~ Weimar Poetry Film Prize ~
Weimar Poetryfilmtage 2024
This year in person 31 May/1 June, with the online playlists available until 15 June 2024, the festival in Weimar always has a thoughtful and thorough programme of poetry film. It is all very well documented on their website and in a downloadable pdf programme: https://poetryfilmtage.de/
In this year’s prize award the organisers say they received “479 films from 51 different countries … the program commission nominated 12 films for the competition”. But do take a look at what else is on the programme beyond the competition selection.
Lit. Collage: A festival for poetry and collage in Weimar
A new press release from the folks behind the Weimar Poetry Film Festival notes that
With »Lit. Collage« we are setting a special emphasis this year. Paired with the Film Festival, the Collage and Poetry Festival is meant for anyone who enjoys experimenting with cutting and assembling techniques and sharing them with others. […]
This year 479 films from 51 different countries were submitted for the 9th Weimar Poetry Film Award. The award ceremony will take place on June 1st at the Lichthaus Kino in Weimar. Stay tuned for more information about our official selection!
April-May
Workshops and eventsWe invite you to participate in several workshops in April. The courses are led by the Weimar animation artist Franka Sachse, the Berlin Poetry Slam pioneer Bas Böttcher and the Weimar musician Kay Kalytta. Poems by the Belarusian poet Volha Hapeyeva, the Colombian author Ramona de Jesús and the Weimar writer Gisela Kraft (1936–2010) serve as inspiration and source material.
The results of the workshops will be presented on various occasions in May.
APRIL
SAVE THE DATES:13.04. & 14.04.
Stop motion workshop with Franka Sachse
ACC Galerie, Burgplatz 119.04.
Text collage workshop with Bas Böttcher
LiteraturEtage, Marktstr. 2-4 (OG)26.04 & 27.04.
Sound collage workshop with Kay Kalytta
Klangradar Weimar, Fuldaer Str. 185The entry fee is 30 euros per workshop (including festival pass for the Poetryfilmtage on 31st May/1st June).
Registration via mail: info@literarische-gesellschaft.de
For more information, click hereMAY/JUNE
SAVE THE DATES:02.05.
Exhibition opening „Drehmoment“ by Aline Helmcke
LiteraturEtage, Marktstr. 2-4 (OG)25.05.
Silent Party
ACC Galerie, Burgplatz 131.05.
Lit.Collage. Poetry, Performance, Film
Mon ami, Großer Saal, Goetheplatz 1101.06.
Poetryfilmtage / Award ceremony of the 9th Weimar Poetry Film Award
Lichthaus Kino, Am Kirschberg 4
Visit their website for detailed descriptions of the April workshops for Stop-Motion, Text-Collage, and Sound-Collage.
Where to watch poetry films in April
April is Poetry Month in the U.S. and Canada, so it’s no surprise that a couple of major poetry film festivals are held then. First up: Houston’s REELPoetry Festival.
Online April 1-5, 2024
In Person April 6-7, 2024
922 Holman St, Houston, TX 77002
REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2024 is an international poetry film Festival. This week long event showcases 100+ screenings under 6 minutes from 20 different countries. Connect with international curators and presenters in real time online, and in-person on the weekend; watch world premieres from Houston creatives; experience ASL poetry and performances; join use for two fabulous after parties.
Then toward the end of the month, it’s Seattle’s Cadence Video Poetry Festival.
Verse meets visuals in motion at Northwest Film Forum (NWFF) in April 2024. Cadence Video Poetry Festival, presented by Northwest Film Forum, programmed in collaboration with Seattle author Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and intermedia artist Rana San, is a series of screenings, workshops, and discussions on the genre of video poetry, taking place annually during National Poetry Month. This year’s festival takes place in-person April 19–21 and online April 19–28. Cadence approaches video poetry as a literary genre presented as visual media, cultivating new meaning from the combination of text and moving image.
In its seventh year, Cadence Video Poetry Festival remains the only festival dedicated to the form in the Pacific Northwest. The festival program includes four themed screenings with works selected from an open call for submissions, including video poetry by the 2024 screening team and jurors.
