~ 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 work: Given Words
Poetry filmmaker Charles Olsen is inviting international poetry filmmakers to help mark the 10th anniversary of a project he’s spearheaded called Given Words. As he explains in the CFW,
Given Words is a poetry competition run by me—artist, writer and poetry filmmaker Charles Olsen—for Aotearoa New Zealand’s National Poetry Day in August. Each year I present five words and poets (New Zealand citizens and residents, both adults and children) write poems including all five words. I have also been a judge of the Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival (2023) and the ekphrastic poetry film competition Frame to Frames: Your Eyes Follow (2022).
In the last three editions, the five words have been presented in ‘word videos’ made by students in Honduras, Spain, and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Here’s an example of a given words video from López de Arenas Secondary School, Marchena, Spain, used for the 2023 competition:
For the tenth edition of Given Words I would like to invite poetry filmmakers from around the word to collaborate by contributing very short—from 5- up to 20-second—’word films’, from which I will choose five to inspire the poets of the 10th edition of Given Words. My reason for asking established poetry filmmakers is I would like to use this platform to both demonstrate the possibilities of the audiovisual medium, and hopefully inspire experimentation, as well as young future poet-filmmakers.
In a way it is breaking down poetry film into its most basic element: how to convey a single word through moving image and sound. In selecting the five word films I will consider the poetic nature and originality of each piece, alongside the final combination of the five words.
What will you get out of this?
There are no prizes or laurels or festival screenings. If chosen, your word film will help to inspire around 250 poems by adults and children across Aotearoa New Zealand next National Poetry Day in August 2025. It is an opportunity to be part of this innovative project, and may also get you questioning the relationship between text, sound and image in your own work. You should also have fun!
I have run Given Words for nine years with prizes donated by New Zealand publishers, and a minimal seed fund towards judging fees. No fee is asked of participants, and many schools across Aotearoa New Zealand invite their students to take part. We will promote the results and the winner’s profiles on our social networks during the National Poetry Day celebrations.
Guidelines
- Make a film that presents one word in an original poetic way. The word must be present visually, or in audio, or both.
- Each film should be less than 20 seconds long.
- You can choose any word. We usually choose a mix of nouns, verbs and adjectives. Words in languages other than English will need to be accompanied by the English translation.
- You can submit as many word films as you like, although for the five words we will only choose one per filmmaker.
- You may submit clips of your previous work if it fits the guidelines.
- Please do not include credits or logos.
- Submission is free.
- By submitting you acknowledge that the work is yours, and that you have obtained permission(s) where required.
- Email your word film, preferably as .MOV or .MP4, to nzgivenwords@gmail.com by 28 February 2025.
- Include your full name, a brief bio (up to 80 words), links to your social media and website, and an English translation of the word where necessary.
- By submitting your work you allow us to crop and edit the work, and present the work online. We will include the credit of your work.
- Any questions can be addressed to Charles at nzgivenwords@gmail.com.
Click through to watch more videos from the project and check out the winning poems that these videos have inspired. It’s interesting to see videopoetry being used to spark further poems. That’s kind of as it should be, I think. Let’s end with the 2024 Given Words video:
Call for Work: REELpoetry Festival 2025
REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2025 is open for submissions. The organizers say that “By popular demand, we’re extending the submission time to six months.” The festival will take place “online March 31- April 4; in person APRIL 5-6; with online workshops April 7-11.” They also note some other changes:
NEW! What could be better than videopoetry to engage coming generations of tech savvy youth. We’re delighted to support poets and filmmakers 18 and under at the festival with a new FREE “Young Creatives” program. If you’re a parent or a teacher, please encourage your kids to submit to this free program. See Rules & Terms for details specific to this program.
NEW IN 2025! We’re thinking about categories differently, and curious to see how one category where the poet and filmmaker are the same person and another where the poet and filmmaker are different plays out. Five notable international curators and presenters who have participated in our past festivals will be judging the submissions. They can’t wait to see your work!
Visit FilmFreeway for all the details.
Call for Work: Cadence Video Poetry Festival 2025 & Artist-in-Residence Program
Now in its eighth year, Cadence Video Poetry Festival is open for submissions from July 1st 2024 through January 15th 2025. The hybrid festival, which features screenings, workshops and discussions on poetry film, will take place in person in Seattle from Apr 25–27 & online Apr 25 – May 4. Selected video poems receive an artist’s payment.
