~ 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 entries: REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2024
The Public Poetry organization in Houston, Texas has announced the opening of submissions to REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2024 on FilmFreeway:
REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2024 is an international, curated, hybrid poetry film festival taking place online APRIL 1-4 and in person APRIL 5-7, 2024. We explore the intersection of poetry and film or video with artists working solo or collaboratively, on a cell phone or in a studio, with new or remixed or previously created work. Everyone worldwide is invited to submit their best work, created in the past or the present, up to a maximum of 6 minutes
In addition to open submissions, the festival includes a series of 40 minute themed curated programs, premieres, commissioned collaborations, deaf slam, live readings, craft workshops, poet+filmmaker talks, deaf+hearing panels and networking cafés. Screenings stream on-demand three more weeks.
REEL’s on the radar of curators and presenters and festival directors from Australia to Canada, from Ireland to Mexico, and you can connect with them at parties and premieres in person or at REELcafes in real-time online.
We’ll be screening juried open submissions in two unthemed categories — one being poetry films or videos under 4 minutes, and the second 4 to 6 minutes in length.
NEW! NEW! This year there’s a themed submission category for work inspired by the concept of “Juxtaposing Reality.” Think about elements, events, ideas, people, places that belong together–or don’t—now, in the past, and/or in the future.
We’re excited to see your work, and it’ll be great to see you online or in person at REEL 2024! REELpoetry/HoustonTX is a project of Public Poetry (publicpoetry.net).
Awards & Prizes
Prizes in cash will be awarded in four categories: poetry film/ videos under 4 minutes; poetry film/ video 4 to 6 minutes, responses to our theme and Audience Choice.
Official Selection REELpoetry laurels look great added to any poetry video or film!
Rules & Terms
1. All Entries must be 6 minutes or less, including credits. No exceptions.
2. You can submit in any language, but an English translation must be included.
3. We accept both new and pre-existing work or a repurposed combination of both.
4. For screenings to be accessible to the deaf, you must show the poem either on-screen or captioned. Poems that are spoken must include written text.
5. Filmmakers may use footage in the public domain from sites like Creative Commons (creativecommons.org)
Call for Work: Button Poetry Video Contest
The spoken-word channel/platform Button Poetry has just announced their 2023 poetry video contest.
We are thrilled to host our eighth annual open-submission video contest!
There are so many ways to record and present poetry, and we want to continue giving people around the world the chance to step up on the digital stage and share their work.
We are looking for brave work that crosses borders or effaces them completely, work that enters into larger social conversations, work that lives in the world, work with a strong, unique voice and palpable energy.
Here are the guidelines. The deadline is August 31. Good luck!
Call for work: ekphrastic video poems
Part of Festival Fotogenia in Mexico in November/December 2023 is Frame to Frames: Your Eyes Follow II. This is an ekphrastic video poem screening and prize competition.
Organisers are looking for films under 10 minutes, but preferably around 5 minutes, that are based on paintings or other works of art. Submitted films must include subtitles – in Spanish for films in English, or in English for films in Spanish or other languages.
There is also the option of working with the painting chosen for the festival: Huapango Torero by leading contemporary Mexican artist Ana Segovia (courtesy the artist and Karen Huber Gallery).
For more information and how to enter see: https://liberatedwords.com/2023/05/16/ana-segovia-painting-inspiration-for-frame-to-frames-your-eyes-follow-fotogenia-link-for-entry-forms/ Where you can also read more about the Festival painting and why Liberated Words’ Sarah Tremlett chose it for the competition.
Call for films: Videobardo International Videopoetry Festival
The Buenos Aires-based Videobardo festival will mark its 27th year this November, and has just issued an open call in Spanish and English.
Videobardo Archive and International Videopoetry Festival, founded in 1996, has been presented in 21 countries and is the oldest active videopoetry Festival in the world. This 2023 opens its call to be part of a new edition of the Festival that will be held in November in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with itinerances to be defined.
We understand Videopoetry to be those audiovisual works in which the poetic verbal language (word, letter, speech, speech, writing, visual or sound sign) has a leading role or special transformative treatment. So that the three fields: Moving Image, Sound and Verbal Language dialogue to create a reality that is the Videopoetic Work.
Here are the terms and conditions. Note that all submissions should be subtitled in Spanish, though “subtitling may be dispensed with long as the artist and VideoBardo consider that it does not affect the understanding of the work.”
Call for entries: Filmetry 23
Filmetry, an online festival of poetry and film that began in 2019 and picked up steam during the pandemic, is inviting filmmakers to make new work from a set selection of poems, just as Moving Poems did with our own upcoming haibun film festival. If our experience is any guide, they may need extra help in getting the word out, so do share this widely:
FILMETRY: a Festival of Poetry and Film is an annual collaborative art-making endeavor that pairs filmmakers with poets to create exciting new pieces of work. Filmmakers are invited to synthesize and adapt poetic work into film with only one rule: a commitment to including the text of the poem, in full, in the finished piece. The hope is that through this collaboration, both artistic partners can witness not just an adaptation of a written piece into audiovisual media, but the transformation of the original piece into something wholly new.
