California Institute of Arts and Letters

Tequel Poetry Film Festival

October 18, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the Brava Theater in San Francisco

 

Poetry . . .

has the ability to transport us to a place where time stands still—like being captivated by a beautiful moment with a loved one, or the feeling of reverie that can come while spending time in nature.

can be like the high sometimes experienced during exercise, or making love. We'd like these moments to last forever because we feel so alive and in touch with ourselves, and can fully appreciate the wonders of the universe.

also has the power to disturb. It can make us feel vulnerable and insecure. It can force us to change our perspective, or to see something differently. This, too, is beautiful because poetry can inspire change, growth, and creativity.

Film . . .

is equally powerful. By combining the two art forms—poetry and film—words and images work together to transport the viewer to another time and place, where things can be experienced both as they are, and as they are yet to be.

 

Call for Entries 

Submission Guidelines

• Must be 15 minutes or shorter in duration
• Can be from any country and in any language; non-English works must include English subtitles
• Must include entry form (Download Entry Form) and fee (payable to California Institute of Arts and Letters)
• Early bird deadline: June 9, 2008 ($20 entry fee)
  
• Regular deadline: August 9, 2008 ($25 entry fee)

There are two ways to submit: 

1. Send preview copy (will not be returned) in DVD format to:
   
   California Institute of Arts and Letters
   
   c/o Stelli Munnis 

   535 Pierce Street, #1200
   Albany, CA 94706
2. Submit through Withoutabox:

 

 
Prizes

Winners will be contacted by August 31, 2008 via phone or e-mail, and listed on the CIAL Web site. A percentage of entry fees collected will be awarded as cash prizes. The grand prize winner will also be interviewed for publication in the journal, Black Zinnias. 

 
Judges

George Aguilar is a multimedia consultant, writer, director and producer of pioneering and dynamic multimedia works for the educational market, the arts, film festivals, broadcast and the Internet. He currently works with emerging digital genres including online storytelling, video streaming, 3D Virtual Worlds and pod casting. For over 10 years he has created innovative literary-based films, videos and animation programs and produced several groundbreaking literary events. He started Literary Television, a project of the National Poetry Association, which showcased short, independent film productions to schools nationwide. He produced the Eyestruck TV series, a 12-week series sponsored by Macromedia and Pixar Animation. He also helped program an eight-week series for PBS's Living Room Festival in collaboration with several independent media organizations from the Bay Area. National trade publication ‘Videomaker Magazine’ has said of his efforts, “If anyone can bring videopoetry to the masses, its’ George Aguilar.” George is the winner of several film awards, including official selections at the International Festival on VideoPoesia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2004, and the Zebra Poetry Film Festival Award, Berlin, Germany, 2002. He currently acts as artist-in-residence at the San Francisco SomArts Cultural Center as Director of SomArtsMedia.

John C. Aliano is an independent cinematographer and instructor at several colleges and companies in the Bay Area. He is Adjunct Faculty for the Cinema Department at City College of San Francisco, and teaches at the Art Institute of California, Cogswell Polytechnical College, Film Arts Foundation and Pixar Animation Studios. Mr. Aliano is co-owner of two production companies: Bay Area Demo Reels, which makes original short demos for actors and artists, and Devil Dog Productions, which specializes in creating interval (time lapse) cinematography stock footage. Devil Dog Productions most recent client was Goodmorning America (ABC television). His award-winning short films have screened at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 2006 he won a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award for Location Lighting.

 

Maria Antelman was born in Athens, Greece. After studying art history in Madrid and publishing OZON, a cultural magazine in Athens for several years, she moved to the U.S. Her videos revolve around the fears and desires that emerge from our necessity to believe in something and the converse impossibility to believe in anything. Her work has been presented in shows at the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, Greece, the MIlls College Art Museum in Oakland, Loop Fair in Barcelona, Gavin Brown's Enterprise in New York, Video Art Biennial in Tel Aviv, Southern Exposure in San Francisco, La Casa Encendida in Madrid, and festivals like transmediale, Viper, Moscow International Film Festival, and One Minute Festival in Sao Paolo. In 2002, she was awarded at the Zebra Film and Poetry festival in Berlin. Her work is being represented by the Apartment.

 

Jager McConnell is the founder of Scary Cow Productions—the Bay Area's only film co-op. Combining his passions for film, technology, community, and hands on learning, Jager created a unique film production company where anyone who is passionate can join and learn to make movies. Now in its second year, Scary Cow has made over 42 films, held four film festivals, provided ten of thousands of dollars for budgets, and encouraged well over 100 new filmmakers in the Bay Area. By harnessing the power of the community, he hopes to change the perception of what it takes to get into film and take on Hollywood. Aside from writing, producing, and directing his own short films, he hopes to complete his own feature film in the not too distant future. Jager was born in London, grew up in New England, and is extremely happy to call San Francisco his home for the last 8 years.

 

 

In film school, Jessica Sison decided to rebel against the stereotypes placed on Asian-American females by making a parody of Hong Kong action films as well as an homage to Jean-Luc Godard. That film, Newton’s Law, was chosen as the closing film of San Francisco State University’s Film Finals Festival and has gone on to screen at the Film Arts Festival, UC Berkeley’s Alternative Requirements Festival, and the national tour of the Women Make Movies Film Festival. After graduation, she spent 3 years of post-production work in film, television, and corporate projects before focusing her editing talent on documentaries. Her documentary work has screened in film festivals all over the world, and her broadcast work has shown on PBS, the Oxygen Channel, the WB, ImaginAsian, and The Filipino Channel. Kuna Ni Nanang is her documentary directorial debut. Jessica is passionate about documentaries and continues to edit for other producers and directors. Her next documentary is about her family’s unusual participation in the Bataan Death March during WWII.

 

 

For more information about the festival, contact the festival director, Stelli Munnis, at stelli@calartsandletters.org.

 

"Things are not all so comprehensible and expressible as one would mostly have us believe; most events are inexpressible, taking place in a realm which no word has ever entered, and more inexpressible than all else are works of art, mysterious existences, the life of which, while ours passes away, endures."

—Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet