritz Gause)
DAS BILD IN DEM BILD IN DEM BILD IN DEM BILD (Catalina G. Veléz & Marlen Pelny)
ECHO (Damaris Zielke & Peter Thiers)
AUSGEBRANNTES HAUS (Eva-Maria Arndt & Antje Kersten)
OHNE TITEL (Meng Chang & Daniel Schmidt)
VIVA VIOLENCE (Johanna Maxl & Katharina Merten)
DIE ANGST DES WOLFS VOR DEM WOLF (Juliane Jaschnow & Stefan Petermann)
KASPAR HAUSERIN (Nelly Chernetskaya & Katia S. Ditzler)

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Thanks for all three of these news items to the fabulous Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel, who seems to know about everything related to poetry film going on anywhere on the world, and posts it all to the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival group page on Facebook.

Call for submissions + new documentary on Motionpoems’ “Arrivals and Departures” installation

If, like me, you’ve been wondering just how Motionpoems managed the logistical hurdles of projecting films onto the front of a train station, what it looked like, and how it was received by the general public, this great little “micro-documentary” gives a pretty good indication.

If you’re a U.S.-based poet and would like the chance to be considered for next year’s version of Arrivals and Departures, the deadline is fast approaching: November 30! I got this reminder in my email inbox yesterday from the CRWROPPS-B list:

SUBMIT TO ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES YEAR 2!

See your poem turned into a film and projected onto the 1,000-foot neoclassical facade of Saint Paul’s Union Depot in Motionpoems’ latest annual public art installation. Poems accepted on the theme of “Arrivals and Departures” through Nov 30. Broad interpretations of the theme encouraged. Poems accepted from all non-Minnesota U.S. residents (Minnesota poets will be invited to submit again in Year 4).

MORE ABOUT THE CONTEST:
Entrants are urged to consider the theme of “Arrivals and Departures” in broad terms. Although this project celebrates the newly revitalized Depot, the Depot isn’t the project’s subject. It’s just the canvas upon which the poems will be experienced. Entrants should consider not what the Depot is, but what it represents, as a source of diversity, culture, commerce, influence, inspiration, and exploration. Also consider the Depot as an early manifestation of newer depots in modern life, which may include the International Space Station, for example, or other ways in which mankind is ‘departing’ or ‘arriving’ culturally, intellectually, spiritually, etc. Poems about trains are less encouraged. Poems published within the last five years will be considered in addition to previously unpublished poems.

WHERE TO SUBMIT:
Submissions can only be made online via Submittable at https://motionpoems.submittable.com/submit/34138. Submit one poem only; multiple submissions will disqualify you. The poem should be no more than 500 words. Translations are not eligible, but poems published within the last five years are eligible. Use the “bio” and “cover letter” fields to tell us who you are, how you learned about this project, and why you would like to be part of it.

DEADLINE:
Entry deadline is November 30, 2014. No entries will be accepted after the deadline.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT:
All finalist poems will be presented to filmmakers, but only a handful will be developed into films. That handful of poems will be selected by participating filmmakers based on individual preference, as part of an open call to filmmakers in partnership with Independent Filmmaker Project New York. Motionpoems does not guarantee the number of films to be made. Remember: Not all finalist poems will be made into films.

MORE INFORMATION:
To read the complete guidelines and submit: https://motionpoems.submittable.com/submit/34138

To read the Official Terms of Entry: http://www.motionpoems.com/a-and-d-2-terms/

For more about Arrivals and Departures Year 1: http://www.motionpoems.com/arrivals-departures-at-st-pauls-union-depot/

To learn more about Motionpoems and watch 5 seasons of motionpoems: http://www.motionpoems.com

In other Motionpoems news, there’s an interesting note on their About page regarding their next regular season of films: “Season 6 is a special collaboration with VIDA: WOMEN IN THE ARTS, designed to balance the Motionpoems ecosystem with more poetry by women.” I’ll be looking forward to that. VIDA is a good organization.

Call for submissions: Text(e) Image Beat exhibition at Galerie Sans Nom

(The following press release is from Annie France Noël, co-director of the GSN.)

GSN logoThe Galerie Sans Nom (GSN) in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, is organizing a screening of videopoetry with the curators Daniel Dugas and Valerie LeBlanc. The exhibition will be presented from March 20 – May 1, 2015.

The work should be screen-based poems where the text, image and sound intermingle. The maximum duration of the work cannot exceed 5 minutes and must have been realized after January 2013. The works must be in either French or English. If the language in the video poem is other than French or English, the artist is required to submit a version that is subtitled in French or English. All video poems must be received by the December 15 deadline through a file hosting service (Dropbox) or through Vimeo. A short artist bio and synopsis of the video poem must accompany each submission.