According to Rana San, Co-Director/Co-Curator of the festival, “Participation in Cadence is open to work that is new or old, short or epic, premiere or seasoned traveler. If it combines text and moving image, we want to see it!”
The festival’s description is worth highlighting:
“Video poetry is language as light. As an art form, video poetry is lucid and liminal—on the threshold of the literary and the moving image. It articulates the poetic image visually, rather than metaphorically—it shifts words from page to screen, from ink to light. A video poem makes meaning that would not exist if text was without image, image without text.”
Cadence also puts on a Virtual Poetry Book Fair during each festival, the most recent of which is still available online.
Additionally, artists can also apply for the Cadence Artist-in-Residence program, which “provides resources and tools for the development of a new video poem to screen at the festival.” Launched in 2019 and open to Seattle-area residents, the program accepts applications from individual artists or collaborative teams. Those selected are granted access to the Northwest Film Forum’s film equipment and editing lab. The deadline for residency applications is December 15, 2024.
An online archive of selected award-winning videopoems from the festival is available on their website for those interested. However, screening the films requires ticket purchase from Northwest Film Forum’s Eventive virtual cinema. Some filmmakers recently selected for Cadence have made their work available on other platforms, such as “Only” (2023) a film by Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş based on a Rebecca Foust poem, featured previously on Moving Poems.
The annual festival is organized by Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and Rana San and hosted at the independent film and arts nonprofit, Northwest Film Forum, founded in Seattle in 1995. Cadence has become a fixture on the video poetry festival circuit so send in your work!
Submissions for the 8th Annual Cadence Video Poetry Festival are accepted through Film Freeway.
Calls for work: latest round-up
I’ll illustrate this round-up with a trailer excerpt from a personal favourite that I saw this week from the online Juried Selections at REELPoetry Festival in Houston. I Dream my Dream by Monique van Kerkhof and Bo Oudendijk.
Dreaming about showing your work? From Australia to Mexico and other points in between, there are film festivals that are awaiting poetry films. Recent posts here on Moving Poems have included Drumshanbo, Resonans, and Maldito, and these are still open, as well as Midwest which was listed back in January.
In Australia there is a new poetry film festival to be held in conjunction with the Poets on the Mountain Festival and they are looking for Australian poetry films and Australian Bush Poetry films. Deadline 30 June.
La Poesia Che Si Vede is an international competition for poetry films based in Ancona, Italy. The organisers say that “poetry film for La Poesia che si vede is total poetry, without discrimination of genre or format”. Deadline 27 May.
Fotogenia in Mexico City has been running for 6 years. It has a varied programme that includes categories such as avant-garde feature films and video art, with a specific film poetry category. They do have a number of specific rules though – do check carefully. These include mandatory Spanish subtitles if your film is to be shown in the in-person screening, and that films cannot be shown online at any other public website. Deadline 31 July.
Call for work: Drumshanbo 2024
The 3rd Annual Drumshanbo Written Word Poetry Film Competition is now open for entries on Film freeway at https://filmfreeway.com/DrumshanboWrittenWordPoetryFilmCompetition Drumshanbo in County Leitrim, Ireland, a beautiful lakelands town hosts an annual literary festival in August. The festival brings together some of Ireland’s finest writers and poets. As part of this they host an annual poetry film competition open to all. Each year there is an evening where shortlisted films are screened as part of the opening ceremony.
Shortlisted films will be shown on Friday 23rd Aug 2024. There will be a 1st Prize of €500 Films of up to 10 minutes are welcome.Call for work: RESONANS
A Copenhagen-based festival focusing on the poetics of nature and the environment is open for submissions.
RESONANS: A Fringe of Nature and Culture
(Previously known as the Nature & Culture International Poetry Film Festival)
This festival focuses on the poetics of nature and environment, and takes place annually in Copenhagen, Denmark (with headquarters in Sweden and Finland for smaller features) as well as an online festival which is of free access at poeticphonotheque.com during the festival dates.
The Organizers:
The Poetic Phonotheque started in 2020 as an audio collection of poetry from all over the world which now counts with over 500 adiovisual poems in all languages and an international permanent collection of poetry films. The Poetic Phonotheque is managed by Red Door Gallery in Copenhagen, which also counts with its own magazine www.reddoormagazine.com since 2009.