“This year, we did away with the submission categories the festival has had in place for the last six years. Moving away from submissions organized by how they were made (collaboration, video by poets, etc) places further emphasis on what is being made in the video poetry genre,” says co-director Chelsea Werner-Jatzke. “For the first time, a screening team of prior Cadence Artists-in-Residence helped program the festival, broadening the diversity of perspectives considering the video poetry that is screened as part of Cadence.”
“The 2024 festival includes video poems from 20 countries in 11 languages with a strong Pacific Northwest contingent, a quarter of the works representing artists based in Washington, British Columbia, and Montana,” notes co-director Rana San. “In conjunction with the online and onsite festival screenings and workshops, there will be gatherings for artists and audiences to connect in-person and virtually. We’re also collaborating with Frye Art Museum again to host a special satellite screening and artist discussion in May following the fest.”
Meanwhile, in Weimar, Germany, though details so far remain scant, one is advised on the Poetryfilmtage Instagram account to
SAVE THE DATES – Lit.Collage x Poetryfilmtage 2024
This year we are setting with „Lit.Collage“ a special accent. The collage and poetry festival is combined with our film festival and is meant for those who enjoy experimenting with editing techniques and sharing them with others.
…so as you can see: this year we have a lot more action going on and you can join our festival from the 13th of April till the 1st of June. Make sure you’ll save the dates! 🤩
More details on the individual events will follow soon.
It’s great that people anywhere in the world with a good internet connection can virtually attend these festivals, but I am just as excited by another new trend: more and more general poetry festivals are including film and video in various innovative ways. In Madison, Wisconsin, for example, the Hawthorn Public Library will be screening “some of our favorite video poems featured in the first four years of the Midwest Video Poetry Fest,” and in Newtown, Pennsylvania, poet Vasiliki Katsarou will be screening her feature film Fruitlands 1843. So be sure to support your local poetry scene!
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 work: Weimar Poetry Film Award 2023
Early bird entries are open for this well-organised and respected festival in Weimar, Germany. Poetry films of up to 10 minutes are welcome and entrants can submit up to 3 films that have been produced since 2020. The competition forms part of the International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia. The 2023 event takes place 19-20 May 2023. Early bird entries until 31st December, final deadline 31st January 2023.
Festival website: https://poetryfilmtage.de/
Poetry Film Festival: in Weimar and online 20th – 31st May
Opening on 20th May is the International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia held in Weimar, Germany.
The in-person event runs until 22nd May, while online lasts until the end of the month. Tickets available through Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.de/e/international-poetry-film-festival-of-thuringia-tickets-333442003007
For full details of the programme please see their website: https://poetryfilmtage.de/
Submissions open through May 31 for Weimar Poetry Film Award 2021
It looks as if I might’ve neglected to post the original call-out for the 6th Weimar Poetry Film Award. It’s here, but I’ll paste it in below as well:
Through the Weimar Poetry Film Award the Literary Society of Thuringia and the Weimar Animation Club are looking for innovative poetry films. Filmmakers from any nation and of any age are welcome to participate with up to three short films of up to 10:00 mins, which explore the relation between film and written poetry in an innovative, straightforward way. Films that are produced before 2018 will not be considered.
The competition »Weimar Poetry Film Award« is financed by Kulturstiftung des Freistaats Thüringen and the City of Weimar. The competition is part of the »International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia«.
From all submitted films selected for the festival competition three Jury members will choose the winner of the main awards (Best Animation, 1200 €; Best Video, 1200 €). Moreover, an audience award of 250 € will be awarded.
Dates & Deadlines
- November 1, 2020 – Opening Date
- December 31, 2020 – Earlybird
- May 31, 2021 – Regular Deadline
- July 16, 2021 – Notification Date
- September 25, 2021 – Award Ceremony
Form for submissions [pdf] by e-mail to info [at] poetryfilm.de
Upcoming poetry film and videopoetry festivals
For festivals, this is a best-of-times, worst-of-times situation. Pandemic restrictions mean fewer options for live events, but going online has the potential to build big new audiences from around the world. Here are some press releases that have recently come our way from the International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia, the Midwest Video Poetry Festival, and ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival. I’ll also paste in some info about the Winter Warmer online festival from Cork.