No entry fee, CARFAC rates will be paid.

Deadline: December 15th, 2014

Submissions must include:

  • Director’s name
  • Address
  • Email
  • Duration
  • Year
  • Format
  • Link (Vimeo / Dropbox)
  • Previous screenings
  • Synopsis
  • Bio
  • Artist portrait (JPEG, 300 DPI)
  • Still image of video (JPEG, 300 DPI)

Submit as a WORD .doc attachment to: videopoesieGSN@gmail.com

Motionpoems’ “Colossal 3D poetry film installation” prepares for first run, issues nation-wide call for entries for 2015

Most poets seem to limit their greatest bursts of creativity to their writing, but Minnesota-based poet and force of nature Todd Boss (check out his new website) seems to come up with ingenious ideas for public poetry projects almost once a year — and given his background as an arts administrator, he then makes them happen, too. He’s really committed to bringing poetry to the people. He of course co-founded Motionpoems, of which he is still Executive and Artistic Director. In 2012, he worked with Swedish visual artist Maja Spasova on a large-scale public art project in the Mississippi River, Project 35W, which included audio stations and a print supplement of the associated poems in the local newspaper. Then there’s this:

https://vimeo.com/103811378

“Arrivals & Departures at Saint Paul’s Union Depot” has a page on the Motionpoems website. Let me paste in the first part of the announcement (minus some of the formatting):

A   L   L           A   B   O   A   R   D


F O R   A   M A J O R   M O T I O N P O E M S   P U B L I C   A R T   P R O J E C T 

“Arrivals & Departures at Saint Paul’s Union Depot”

C O M I N G    |     S T .   P A U L      |      O C T   1 0 – 1 1 ,   2 0 1 4

Motionpoems and public artist Todd Boss present “Arrivals & Departures at St Paul’s Union Depot,” a colossal 3D poetry film installation that will magically transform the facade of one of St Paul’s most impressive landmark buildings.

Follow #DepotPoems
for weather and late-breaking updates.

This is the first of an annual projection.

NOW CALLING FOR POEMS by US poets. DEADLINE Nov 30, 2014.
Click here to enter.

We selected a handful of original poems by Minnesotans (theme: “Arrivals & Departures”) from a statewide call for poems (CLOSED), then commissioned Minnesota film teams to turn finalist poems into short films to fit digitally mapped 3D templates of the building.

In Oct 2014, we’ll project the films onto the screen-filled facade of St Paul’s historic Union Depot to loop at 5-minute intervals like trains, with accompanying audio from lawn-area speakers, during the St Paul Art Crawl, October 10-12, 2014.

The artistic vision for this project is to celebrate Union Depot’s renaissance as a rail hub with an act of place-making that will reclaim the space in the hearts and minds of all who experience it.

Read the rest (including the 2014 winning poems by Brian Beatty, Robert Dougherty, Mike Rollin, and Linda Back McKay).

Todd Boss, meanwhile, isn’t resting on his laurels. Next spring, Minneapolis-Saint Paul residents will get to experience the Wee Cinema:

https://vimeo.com/104415198

The Poetry Storehouse First Anniversary Contest

Poetry Storehouse logo(Reblogged from The Poetry Storehouse.)

The Poetry Storehouse opened its doors on October 15, 2013 and since then has amassed a fabulous collection of poems and audio-visual remixes based on those poems, thanks to a more than 100-strong (and growing) community of poets, remixers and readers.

Creative energy is never created from scratch, nor does it ever die, but continually morphs from form to form as each of us is inspired by what has gone before us and in turn inspires what comes after us. Unique for its three categories of contributors – poets, remixers and readers – who engage with each others’ work with always interesting and frequently stunning results, the Storehouse embodies that continual passing on of the creative baton.

Join us in celebrating these awesome community achievements by participating in the Poetry Storehouse First Anniversary Contest as either a remixer or a poet, details below. Deadline for all contest submissions is midnight EST on Sunday October 19, 2014.


FOR REMIXERS

Create a remix (a video remix, an art collage, a soundscape, a sound collage, or surprise us) in response to any Storehouse poem currently up at the site. All contest remixes must be created on or after September 22, 2014. If you would like a reading by a specific Storehouse reader for the poem you select, email nic_sebastian at hotmail dot com and we will see what we can do for you.

Audio-video judgesMarc Neys (aka Swoon), Erica Goss and Dave Bonta
Art judgePeter Ciccariello

The winning remix, depending on its format, will be featured by The Poetry Storehouse, Moving Poems and The Third Form.

