~ January 2025 ~

Grapefruit Parts by Sandra Louise Dyas and LeAnn Erickson

A second film by old friends Sandy Dyas and LeAnne Erickson for The Serendipity Project, which we introduced with their earlier video, fuze. In the description on Vimeo, Dyas notes, “This collaboration was inspired by Yoko Ono and the serendipity of chance. It is our second chance operation/collaboration, both were inspired by Yoko Ono and her book “Grapefruit”.”

As in fuze, Erickson’s selection of images and Dyas’s selection of sound clips do seem to be in conversation—an uncanny effect, which I think says as much about the nature of collaboration between seasoned artists who know what they’re doing as it does about the nature of videopoetry. One thinks of the famous quote by Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Most of us amateur video-makers quickly discover that random mixes of text, sound and images tend to result in little more than a vaguely poetic fog. One of the reasons that Dyas and Erickson don’t fall into that trap, I think, is because they deploy fairly limited vocabularies of images and words or phrases: poetry lives in rhythm and repetition. And viewers can be relied upon to fill in semantic gaps, because that’s basically what we’re doing all day long with snatches of overheard conversation and chance fragments of others’ lives, consciously or unconsciously looking for connective threads—and regularly stepping back to try to see larger patterns. Any good poet, whether for the page or the screen, understands this instinctively: you have to leave a certain number of gaps for the audience to fill or leap on their own. That’s how the poetry happens. And it’s definitely happening here.

Open Call for Papers and Presentations | MIX Conference 2025

We are pleased to announce that we are accepting submissions for the MIX 2025 conference, Writing with Technologies, starting on Wednesday the 2nd of July 2025 at Bath Spa University’s Locksbrook Campus.

Now in its eighth year, Bath Spa University’s MIX has established itself as an innovative forum for the discussion and exploration of writing and technology, bringing together researchers, writers, technologists and practitioners from around the world to make, think and talk.

As part of our programme, New York Times bestselling writer and publisher Michael Bhasker, currently working for Microsoft AI and co-author of the book The Coming Wave: AI, Power and the 21st Century’s Greatest Dilemma, will appear in conversation.

Themes for this year’s discussions include:

  • Issues of trust and truth in digital writing
  • The use of generative AI tools by authors, poets and screenwriters
  • Debates around AI and ethics for creative practitioners
  • Emerging immersive storytelling practices

Interested in joining us?

We are looking for proposals for either 15 minute papers or presentations or 5 minute lightening talks from technologists, artists, writers and poets working in the digital realm as well as academic researchers and independent scholars. We are particularly interested in the work and views of creators, audiences and communities currently underrepresented across writing and technology.

This will be a boutique version of MIX, with ticket numbers limited to 70.

£45 full price / £25 students/concessions.

Deadline for submissions of proposals: 5pm Monday 10 February 2025

Notification of acceptance: Friday 28 February 2025 Email inquirires: mix@bathspa.ac.uk

Speech by the Leader on the Occasion of the Future by Jan Baeke and Public Thought

This 2020 videopoem by Public Thought with its lyrical and absurdist send-up of political discourse seemed like an excellent way to kick off the New Year. Dutch poet Jan Baeke and designer and media artist Alfred Marseille note in their description at Vimeo:

SPEECH BY THE LEADER ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUTURE presents images of speaking leaders in an outside world that ignores those images, along with the language and tone of political speeches and their poetic disruption in slogans and subtitles.

See the full text on the Public Thought website. From the notes:

Fragments and paraphrases in the text originating from the New Years Address to the Nation by Vladimir Putin, delivered on 31 December 2019, Tayyip Erdogan’s message on hanukkah, M.J. Cagumbay Tumamac’s poem “A Planned Brief Documentary on a Teenage Boy in a Badjao Village”, Bùi Chát’s poem “April”, Anne Carson’s “TV Men: Artaud”, and Sueyeun Juliette Lee’s essay “Shock and Blah: Offensive Postures in ‘Conceptual’ Poetry and the Traumatic Sublime”.

Audio and video fragments originating from the annual address to Russia’s Federal Assembly, by Vladimir Putin, delivered on 20 February 2019, the 2020 New Year’s speech by Xi Jinping, Speech by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – Democracy and Martyrs Rally, 8 August 2016, Speech by Kim Jong-un at the Inter-Korean summit, 19 September 2018, televised speech by Kim Jong-un, 1 January 2018, Boris Johnsons’s speech: “I share the optimism of President Trump”, 3 February 2020, Donald Trump Memorial Day speech at Fort McHenry, 25 May 2020, Victor Orban at government news conference, 10 January 2019.

Call for work: 12th International Video Poetry Festival

A poet and guitarist perform on a stage with a videopoem projected onto a screen behind them.

The 12th International Video Poetry Festival will take place in Athens at Fri. 11 and Sat. 12 April 2025. The festival attempts to create an open public space for the creative expression of all tendencies and streams of contemporary visual poetry. The IVPF has been around since 2011. It is one of the largest international platforms for video poetry. Every year, it offers poets, film directors, video artists and festival makers from all over the world a platform for creative exchange, brainstorming and meeting with a broad audience. Poetry readings, live performances, concerts, retrospectives, exhibitions, performances, workshops and lectures showcase the diversity of the genres of video poetry and spoken-word music.

The International Video Poetry Festival happens in two different zones. The first day is the Show Room Video Poetry, a unique cinema hall zone that will include video poems, visual poems, short film poems and cinematic poetry and performances by artists from all over the world (America, Asia, Europe, Africa). The second day is the Live Performance Zone with multimedia poetry readings, concerts of experimental music, workshops and spoken word lives.