International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia starts ticket sales
Three weeks of watching about 150 poetry films, plus workshops, lectures, interviews, live streams, and an international award ceremony—all this awaits poetry film fans and online visitors of the new festival
This year, the Weimar Poetry Film Prize, which has been awarded since 2016, will be presented for the first time as part of its own festival. Initially meant to take place in May/June, the International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia will begin online from October 22-25, due to a pandemic. While this may be a pity for die-hard festival-goers, it offers the new festival the opportunity to present itself to a worldwide short film scene at its premiere.
The festival begins on October 22 with a special focus on Africa, which can be watched via live stream. This emphasis is intended to contribute to improving the visibility and perception of African poetry film. The countries Mozambique and South Africa will be featured especially.
There are also exciting special programs to watch: The “Women in Resistance” program illustrates how much video poetry is part of global poetic activism. A retrospective is dedicated to the Canadian video pioneer Tom Konyves and his films. Furthermore, international and German-language short films and the Weimar Winners of the years 2016-2019 will be screened. Under the title “The Art of Videohaiku”, the festival invites participants to create poetry films in small format themselves and to interpret the haiku audiovisually. The Dutch filmmaker Helmie Stil introduces her video poetry in a lecture she gave at the Bauhaus University during the summer semester. The latest Thuringian poetry film productions will also be shown.
On Saturday, October 24, the 5th Weimar Poetry Film Prize will be awarded at the Lichthaus cinema. The international jury consists of photographer and lecturer Kathrin Tillmanns, literary scholar and author Jan-Volker Röhnert and filmmaker Helmie Stil. The award ceremony will be broadcast from 6-9 pm (CET). This year the audience can vote for their favorite online. The Official Selection will be published on October 1st.
The four main festival days will end on Sunday, October 25, with a matinee at the MonAmi cinema. The film KENT OZANI, which accompanies the poet José A. Oliver during his stay in Istanbul, will be screened. José A. Oliver will be in attendance and take part in a discussion.
The festival website www.poetryfilmtage.de is now online! Ticket sales have started! Get your ticket here.
The code to the protected festival area on the website costs 10 Euros and is valid for three weeks from October 22nd until November 12th. The live streams can be found on the festival website and will stay accessible afterward.
ONLINE: Midwest Video Poetry Festival
via Isthmus
The first ever Midwest Video Poetry Festival (MVPF) will take place in Madison, Wisconsin on November 19 & 20.
Celebrating the amazing breadth of expression when one of humanity’s oldest art forms is interpreted through the lens of one of its newest, the MVPF features the best of this cutting-edge art form from around the Midwest and around the world. Presented by Madison’s Arts + Literature Laboratory, screenings will take place from 7-8:30pm each day via live-stream at https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtLitLab/videos
The submissions range from 30 seconds to under 10 minutes long. They have all been created within the last three years, many of them within the last few months, promising a fresh, contemporary point of view. “Poetry is not dead,” says Festival founder and executive director Rita Mae Reese. “It is one of the most enduring forms of expression, doing now what it always has, making meaning of the events and circumstances of our lives, accompanying us through turmoil, expressing our joy and holding our grief. It is now, especially, during times of upheaval and strife, that poets’ voices are most needed; these are the voices that will carry us through.”
“It feels so important to do this now,” agrees Genia Daniels, who has been overseeing the curation team and selection process. “Fielding over 1,600 submissions from artists, poets, and filmmakers in 91 countries around the world has given us an amazing field to work with. It’s a phenomenal array of voices, genres, styles and expressions. We are so excited to share this with people in Madison and beyond.”
The MVPF is a production of the Madison Arts and Literature Laboratory, a community-driven contemporary non-profit arts organization that supports the visual, literary, musical and performing arts, presents over 200 free or low-cost events per year, and offers year-round arts education for all ages. ALL nurtures innovation and the artistic growth of contemporary visual, literary, and performing artists; connects artists, resources and community; and fuels a passion for arts and literature.
The Midwest Video Poetry Fest is made possible in part by a grant from Dane Arts with additional funds from the Endres Mfg. Company Foundation, The Evjue Foundations Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.
Off On Poetic Ramblings – ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival with the country focus on Canada and Québec
From 19 to 22 November the ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival is presenting in the Kino in der KulturBrauerei and the Haus für Poesie the international competition for the Best Poetry Film as well as a programme of films and poetry with the country focus on Canada and Québec.
