TransVerse Blog: Thinking about Film and Poetry

I also want to find a relationship in the non-narrative ability of poetry and film. While they both can, and often quite successfully are, narrative projects, poetry by virtue of its concentration of language and form on the page (not just verse, but short blocks of prose because of the plunge into whiteness that follows each one, use the void, the break of the line to create this possibility) can exist in a momentary eternity. That is, one moment that is comprehensibly infinite and universal. Of course, there is a temporality locked into the reading of the poem - you must read one word, one line at a time, there is no way to instantaneously take in the entirety of the poem in an atemporal experience. Rather its the subject matter that, by breaking the bonds of the temporality of the medium, the printed page, can free itself to express something beyond history, beyond time. In the same way, film, while constrained by the linear succession of images on a screen, can yet break these narrative bonds and express something beyond.

From TransVerse. The full entry is very interesting, and I encourage you to go read it. The call for film and video submissions can be found here.

Call for Film and Video Submissions to Split This Rock

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Call for film and video

Split This Rock invites poets, writers, artists, activists, dreamers, and all concerned world citizens to submit original films or videos for the 2nd Split This Rock Poetry Festival, to be held March 2010. We are looking for artistic, experimental, and challenging film/video interpretations of poetry that explore critical social issues. Selected work will be screened during the Split This Rock Poetry Festival film program. Entries can be up to 15 minutes long.

See the guidelines and entry form for full details and submission requirements.

Deadline: postmarked by January 15th, 2010
Entry fee: $20.00 (non-refundable)
Notification by February 15th, 2010
Festival dates: March 10th-13th, 2010

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness invites poets, writers, artists, activists, dreamers, and all concerned world citizens to Washington, DC, for poetry, community building, and creative transformation as our country continues to grapple with two wars, a crippling economic crisis, and other social and environmental ills. The festival will feature readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, film, activism –- opportunities to imagine a way forward, hone our activist skills, and celebrate the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for social change.

Film & Video Submissions:
We are looking for artistic, experimental, and challenging film/video interpretations of poetry that explore critical social issues. Selected work will be screened during the Split This Rock Poetry Festival film program.

Entries must be submitted on DVD (NTSC only) or CD (.mov format only), no HD formats. Please note: videos with h264, divx compression or any format not mentioned above will not be accepted.

Running time for entries should not exceed 15 minutes.

All entries must be in English.

All work submitted must be original. If portions of the submitted work contain material from third parties, author must have and be able to provide written permission to use such material.

All entries must include:
- Completed entry form
(download at: http://www.francescolevato.com/calls/Split_this_Rock-ENTRY.pdf)
- $20 entry fee (check made payable to: Levato Design, Inc.)
- A short synopsis, artist's bio, and artist's statement (on one page only)

Please label all DVDs and CDs with title, running time, director’s name and contact email.

Please mail entries to:
The Poetry Center of Chicago
37 S. Wabash, Suite 704
Chicago, IL 60603
Attn: Francesco Levato/Split This Rock submission

NO PHONE CALLS ACCEPTED

For more information:
www.SplitThisRock.org
info [at] splitthisrock [dot] org
www.francescolevato.com