Verse meets visuals in motion during a series of cinepoem screenings, ekphrastic responses, and generative workshops celebrating National Poetry Month.

Cadence Video Poetry Festival is seeking video poems for inclusion in the April 2026 festival. Each selected video poem will receive an artist payment.

Video poetry is language as light. As an art form, video poetry is lucid and liminal—on the threshold of the literary and the moving image. It articulates the poetic image visually, rather than metaphorically—it shifts words from page to screen, from ink to light. A video poem makes meaning that would not exist if text was without image, image without text. It is language-based video work or a video-based poem. Video poetry is a literary genre presented as visual media.

Cadence showcases visual media that makes new meaning from the combination of text and moving image.

We welcome:
• Collaborations between video artists and writers;
• Video by poets creating video from, or as, their writing;
• Video artists creating poetic meaning through visual or aural text;
• Video work that’s poetically informed or poetry that’s visually informed that isn’t easily defined;
• and beyond!

Any poems used for adaptations of pre-existing poetry must be in the public domain or else used with written consent of the author.

Cadence Video Poetry Festival is co-directed by Chelsea Werner-Jatzke and Rana San and hosted annually at Northwest Film Forum, satellite venues, and online.

Banner Image: "Adhan" (dir. Kamyar Mohsenin)

ABOUT CADENCE VIDEO POETRY
Cadence Video Poetry is a 501c3, tax exempt nonprofit organization based in Seattle, WA, and produced in association with Northwest Film Forum.

ABOUT NORTHWEST FILM FORUM
Founded in Seattle in 1995 as an independent film and arts nonprofit, Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. Each year the Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performances, and public discussions. As a comprehensive visual media organization, the Forum offers educational workshops and artist services for film and media makers at all stages of their development. More information is available at nwfilmforum.org.

Awards & Prizes

Each selected video poem will receive an artist fee.

Rules & Terms

Submission deadline: January 15

1. We welcome submissions in all languages and ask that films in languages other than English contain hardcoded English subtitles. If a barrier to understanding language is part of the concept of your video poem, we will respect the stylistic choices of the artist and honor the piece in its authentic form.

2. Please ensure your work contains an opening title and/or credits.

3. If your film has subtitles, they must be burned in.

4. Our online screenings will feature captions. Please provide captions as a .srt or .vtt file (if they’re burned in, that is fine!). If your film does not have captions, we recommend using an easy and affordable site such as Rev.com to create them.

5. While we tend to encourage submissions under 5 minutes including credits, we are always open to considering longer works, including features. If it's living at the intersection of poetry and moving image, send it our way!

6. All submissions will receive notification no later than March 15.

7. If selected for screening at the festival, the filmmaker will be required to submit the following:

• Brief film synopsis
• Credits for director(s) + writer(s)
• 1-2 high-resolution film stills
• 1920x1080 h.264 film exhibition copy
• Downloadable trailer, if applicable
• Subtitles burned in, if applicable
• Caption file as .srt or .vtt

8. By submitting a film to Cadence Video Poetry Festival, you certify that:

• You are the owner of the film you have submitted or you have full authority to submit the film to the festival.

• This film is not subject to any litigation nor is threatened by any litigation.

• This film is your original work and you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless Cadence Video Poetry Festival, Northwest Film Forum, and its employees, volunteers and board of directors individually and collectively, from and against all claims, complaints, causes of action, liabilities, judgments, losses, costs and expenses including reasonable attorneys fees arising out of or in connection with any and all claims and/or third party claims based on materials you are submitting to the festival.
42 Reviews
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  • Charles Olsen

    This was our fourth time at Cadence and we were surprised and delighted to receive an invitation from Chelsea and Rana to come to Seattle as festival guests! As well as Lilián Pallares and I being able to participate in-person, with a Craft Talk and poetry reading, we enjoyed the post-screening talks, hearing about the filmmaking workshops, and meeting other directors. The cinema at NorthWest Film Forum was lovely and the films looked and sounded great. I also love the hybrid aspect with the online gathering and Poetry Bookshelf. Gracias Chelsea and Rana for taking such good care of us and ¡Viva Cadence!

    June 2025
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  • Aida Daneshvar

    This is a wonderful festival that's clearly run with love for art & artists. Chelsea and Rana put a lot of thought and effort into building a community that feels supportive and welcoming. Great communication and promotional materials throughout as well. We loved being part of Cadence!

    May 2025
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  • Sultan Ali Jr.

    Cadence was the first festival to accept my micro-short—and that meant everything. As a first-time experimental filmmaker, I was nervous to share my work, but the Cadence team created such a welcoming and supportive space for artists like myself. Their belief in my film gave me the confidence to keep submitting. Now, my film has been selected by four festivals and counting. It all started with Cadence!

    May 2025
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  • Cristobal Bianchi

    It was an honour to be selected for Cadence Festival 2025. I think all the communication and feedback were excellent. I am grateful to Rana and Chelsea for their fantastic event and festival.

    May 2025
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  • Yehuda Sharim

    Kind! Thoughtful! Creative! Real! Poetic! Meaningful! A treat for artists, poets, and filmmakers alike!

    April 2025
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