Around 2,000 films have been submitted this year from more than 100 countries. From these, the Programme Committee, whose members are Heinz Hermanns (interfilm Berlin), Cia Rinne (poet), Heiko Strunk (lyrikline.org), Eloisa Suárez (Goethe-Institut) and Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel (ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival), has nominated 34 films for the Competition. A jury of experts in the fields of film, poetry and media will then announce the winning films at an awards ceremony on 22 November. The Best Poetry Film for Children will be awarded the ZEBRINO Audience Prize.
As well as the Competition, there will be 20 accompanying programmes of films featuring 250 animations, feature films, experimental films and documentaries providing an insight into the diversity of the poetry film scene. Besides Canada and Québec, thematic focus areas include Human Rights and Eco Poetry. What is more, ZEBRA will show the best film versions of this year’s festival poem, “LETHE”, by Botswanan Spoken Word artist TJ Dema. To round off the programme, there will be readings by poets from Germany, Canada and Québec as well as a programme of workshops and films for children and young people.
Programme and advance ticket sales online from mid-October at haus-fuer-poesie.org
The ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival has been running since 2002. At the time it was the first international platform for short films based on poems – poetry films – and is still the biggest of its kind. It offers poets, film makers and festival organisers from all over the world a platform for creative exchange, getting ideas and meeting a wide audience. Featuring a Competition, programmes of films, readings by poets, retrospectives, workshops, colloquia and programme for children, it presents in various different sections the diverse genre of the poetry film.
THU 19 Nov – SUN 22 Nov 2020
ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival
Kino in der KulturBrauerei Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin
Haus für Poesie Knaackstraße 97, 10435 Berlin
Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film competition winners at Winter Warmer festival
via the Ó Bhéal blog
A multilingual poetry festival held in Cork City each November since 2013, Ó Bhéal is proud to present its annual Winter Warmer weekend.
One of the highlights of Cork’s literary calendar, this unique event hosts 23+ renowned poets and performers from Ireland and 7-8 other countries.
The event also features films from the Ó Bhéal International Poetry-Film competition along with poetry collaborations with dance, theatre or other art forms, poetry accompanied by music and a closed-mic set for local poets.
In 2018 the festival expanded to four days thanks to our ECIC (European Community of Inclusive Cultures) partnership with festivals from four European countries: Festival dos Eidos (Galicia, Spain), Festival Literário da Madeira (Portugal), Salerno Letteratura Festival (Italy) and LitFest.eu Festival de Voulmentin (France). The 2019 festival took place over three days.
Ó Bhéal’s 8th Winter Warmer (and 1st online) festival presents 36 poets live from fifteen countries, from Thurs 26th – Sun 29th November. The festival will feature poetry workshops, music from Tionscadal na nAmhrán Ealaíne Gaeilge (the Irish Language Art Song Project) devised by Dáirine Ní Mheadhra and John Hess, the shortlist screening and prize-giving for Ó Bhéal’s International Poetry-Film Competition, a Many Tongues of Cork session and a closed-mic set for new voices – poets who have featured regularly in Ó Bhéal’s online open-mic sessions during 2020.
We are thrilled to announce that this year’s stellar line-up includes Imtiaz Dharker, Jacob Polley, Sinéad Morrissey, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Nuar Alsadir, Robert Sullivan, Dunya Mikhail, David Wheatley, Mary Jean Chan, Ranjit Hoskote, Julie Morrissy, Musawenkosi Khanyile, Natalya O’Flaherty, Susan Musgrave and William Wall.
News Round-Up: Pandemic Edition
“Why Poetry?” Video Podcast Special on Poetry Film with Lucy English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPti3riEkh0
This is such an excellent look at the role of collaboration in poetry film-making. A very well-edited and satisfying program, focusing on Lucy English’s Book of Hours project, it ought to work well as an introduction to the genre for poets and filmmakers alike.
Ó Bhéal Poetry-Film Competition Open for Submissions
Weimar Poetry Film Award: Festival Postponed, Deadline Extended
FVPS Deadline Extended and The Symposium Postponed until Fall 2020
“The Film and Video Poetry Society will postpone our 3rd annual symposium; we are hopeful, and are committed to rescheduling for fall 2020. Submissions remain open and our deadline extended to August 3, 2020.” More here.