Contest submissions – please email nic_sebastian at hotmail dot com with a link to your submission or to discuss the best format for your submission.


FOR POETS

Write a poem in response to one of these three videos by Storehouse remixers:

Poetry judgeJessica Piazza

Our judge, working with a panel of screeners, will select one poem for each of the three videos and all three clips will be finished by the original film-maker to incorporate the selected poems. The three finished clips and poems will be showcased both at The Poetry Storehouse and by our contest collaboration partner, Menacing Hedge.

Contest submissions – please use our submissions manager and submit in the ‘Poetry Storehouse 1st Anniversary Contest‘ category.

Video clip by Eduardo Yagüe
http://vimeo.com/106044618
back to video list

Video clip by Marc Neys

back to video list

Video clip by Lori Ersolmaz

back to video list

Call for submissions: Don McKay Video Poem Contest

Don McKay Video Poem Contest flyerThere certainly are some interesting contests popping up these days. The Victoria Writers Festival in Victoria, British Columbia is sponsoring a contest for videos based on the poems of Canadian poet Don McKay.

Yes! To celebrate the publication of Angular Unconformity: The Collected Poems of Don McKay (Goose Lane Editions, 2014), we invite anyone with a camera and/or computer and a little editing savvy to create a video that “performs” any poem of Don McKay’s. You can easily find poems by this giant of Canadian poetry online, in bookstores and libraries, or hopefully on your own shelves. Prizes in two categories: Youth (under 18) and Adult.

THE SIMPLE RULES:

1. Videos must be no longer than five minutes.
2. Videos must include the entire poem.
3. Don McKay MUST be credited as the writer in the film itself and in the video description at YouTube or Vimeo, along with the title of the book or magazine in which the poem appeared, the publisher, and the date of publication.
4. Know copyright. Get permission to use audio, video and photography, or ensure that what you use is in the public domain. Moving Poems has compiled details about fair use, and links to troves of public domain video and audio here: Web Resources for Videopoem Makers. Best yet, shoot your own material. (Don McKay has given his permission for his poems to be used in this contest.)
5. Upload your video to YouTube or to Vimeo and send us the link at victoriawritersfestival@gmail.com. Please note if you are entering as a Youth.
6. Have fun – Don does!

The deadline is November 1, and the festival takes place November 6-8. Click through for details about judges, entry fees, and prizes, as well as samples of McKay’s poetry.

I’m glad to see my web resources guide put to good use, but I’m especially delighted to see a regular writers festival creating a space for videopoetry. I think this is part of a growing, international trend for writing or poetry festivals to include a screening of poetry films. In a few more years, it may seem odd to put on a writing festival and not include film or video in some way.

Call for submissions: 3rd annual International Film Poetry Festival in Athens

International Film Poetry Festival posterThe +Institute [for Experimental Arts] and Void Network are once again sponsoring a poetry film festival in Athens this December.

There will be two different zones of the festival. The first zone will include video poems, visual poems, short film poems and cinematic poetry by artists from all over the world (America, Asia, Europe, Africa). The second zone will include cross-platform collaborations of sound producers and music groups with poets and visual artists in live improvisations.

The International Film Poetry Festival 2014 attempts to create an open public space for the creative expression of all tendencies and streams of contemporary visual poetry.

The deadline for submissions is November 20. Click through to read the rest and to download the application form.

Right Hand Pointing magazine tempts poets to submit with promise of a video made from their work

Right Hand Pointing's motivational speaker dudeThe always innovative online literary magazine Right Hand Pointing has hired an unusual reader for their next issue.

81: (December 2014): Special poetry issue: “Swoon,” One to three poems will be selected by Marc Neys who, under the name “Swoon” creates videos incorporating poems. Marc will create a video based on the winning one, two, or three poems. We will begin reading for this issue immediately. Deadline October 31, 2014.

And check out their fancy multimedia guidelines! I can’t remember the last time I was so entertained by a list of rules.

Neys probably needs no introduction to regular readers/viewers of Moving Poems, but just in case, here’s his website.

Independent animator Neely Goniodsky invites submissions to Kickstarter-funded animated poetry contest

Well, this is different. And potentially very cool. As Goniodsky points out at the very bottom of the page, professional animation doesn’t come cheap. “If this were a commissioned project, my fee would be between 5K to 15K depending on the amount of work involved.” And she does have an impressive bio and demo reel. Do click through to get all the contest details, watch the demo reel, or even donate to the Kickstarter campaign to help fund it. (For as little as $5.00, you’d be able to view the film as soon as it’s made.)

(Hat-tip: poet Peter Cherches on Facebook)