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
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Jane Glennie’s award-winning poetry films have screened at festivals across the world. She works with still photographs to create films with a layered visual aesthetic that is abstract, painterly and floods the imagination. She is also a typographer and book designer, founder of Peculiarity Press publishing artists’ books.