Newlyn PZ Poetry Film Competition Winners Announced
The 2020 Newlyn PZ Film Festival was cancelled, but we still know the winners of the poetry film competition thanks to a post at the increasingly indispensable Liberated Words website.
Cadence Video Poetry Festival, Other Film Festivals Move Online
Rather than cancel entirely, the Cadence Video Poetry Festival made the choice of screening films online in five screenings on 15-19 April. A number of other film festivals are opting to screen films online for a few days as well. It’s a shame that so many film festivals bar submissions of films that are freely available online. Otherwise it might be possible for Cadence and others to post all competition films to the web on a permanent basis, and people with dodgier internet connections (including myself) would have an easier time watching them. If the pandemic makes meat-space festivals impossible for the next couple of years, as seems possible, some festivals might end up doing a 180 and requiring all submissions to be available on the web. That would certainly shake things up!
Visible Poetry Project Films All Online
The Visible Poetry Project is one web-first, festival-like thing that wasn’t hurt by the pandemic. A film went up each day in April, and you can watch them all on their website.
New Book on Videopoetry by Valerie LeBlanc and Daniel H. Dugas
Books on or about videopoetry are a rarity, and this one is available for free as a PDF, with a print version due out later this year. Here’s Sarah Tremlett’s mini review. It’s cool to be able to read about the making of a film and then click a live link to watch it. I’ll be interested to see whether the print edition includes QR codes allowing readers with mobile phones to watch the films as they read.
Online “Festival of Hope” Features Videopoetry
This is a cool festival. And it looks as if the films may remain live for a while.
Corona! Shut Down? Open Call and Ongoing Release of Videos
It’s not just for poetry videos, but this is well worth checking out — and submitting to. As they say, “Corona isn’t the plague, and not all infected people are gonna be dying. Probably, the crisis is a wake-up call – to rethink and change!?”
Call for entries: 2020 Weimar Poetry Film Prize
As of November 1, the fifth annual Weimar Poetry Film Prize is open for submissions. And this time, it has its own festival.
Through the new film award, the Literary Society of Thuringia and the study field Multimedia narration of the Bauhaus University are looking for innovative poetry films. Filmmakers from any nation and of any age are welcome to participate with up to three short films of up to 10:00 mins, which should explore the relation between film and written poetry in an innovative, straightforward way. Films that are produced before 2017 will not be considered.
From all submitted films selected for the festival competition three Jury members will choose the winner of the main prize (1000 € Best Animation, 1000,- € Best Video). Moreover, an audience award of 250 € will be awarded.
In 2020, the Weimar Poetry Film Prize will be awarded for the first time as part of its own festival – the International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia – which will take place from May to July 2020 in several cities in Thuringia. The core program (with the award ceremony) takes place from June 12th–14th in Weimar.
The competition »Weimar Poetry Film Award« is financed by Kulturstiftung des Freistaats Thüringen and the City of Weimar.
Deadline: March 31st, 2020
The Form for submissions [pdf] by e-mail to info[at]poetryfilm.de is coming soon.
The »Weimar Poetry Film Award« call for entries is international. For the submission please send with the other informations a quotable text of the related poem in German or English.
Presentation of awards: June 13th, 2020 at the Lichthaus cinema Weimar.
2019 Weimar Poetry Film Award to focus on Spanish-language poetry film scene
A couple of recent posts at Poetryfilmkanal unveiled a unique focus for this year’s Weimar Poetry Film Award and screening. First they announced the programme, which includes some portions in English:
Poetry films from Spain and Latin America
This year, the Weimar Poetry Film Award aims to be a forum for the Spanish-language poetry film scene. With a selection of short films from Spain and Latin America we try to present important positions and centers of the Iberoamerican video poetry. We also want to ask how to improve the visibility and perception of poetry film in Latin America. A main focus will be on Colombia.
Guests: Timo Berger (Berlin), Luis José Galvis Diaz (Colombia), Sonja Hofmann (Cologne), Belén Montero (Spain), Celia Parra (Spain), Cecilia Traslaviña (Colombia).
