call: 2026 Film and Video Poetry Symposium
Deadline: 31 August 2026
Call for entries
2026 Film and Video Poetry Symposium
Submissions Are Now Open
https://www.fvpsociety.com/callforentry
Poets, writers, filmmakers, animators, media and video artists are called to submit their work to the 2026 Film and Video Poetry Symposium.
Deadline Monday August 31, 2026
The symposium screens a wide range of films developed through the lens of poetry. We also feature a curated media and video art gallery, along with panels, speakers, workshops, and public dialogues.
The symposium calls all digital and film works that hybridize poetry, including, but not limited to videopoetry, poetry video, Cin(E)-Poetry, filmpoems, choreopoems, poetry films, digital-poetry, videopoema, motion poems, visual poetry, choreopoem, and poetronica.
Please also submit documentary, animation, and performance art that explores or evokes poetry.
New Technologies: artificial intelligence, virtual reality & experimental video games are called to submit. Media installations and video art (single, multi-channeled, and/or sculptural) that explore aspects of poetry or text art are regularly selected for our gallery.
We encourage experimental filmmakers to submit work that operates within or outside of the realm of poetry. Artists’ moving image, avant-garde, and slow cinema filmmakers are encouraged to do the same. The symposium highlights essay film, epistolary film, and oratorical works this way as well.
Please see the categories below for additional details.
Videopoetry / Poetry Film
Works completed digitally or on film in this category fuse spoken poetry and/or text with visual imagery; such as performance or graphics, and sound. This integration, in which elements may function both independently and interdependently, creates a heightened presentation and interpretation of meaning. (Also known as video poetry, video-visual poetry, poetry film, poetry video, media poetry, or Cin(E)-Poetry.)
Essay Film
An essay film (“cinematic essay” or “personal essay film”) consists of the evolution of a theme or an idea rather than a plot, or the film literally being a cinematic accompaniment to a narrator reading an essay. From another perspective, an essay film could be defined as a documentary film visual basis combined with a form of commentary that contains elements of an experience or a self-portrait (rather than autobiography), where the signature (rather than the life story) of the filmmaker is apparent.
Experimental
Operating outside the boundaries of occupied cinema, the field of experimental film, experimental cinema, (we include the avant-garde) are modes of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explore non-narrative forms and alternatives to mainstream narratives or methods of filmmaking. These works may be boundary-pushing, personal, hermeneutic, political, and may operate wholly independently of poetry.
Documentary
Documentary is a nonfiction film or video work intended to constitute itself as a record of evidence about the past. The form is primarily used for archival records, instruction, education, advocacy, and journalism. The Film and Video Poetry Symposium will consider documentaries that contain or are focused on poets, poems, poetry, poetic technique, literary movements, and historical events within these realms.
Animation
Animations created through photographing successive images, drawings and/or positions of puppets, materials, items, or models in order to create an illusion of movement when shown in sequence. This includes stop motion. The Film and Video Poetry Symposium will consider animated work that contains, focused on, or driven by poets, poems, poetry, poetic technique, literary movements, and historical events.
Choreopoem
A choreopoem is a form of dramatic expression comprised of choreography, dance, poetry, performative writing, music, song, art, and acting. These works are chiefly achieved by ensembles and are based in stage craft though can also be accomplished as a one person show or created solely as a film or video.
Epistolary Cinema
A film or video that is developed about, of, on, or from personal, public, and/or historic correspondences. Written, typed or printed communication such as letters, telegrams, diary and/or journal entries, blogs, emails, logbooks, travelogues, text messages, social media posts and/or timelines, records of conversations, and video mail art.
Oratorical
Films or videos that focus upon and/or fuse together a historically important public address and/or a newly written speech with visual imagery (both may be independent and interdependent), to create a stronger presentation or interpretation of the meanings conveyed within the speech. This category also may include manifestos, monologues, inspirational talks, keynote speeches, opening and closing arguments, direct to camera presentations, poetry readings or recitals, spoken word performance, and public announcements.
Performance Art
Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by an artist, a group of artists, and/or with participants. These projects may be live or within a staged reality, captured through documentation, written for camera, or presented to a public in a fine arts context.
Sacred Text
Works that frame, document, or creatively engage writings regarded as sacred or holy to religious or spiritual traditions. Drawn from memory or read directly, presented literally, imaginatively, and may include recitations, prayers, blessings, sermons, invocations, ritual or apotropaic language, imprecations, chants, spells, hymns, mantras, or scripture. Texts may originate from or reflect upon any religious or spiritual tradition the reader or filmmaker finds significant, whether personal, political, cultural, or esoteric.
New Technologies
These works include artificial Intelligence, computer animation (such as CGI or 3D animation), virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed or crossed reality, 360° video, algorithmic, websites, esoteric programming language, and telepresence projects created for a variety of apparatus, live performances, custom digital platforms, gaming software, experiences, interaction, or any combination of those elements that strongly incorporate the use of poetry, words, text, symbol, and language both visually and/or audibly.
Video Art & Media Installations
Innovative single or multi-channel works that engage poetry, text, and linguistic exploration through video, sound, performance, data-driven systems, and sculptural installation.
Lyrical (Music Video)
This category explores the songwriter and/or lyricist as poet. Film and video submissions representing all songwriting traditions and genres are welcome: from folk lyricists to classical vocalists. We encourage submissions from Hip Hop artists, solo or group performance, a cappella or with accompaniment, whether presented as a music video, historical document, or performed to camera directly or creatively. Works should emphasize lyricism and the human voice, exploring how language, words, music, gesture, vocalism, and imagery come together to create a unified poetic experience.
Episodic Content
Projects driven by or focused upon poetry, poets, poems, poetic technique, and historical events within these realms. Episodic content must be interrelated, presented as narratively or topically connected, whether through documentation, traditional storytelling, or experimental forms. There are no restrictions regarding series length.
Artist Moving Image / Slow Cinema
Film, video, or time-based media created primarily as an artistic expression rather than conventional narrative cinema. These works often explore visual, temporal, and conceptual possibilities of the moving image, experimenting with form, perception, and sensory experience. Artist Moving Image takes a creative approach to engage audiences through innovation, time, critical inquiry, and artistic intent. These works may operate within the realm of poetry or wholly independently of it.
A Note for New Technology, Media Installation, Video Art, and Performance Pieces
Creators of new technology, live performance pieces, multi-channell or non-traditional projections, video mapping, and installation/ conceptual works, please include the proposal, potential floor plan, and technical requirements with your email submission.
You may refer to the Email Submission Guidelines below.
Virtual reality projects ought to be compatible with XR devices, including modern standalone headsets and mixed-reality platforms. We request that you provide a link to a 360° video file (.mp4), a separate 2D version of the project as a URL, an app download package (.apk), and any other installation package applicable with your submission.
To apply please complete the online submission form –>
https://www.fvpsociety.com/onlinesubmission