PLEASE READ THE RULES BELOW BEFORE SUBMITTING. The festival invites filmmakers to create new work from specific poems available on our website. Work created from poetry not on this list will be disqualified.
In its 5th year, FILMETRY will invite curated work adapted from poetry engaged with cinema. Visit copy paste this link: filmetry.org/2023-work (password: filmetry2023) to view selected work for adaptation.
They have a very tasty selection of contemporary poems to adapt from the likes of Martha Collins, Sheryl St. Germain, Denise Duhamel, and Gary LaFemina. Click through to FilmFreeway for the complete guidelines.
Call for films: Italy and Ireland
Some fresh calls for films this week … first up La Poesie che si vede, an international competition for poetry films based in Ancona, Italy, with the winner awarded €500.
The organisers say:
It is the product of the collaboration between two important festivals: La Punta della Lingua International Poetry Festival and Corto Dorico Film Festival. The first edition of La Poesia che si vede was held in July 2021. Its third edition will take place in June 2023.
The International Competition for Poetry Films is dedicated to poetry short films produced from all over the world. From kinetic text to sound text, from visual text to cine-poetry, up to the filmed performance, poetry film for La Poesia che si vede is total poetry, without discrimination of genre or format.
Submissions on FilmFreeway by 22 May 2023: https://filmfreeway.com/LaPoesiaCheSiVede
Next is the 11 Ó Bhéal Poetry Film Competition, an international competition based in Cork, Ireland.
Up to 30 shortlisted films will be announced during October 2023 and screened at the 11th Winter Warmer poetry festival (26th-28th Nov 2023) at Nano Nagle Place in Cork city, as well as online.
Submissions on FilmFreeway by 31st August, or direct via the instructions on their website https://www.obheal.ie/blog/competition-poetry-film/
Call for films: Drumshanbo Written Word Weekend
Drumshanbo Written Word Weekend is looking for poetry films. Drumshanbo in County Leitrim, Ireland, hosts an annual literary festival bringing together some of Ireland’s finest writers and poets to celebrate the written word. Part of this festival is an annual Poetry Film Competition open to filmmakers and poets from everywhere. The shortlisted films are screened as part of the festivals opening ceremony, and is curated by Colm Scully.
The event offers a first prize of €400
Apply via Filmfreeway at the following link (€5 per submission) https://filmfreeway.com/DrumshanboWrittenWordPoetryFilmCompetition
or apply for free direct by sending a high resolution download link to writtenwordpoemfilm@gmail.com by Saturday 1st July with the following information on an attached Word document.
- Film Name
- Director
- Poem Name
- Poet
- Length of Film
- Country of Origin
- When completed
- Short Bios
- Contact Details
Films should be no longer than 6 minutes, and have been made since Jan 2021. Maximum two films per competitor. All languages welcome but films not in English or Irish require English subtitles or captions. Responsibility for copyright and third party authorisations lies with the creator. Please do not submit films that were previously entered.
Call for films: Festival Cinemistica – Spain
Festival Cinemistica describes its philosophy as:
… dedicated to transcendental cinema, at its several meanings, including philosophic, psychological, scientific, anthropological, spiritual and poetic cinema. Because transcendence in the man and the world, might be eventually ineffable and, on this, cinematographic art has certain advantages, and a huge responsibility.
The 2023 festival has several categories: Cinemistic, in which poetry film would be included, and indeed, ‘all cinematographic possibilities are welcome’; 2023 Mirrors of Love – for which the overarching theme to respond to is Refuge; and a category for films for children.
The Cinemistica Festival has been running for 9 years, and takes place in the beautiful Spanish city of Grenada in November. Entries are open on FilmFreeway until 15th July 2023.
Calls for poetry films: spring round-up
In the UK we’re having quite a cold snap this week before (hopefully) we get a bit more into spring next week, and by which time submissions to the HNA Haibun festival co-sponsored by Moving Poems will close on 15th March. And on the theme of spring, I encourage you to visit The Fauvist In Spring (created c.2012) and reviewed by Dave Bonta in 2018. The title sequence alone is worth watching for the gorgeous animation.
Anyway, here is a round-up of a selection of other festivals open for poetry films coming up in the next few weeks and months. Some are free to enter, some are quite expensive. Check and check again what the criteria are for entry before you submit – is your film the right length, is it in the right language, does it have subtitles? Do you need to be a student? Or from a particular country? But equally, be aware of what festival you are entering – does it have a track record, is it well-established, does it have an in-person event or an online event or both?