[…]
The poetry film, one likes to say, is almost as old as film history. From the beginning we find adaptations of poems in the moving image. At the same time, film history was also influenced by poetry in other ways. Many filmmakers were inspired by poets and poems to develop a particularly poetic imagery. But what is this »Cinema of Poetry« (Pasolini) offering for the poetry film genre? Can and should one attach to the poetic auteur cinema in the cinematic adaptations of poems? The lectures by Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel (Berlin), Theresia Prammer (Berlin), Lia Martyn (Potsdam), and Tom Konyves (Montreal / Canada) are dealing with the avant-garde film, Pasolini, Tarkowski, and the fundamental questions about the relationship between poetry and film.
[…]
Colombia is the host country of the 20th backup festival. With a selection from the program of the Bogotá Short Film Festival, we are giving an impression of what is waiting for you at the next festival. The anniversary backup will take place from November 27th to December 1st 2019.
[…]
The third edition of the poetry film program »lab/p« has been realized as an Egyptian-German coproduction of OSTPOL Leipzig and Fig Leaf Studios Alexandria. Inspired by the topic »Identity« authors and filmmakers created jointly in 6 international teams 6 short films.
The animation and experimental films of»lab/p 3« take us – each with its unique artistic signature – on an adventure beyond the common aesthetics. They invite us emotionally, politically, ironically and playfully to reflect upon »Identity« in an intercultural context.
[…]
All Friends of poetry and short film can experience again at our award ceremony, what is going on in the contemporary poetry film scene. Our one-hour program features nominated films selected from 250 international submissions. The Spanish poet and producer Celia Parra will read, as poetic opening, from her new book of poetry Pantallas/Screens. The award ceremony will be presented by our jury team Belén Montero, Sonja Hofmann, and Timo Berger. Afterwards, we are offering drinks and Colombian live music in the lounge of the Lichthaus cinema.
[…]
Screening of the documentary Verses & Frames (Spain 2017, 75 min)
Verses & Frames, produced from Galicia (Spain) has been considered the first documentary in the world about the international videopoetry scene. Its intention is giving voice to some of the main videopoets and portraying the emotions that videopoetry arises. Verses & Frames is an emotionaly journey towards the discovery of an increasingly popular artistic phenomenon. Poets and filmmakers share how they see life through this genre and help answer the question: what is this videopoetry thing?
(Click through for times, dates and locations.)
Another post on Poetryfilmkanal this past week introduced the jury for the 2019 competition: Belén Montero, Sonja Hofmann, and Timo Berger. Montero is the director of the documentary on videopoetry mentioned above, Versogramas (which I reviewed last year), and the other two are experts on Latin American poetry, literature and film — a perfect fit for this year’s focus. Check out their bios.
This is a very ambitious and exciting line-up, and I’d encourage anyone who can make it to go. Weimar is a lovely small city, not to mention a site of pilgrimage for devotees of Goethe and Schiller, and the new Bauhaus Museum has just opened in time for the 100th anniversary of the 20th century’s most influential design movement.
Call for submissions: 2019 Weimar Poetry Film Prize
For the fourth year in a row, a major poetry-film contest and associated screenings will be held as part of a multi-day festival otherwise devoted to student films from around the world, in the delightful, culture-rich city of Weimar, Germany. From the Poetryfilmkanal website:
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Through the new film award, backup_festival and Literarische Gesellschaft Thüringen e.V. (LGT) are looking for innovative poetry films. Filmmakers from any nation and of any age are welcome to participate with up to three short films of up to 8:00 mins, which should explore the relation between film and written poetry in an innovative, straightforward way. Films that are produced before 2016 will not be considered. From all submitted films selected for the festival competition three Jury members will choose the winner of the main prize (1000 € Best Animation, 1000,- € Best Video). Moreover, an audience award of 250 € will be awarded.
The competition »Weimar Poetry Film Award« is financed by Kulturstiftung des Freistaats Thüringen and the City of Weimar.
Deadline: March 31th, 2018
Form for submissions [pdf] by mail or e-mail.
Literarische Gesellschaft Thüringen e. V.
Marktstraße 2–4
99423 Weimar, Germany
Email: info@poetryfilm.deThe »Weimar Poetry Film Award« call for entries is international. For the submission send with the other informations a quotable text of the related poem in German or English.
Presentation of awards: June 1st, 2019.