In 2021, Kulturhuset Islands Brygge (Copenhagen, Denmark) became the official home of the Poetic Phonotheque, to house its audio collection and launched a second round of poetry open calls to collect audio poetry recordings in every language with the theme of climate, sustainability, nature, and our planet’s preservation as the focus.
In 2021, Kultivera, a cultural organization in the city of Tranås, Sweden, also became headquarters of the Phonotheque for that country.
In 2022, the screening location of the festival was Husets Biograf, a cultural centre located at Rådhusstræ 13 in central Copenhagen, Denmark.
In 2023, Bokens Hus, in Turku, Finland, joins the team as Finnish headquarters, collaborators and mapping team.
In 2024, Empire Bio in Copenhagen joins as the screening location for the 4th edition of the festival.
We invite you to submit your films on this important subject, whether they’re animation, short film, poetry film, experimental, or documentaries. A focus on the NATURE & CULTURE (humanity’s connection with our environment) is encouraged.
Poetry films are invited to remain as part of the permanent video collection of the Poetic Phonotheque. We encourage BIPOC and LGBTQ+ creators to submit their work.
It’s €10 to submit (Student: €6) and the deadline is May 31. Visit FilmFreeway for rules and terms. Browse the growing library of films at The Poetic Phonoteque.
Open call: Maldito Festival de Videopoesía 2024
Spain’s MALDITO FESTIVAL DE VIDEOPOESÍA has just announced open calls for its International Videopoetry Contest (short films) — guidelines here [PDF] — and its International Poetic Film Showcase (medium- to full-length films) — guidelines here. Maldito is
an international videopoetry contest that has been held in Albacete (Spain) since 2017.
MALDITO FESTIVAL launch this contest with the purpose to show two disciplines that, either individually or collectively, are much more isolated and forgotten as we would like. According to our experience, these disciplines are considered marginal and minor in the extent of the great European capitals, moreover, in the humble towns within regional borders where its dissemination is nonexistent.
MALDITO seeks to vindicate video poetry as an art that connects people, transmits feelings and stimulates different ways to see the world. It is also a tiny contribution of enormous people to empower visual art, stopping it from being marginal and damned*.
(* The Spanish word for damned is MALDITO).The festival is organized by non-profit Association Cultural Maldito; formed by a small team of professionals from the film industry, poetry and culture in general.
MALDITO Crew, as lovers of poetry, image and the expressive possibilities of its symbiosis, we pick up the baton and propose to continue the line of action, encouraging their approach to the public, either with the festival events or the educational activities that we carry out.
The festival will be in November 11-17. The deadline is July 10.
Festival circuit round-up
It’s the New Year and perhaps a good time to be thinking about film festivals and competitions. Is this the year you will enter for the first time? Or to bring an, as yet, unseen project to light? Or to think about what new films you might create in 2024 …
But first, with a quick pause for thought (or maybe to take the actions suggested) – here is a throwback to a lovely little film posted on Moving Poems way back in 2012.
And now, here are the major festivals for poetry films coming up for entry (linked to their FilmFreeway page where you will find more details). Some were first posted earlier when the calls initially went out (but a reminder that the deadline is coming up closer), and others are fresh!
- Cadence – deadlines 15 January / 5 February
Event: April, Seattle USA - REELpoetry – final deadline 22 January
Event: April, Houston USA - Weimar Poetry Film Award – deadline 31 January
Event: May/June, Weimar Germany - International Video Poetry Festival in Athens – deadline 1 February
Event: April, Athens Greece - Les Instants Video – deadline 15 March
Event: October, Marseille France - Midwest Video Poetry Fest – deadlines 1 May / 1 June
Event: October, Madison Wisconsin USA
Remember to check all the rules of entry carefully to make sure you comply (or it is just irritating for the organisers), and make your own judgements on whether to enter. These are all established events, but be aware that there are some dodgy festivals out there that have little merit in getting your film exposed to an interested audience but will take hefty sums in entry fees.
No need to rush it either … festivals and deadlines are an ongoing roll, and if you miss one, there will always be another festival or another year that comes along. Often there is a long or an unlimited timeframe in which a completed film will be eligible, and no impact if you don’t get on the case immediately.
Read more about entering festivals in this past interview with Adam Stone on Moving Poems.
Wishing everyone good luck in 2024!
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.”