The festivals that accept poetry films seem to be growing. All of the following opportunities can be found on the FilmFreeway platform which does elicit results beyond the established poetry film festivals if you search simply for ‘poetry’, often useful if your film ticks the box of a particular theme – horror, or ecological, or feminist perhaps.
Absurd Art House Film Festival
“We are open to all international films that don’t fit in, don’t want to fit in, or just can’t be categorised to fit in to the norms expected of so many conservative festivals (you know who you are)”
Blue Town, Kent, UK. Category for poetry film.
EXTENDED DEADLINE 18th March
11th International Video Poetry Festival
Athens, Greece
“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”
Deadline 1st April
Ottawa Canadian Film Festival
Ottawa, Canada
For Canadian filmmakers, including a cinepoetry category.
Final deadline 10th April.
Bloomsday Film Festival
Dublin, Ireland
“Ireland’s most literary film festival is back for its forth year!” Including poetry films category.
Deadline 10th May
Zebra Poetry Film Festival
Berlin, Germany
Long-standing and high profile festival for poetry films of many kinds.
Deadline 1st June
The Artists Forum Spoken Word Competition
New York, USA
Includes an experimental film category for video poems, and a sign-language category.
Final deadline 21st June, earlybird offers
Hombres Videopoetry Award
Carsoli, Italy
Deadline 30th June
Midwest Video Poetry Fest
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
“Midwest Video Poetry Fest inspires experimentation and collaborations and deepens the understanding of poetry and visual culture.”
Final deadline 1st July, earlybird offer 1st June
5th Hottomela International Film Festival 2023
Kolkata, India
“A Grandeur Physical Video Festival in Kolkata City ( India) with Great Projection, Sound, Arrangement, Proper Judgement and Filmmaking Seminar.”
Final deadline 31st August, earlier options
So Limitless and Free International Film Festival
Montreal, Canada
A festival about artistic world wilderness, love and creativity with no limits. Including a category for film poetry.
Final deadline 25th November, earlybird offers
Find all these and more on www.filmfreeway.com
Call for work: Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival
New Zealand poetry filmmaker Charles Olsen just wrote to let us know about this fabulous-sounding new festival, scheduled for November 2-3, 2023 in Wellington. Here’s the press release:
Submissions are now open for the Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival 2023
The Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival is an event entirely devoted to the celebration and showcase of poetry film in New Zealand. Poetry film or video poetry is a fast-growing art form that combines poetry, moving images, sound and music. We would like to invite film-makers and poets of any age and backgrounds to participate in the first edition of the Festival which will take place in November 2023 in Wellington. In particular, we encourage the submission of innovative and eclectic takes on poetry film as a distinct media form.
The Festival will feature a poetry film competition, workshops, seminars, poetry readings and retrospectives and it will offer the opportunity to showcase the diversity of poetry film produced both in Aotearoa New Zealand and overseas. The 2023 Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival is organised in collaboration with Victoria University of Wellington.
Submissions open: 1 February 2023
Submission deadline: 15 August 2023
Event: 2-3 November 2023
Website: https://www.aotearoapff.com/
FilmFreeway Page: https://filmfreeway.com/AotearoaPoetryFilmFestival-1
For more info please contact: aotearoapff@gmail.com
Call for entries: ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival 2023
It’s that time again!
In 2023, the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival is inviting entries for the International Poetry Film Competition! Eligible for entry are short films, based on poems of no more than 15 minutes duration, produced in or after 2022. All languages are allowed. The competition winners will be awarded prize money. A program committee will select films for the International Competition and for all other festival programs. The winning films will be chosen by a jury composed of representatives from the worlds of poetry, film, and media.
Closing date for entries: 1 June 2023 (postmark date)
If you have any questions, please contact: zebra@haus-fuer-poesie.org
For submission, please use the FilmFreeway portal: ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival – FilmFreeway
Visit FilmFreeway also for the full guidelines.
Haibun films still needed for our film festival!
One month ago, we invited submissions
for a screening of haibun poetry films at the biennial Haiku North America conference, to be held in Cincinnati, Ohio from June 28-July 2, 2023. Moving Poems is an official co-sponsor, and we’ll be the ones selecting the films. Winning films will be screened at the conference and published at Moving Poems.
We required filmmakers to use one of our provided texts, among other quite specific guidelines on FilmFreeway… which have been completely ignored by hundreds of filmmakers from around the world, much to my chagrin. I may have something to say about FilmFreeway’s appalling spam submissions problem later, but today I’d like to emphasize the bright side: So far we’ve gotten two strong submissions that follow the guidelines, and I’m grateful to both filmmakers. We just need a few more. Check out these haibun (password: haibun) and tell me there aren’t a ton of great potential films here! The deadline is March 15.
