A new-to-me poetry film festival in Kazakhstan is soliciting poetry films and videos for the second year in a row. The Silk Road International Poetry Film Festival has a Facebook page, but the main English-language site for their 2018 festival is this page on sway.com.

II International Poetry Film Festival Silk Road will be held on June 21, 2018. The festival will be conducted within the frameworks of the Almaty International Literary Biennale in the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty).

Honorary chairman of the Festival Jury – a legendary, world famous poet, literary critic, diplomat, political and public figure, linguist and scientist Olzhas Suleimenov.

The purpose of the festival:

Poetry Film Festival Silk Road is a cultural and educational, nonprofit project. In the era of social media and technology people tend to read less, especially poetry. The purpose of the festival is to popularize the invaluable legacy of the poets of the East, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, and other regions among youth through visualization of the poetry by presenting it in forms of short movies and video illustrations.

Extensive research of poems for film adaptations provides the participants with an opportunity to get acquainted with poetic works of authors of different eras, cultures, and world outlook.

The festival seeks to create an intellectual platform for the exchange of ideas for the adaptation of screen versions, for identification of new poets, for cultural exchange between participants from different countries. The same functions in time fulfilled the Great Silk Road.

All the works of the participants will be posted in the public domains for familiarization and voting (one of the Prizes – Audience Choice Award).

Participation in Film Festival:

Everyone can take part. We give full freedom of self-expression. The participation is free.

Everything that’s needed:

1. It is encouraged to use poems of the Middle Eastern, East Asian and Central Asian poets (but you can use poems of any poet from any region) of any epoch and create a short film in any genre;

2. You can shoot your film with any smartphone, video camera or photo camera;

3. Film duration from 1 to 10 minutes;

4. Your film should be presented in English, Kazakh or Russian. If you use other languages, please add subtitles in one of the listed languages;

5. Post a video on youtube, vimeo or instagram (if your full video lasts up to 1 minute) with the hashtag #silkroadfestival2018 and send us a link, full name and phone number by May 15, 2018 to silkroadfestival@mail.ru

Citizenship, country of residence and the age of participants does not matter.

Prizes:

Prizes include the Grand Prix for the Best Poetry Film, Special Prize from festival’s sponsor and the Audience Choice Award. All participants will receive memorable certificates and festival laurels.

The finalists will be invited to a formal announcement of results and will be awarded the prizes on June 21 in the National Library in Almaty and International Literary Biennale. Some of the Biennale guests will include famous writers, poets, screenwriters and
playwrights from different countries.

Finalist films will be shown for the jury and guests of the exhibition. Screenings will take place in the cinema of the National Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan and other sites of Almaty and Astana.

Click through for information about last year’s festival and finalists.