~ Sadho ~
Upcoming videopoetry and poetry film festivals
Book your tickets! The annual autumn parade of poetry film festivals is about to begin. Some calls are still open: for the Vienna, Ó Bhéal and CYCLOP festivals (see below), and for the as-yet-unscheduled 5th Sadho Poetry Film Fest (deadline: October 30) and International Film Poetry Festival in Athens (deadline: November 20). And don’t forget that submissions to Zata Banks’ PoetryFilm screenings series never close.
September 15-19, Vilnius, Lithuania
TARP Audiovisual Poetry Festival 10: INTER-states
This year‘s special touch – audiozine, which will see poets Dainius Gintalas, Laima Kreivytė, Marius Burokas, Benediktas Januševičius, Agnė Žagrakalytė and others being recorded reading poetry in their favourite settings.
The last day of the festival TARP 10 will be dedicated to TARP academy, together with video poetry researchers Sarah Lucas and Lucy English from Great Britain, andan open discussion with the festival guests. The closing of the festival will be crowned as usual by an open mic readings and the opening of the „INTER-states“ exhibition – because it is just the festival that will end, while poetic states will flutter in the air for long afterwards.
September 30, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Big Bridges Film Festival
Mark your calendar for September 30, 2015 when we will reveal the winners of the Big Bridges Film Contest! The event, hosted by MotionPoems and the Target Studio at the Weisman Art Museum, will include a special screening of selected films from the contest. All are welcome!
More details coming soon at www.BigBridgesWAM.com!
October 4-11, Cork, Ireland
Ó Bhéal @ IndieCork Film Festival
→ Submissions open until September 15
This is Ó Bhéal’s sixth year of screening poetry-films (or video-poems) and the third year featuring an International competition.
Up to thirty films will be shortlisted and screened during the festival, from 4th-11th October 2015.
October 10-11, Worcester, MA, USA
Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival
Rabbit Heart 2015 will once again be at the delightful Nick’s Bar in Worcester, MA! This year there will be two shows–
Showcase Matinee – Saturday, October 10th 12-3pm
Join us for lunch, and check out some of the fantastic material that we wish we had time to share at the awards ceremony (we got SO many good entries this year!) We will screen the best of the best that didn’t fall into prize categories, as well as curated showcases from renowned UK archivist Zata Banks of PoetryFilm. Watch this space for more information on the individual showcases.Awards Ceremony and Viewing Party – Sunday, October 11th 8pm (doors at 7:30)
The show you’ve been waiting all year for – the best of the best, the handing out of trophies, popcorn and fancy dresses, and your lovely emcees Tony Brown and Melissa Mitchell! Come meet your judges and cheer for your finalists – and see who takes home the sparkle-hearted bunny for Best Overall Production.
October 17, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Visible Verse 2015 Festival
Presented by The Cinematheque since 2000, Visible Verse is one of the longest-running video poetry festivals in the world. Video poetry is a hybrid creative form bringing together verse and moving images. Visible Verse selects its annual program from hundreds of submissions received from local, national, and international artists.
On the occasion of the 2015 festival, The Cinematheque says a fond farewell and expresses its great gratitude to Heather Haley, founder of Visible Verse and its curator and host from 2000 to 2014. We welcome Vancouver poet Ray Hsu into his new role as Visible Verse’s artistic director.
November 20 and 22, Kyiv, Ukraine
5th CYCLOP International Videopoetry Festival
→ Submissions open until September 30
The festival programme features video poetry-related lectures, workshops, round tables, discussions, presentations of international contests and festivals, as well as a demonstration of the best examples of Ukrainian and world videopoetry, a competitive program, an awards ceremony and other related projects.
December 5-6, Vienna, Austria
Poetry Filmfestival Vienna (AKA Art Visuals & Poetry Festival)
→ Submissions from German-speaking countries open until September 15
After an inspiring Poetry Film Festival in 2014 we are happy to go on in 2015. What´s new in 2015? We found a new festival location in middle of city center. Metro Kinokulturhaus. It’s one the most beautiful cinemas in Vienna and the result of a new cooperation with Filmarchiv Austria.
Call for submissions: 5th Sadho Poetry Film Fest 2015-16
India’s biannual poetry-film festival Sadho is alive and well and open for new entries. I’ve taken the liberty of copying and pasting their call:
Entries are now being invited for the 5th Sadho Poetry Film Fest 2015-16
Deadline: Submission by mail: October 30, 2015
Submission for online preview: October 22, 2015 (if the entry form is submitted through mail.)
Entry form can be downloaded from links given below on this page.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The Sadho Poetry Film Fest, the first of its kind in Asia, is a unique biennial festival that showcases the finest Poetry & Poetic Films from all over the world.
The festival has two avatars. The two-day main event is organized at New Delhi every alternate year, in which all the films are screened and the viewers vote for the ‘Viewers’ Choice Award’. The next year, the festival travels to various cities with abridged screenings, also targeting destinations that are normally left out of the film-festival circuits.
The festival has a special section for poetry films made by students independently or as a part of their film-school curricula.
Sadho also has material exchange partnerships with other important organizations and festivals that focus on this genre of films in other parts of the world, and is always looking for new collaborations.
The screening of the travel festival will begin soon.
TYPE OF FILMS
We showcase films, that broadly fall into following categories:
- Poetry Films – based on or inspired by a poem. Most of the films in the festival are of this genre.
- Poetic Films – Films that are highly poetic in their cinematic construction. We include some of the finest of this vast and varied genre in our festival.
- Poetry Discourse Films – Films that engage in a debate about the image, the word and life.
- Student Poetry Films – Films on poetry made by students as a part of their curriculum or independantly.
- Film on poets
ENTRY FORM
Please download the entry form in a format of your choice.
4th Sadho Poetry Film Fest will be held Dec. 11-12 in New Delhi
Asia’s premiere poetry film festival is set for next Wednesday and Thursday, running from 6:30-8:30 each evening.
We showcase films, that broadly fall into following categories:
- Poetry films – based on or inspired by a poem. Most of the films in the festival are of this genre
- Poetic films – films that are highly poetic in their cinematic construction. We include some of the finest of this vast and varied genre in our festival.
- Poetry Discourse – films that engage in a debate about the image, the word and life.
- Film on poets
I was interested to learn that the name Sadho is derived from the poetry of Kabir:
Sadho is a voluntary organization that aims at taking great ‘poetry to people’ from all walks of life, through the innovative use of arts, media and social action.
Sadho is based on the conviction that poetry should not remain confined to books and literary circles. It should reach out to all sensitive people who have an interest in other arts and issues. Towards this end, Sadho tries to create new ways of sharing, promoting and enjoying poetry.
Initiated in 2007, Sadho has set-up Asia’s first poetry films festival, has introduced sign-language poetry films to India, organised workshops on poetry, painting and cinema and created art based on poetry, including poetry souvenirs and wallpapers. IT also tries to encourage poetry among children by publishing their poems on the website and offers special screenings of poetry-films for children.
Sadho soon plans adding a new vertical to its activities – poetry albums. These would include recordings featuring some of the prominent poets from various languages.
Sadho functions as a not-for profit charitable trust supported mostly by the donations of volunteers and well-wishers. Its trustees and core team members are unpaid volunteers, and include people from various fields like literature, cinema, music, art, media and education.
Sadho, which literally means ‘O sage’, is the familiar addressee in the poetry of the great Indian saint poet Kabir. For us ‘Sadho’ is a call to all those with poetic hearts!
(Hat-tip: @ZebraFestival on Twitter)