Poets, filmmakers, video and digital artists, media and performance artists are called to submit creative works to the 12th Annual International Video Poetry Festival in Athens, Greece. The festival celebrates and will screen a large scope of video projects developed through the medium of poetry. The International Video Poetry Festival will also host a series of panels, guest speakers, workshops, and public dialogues regarding film and video poetry. In addition to the screenings, programmers also curate a video art exhibition.

There are no restrictions regarding when the film was produced or if the film has premiered regionally or internationally. There are no restrictions on subject matter, theme, topic, or the language of origin. The International Video Poetry Festival will accept submissions of poetry films, filmpoems, digital-poetry, poetry video, Cin(E)-Poetry, spoken word films, videopoema, visual poetry, choreopoems, poetrinca, media poetry, and all films and videos that are driven visually by text or voice.

Live performances, video mapping, installation proposals, and grand-scale video art presentations that contain strong aspects of poetry are encouraged. The IVPF also calls for experimental film and video work that explores poetry or literature whether it be oral, written, visual, or symbolic. This includes non-narrative work and the avant-garde.

The IVPF strongly considers artwork that examines and challenges traditional visual communication methods while continuing to function as a tool for exploring poetry. The International Video Poetry Festival will consider documentaries that focus on poets, poems, poetry, poetic technique, literary movements, and historical events within these realms. The documentaries must have English or Greek subtitles.

The IVPF also calls for video work that explores poetry and literature whether it be oral, written, visual, or symbolic. This includes the film essay or cinematic essay, non-narrative work, and the avant-guard. We will also strongly consider work that challenges traditional and current visual communication methods while continuing to function as a mode for exploring narrative and personal expression.

Organizer and promoter of the International Video Poetry Festival are the Institute for Experimental Arts in co-operation with Void Network.

Awards & Prizes

Every year the committee of the Institute for Experimental Arts the 10 most outstanding video poems of the annual festival. Τhe committee is composed of the official member of the nonprofit cultural society Institute for Experimental Arts.

Rules & Terms

Deadline: All submissions must be submitted, emailed, or postmarked no later than 15 February, 2025.

One project title per submission form is allowed. All languages are allowed (including English or Greek subtitles)

Artwork based on poems and not longer than 20 minutes can be submitted. All languages are allowed.

From the submissions, a program committee makes the artwork selection for the festival program. A jury made up of representatives from the fields of poetry, film and media will select the video poems. The 12th International Video Poetry Festival will not offer notes or feedback on any submitted films or projects. No revisions will be accepted once an entry has been received. Once payment has been processed, IVPF will not provide a refund. All decisions made by the committee will be final, and no refund of the submission fee will be provided.

ALL ENTRIES must be subtitled in English or in Greek. In the event that the submitted project is accepted for inclusion within the 12th International Video Poetry Festival the submitter agrees to provide each of the following rights to The 12th International Video Poetry Festival without reservations, conditions, or qualifications:
(a) the right to use footage, stills, and information from or relating to the project for promotional purposes
(b) the right to issue and authorize publicity concerning the filmmakers and the project and to use all associated names, likenesses and biographical information.

The IVPF will announce the 2024 program selection in April 2025. The 12th International Video Poetry Festival will take place on April 11-12.

The International Video Poetry Festival is a project of the Institute for Experimental Arts in cooperation with Void Network in Athens / Greece. If you have any questions : theinstitutecontact(at)gmail.com

Process Submission Fee

Deadline for all submissions is February 15, 2025.
The submission fee is 8 euros per video or media project.

12th International Video Poetry Festival proudly accepts entries on FilmFreeway, the world’s #1 way to enter film festivals and creative contests: https://filmfreeway.com/InternationalVideoPoetryFestivalAthens

If you want to propose us a performance, lecture or any other idea, you are very welcome to send them to the following email: videopoetryfestival [@] gmail.com

For more photos from previous festivals, see our website.

Call for work: 10th Weimar Poetry Film Award

Somehow we missed the opening-date announcement back in July, but poetry filmmakers still have until February 25 to submit to the 2025 festival. Here’s the call-out:

Through the Weimar Poetry Film Award the Literary Society of Thuringia and the Weimar Animation Club are looking for innovative poetry films.

The aim of the award is to improve the exchange between authors and filmmakers in Thuringia and Central Germany, to sharpen the perception of poetry in multimedia contexts, and to create more awareness for the experimental short film genre »poetry film«.

The competition is part of the Poetryfilmtage (International Poetry Film Festival of Thuringia).

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 2022 will not be considered.

The Weimar Poetry Film Award stands for an independent and competent awarding process. The jury is international and consists of three jurors with expertise in the fields of poetry, film production or criticism, and festival organization. The competition films are nominated by a program commission. During the festival, the jury selects the winners of the Jury Prizes in the categories »Best Animation« and »Best Real Film«. Both awards are endowed with € 1,200. A €250 audience prize will also be awarded by the cinema audience.

The competition »Weimar Poetry Film Award« is financed by the State Chancellery of Thuringia, the Sparkasse Mittelthüringen, and the City of Weimar.

Dates & Deadlines

  • July 1st, 2024 – Opening Date
  • December 31st, 2024 – Earlybird
  • February 15th, 2025 – Regular Deadline
  • April 3th, 2025 – Notification Date

Submit Now on Filmfreeway!

Submit on FilmFreeway

or

Send the Form for submissions [pdf] by e-mail to festival[at]poetryfilm.deDownload form for submissions