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PLANT WITH JOY (2026)

"Such a clever dating poem, Lee"- Gerald Kells, poet

"Gorgeously narrated and illustrated - there's a tenderness here that combines all the themes into the core of the multi-genre storytelling. Genre-ous indeed" - Steve Tasane, poet

"I think it's excellent!! You are telling a very meaningful story, and your soothing voice carries it well. It is a magnificent piece" - Lantern Carrier, poet

"What a beautiful poem đŸ”„", - Duncan the Sage

‘PLANT WITH JOY’ (2026) is a witty and tender poetry film that explores the evolving relationship between a son and his father following the death of the mother. Using gardening as a central visual and thematic motif, it contrasts the father’s physical cultivation of the land with the son’s creative and emotional expression through writing, blending imagery of growth, memory, and care. Shifting between lyrical sequences and conversational, almost documentary-style moments, the film highlights generational differences in attitudes toward sexuality, masculinity, and vulnerability. The son’s humorous, candid reflections on dating, domestic mishaps, and identity are set against the father’s quieter, sometimes uneasy responses. Through visual metaphor, voiceover, and intimate dialogue, the poetry film captures a relationship that continues to grow rooted in love, shaped by grief, and sustained by humour, patience, and mutual understanding.

  • Lee Campbell
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Short
  • Runtime:
    4 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 21, 2026
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Brockleywood Nights, Brockley Max Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    June 4, 2026
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Lee Campbell

Dr Lee Campbell is an artist, performance poet, experimental filmmaker, writer, Senior Lecturer at University of the Arts London (UAL) and curator/founder of Homo Humour, the first of its kind project on contemporary queer male film and moving image practices that explore humour and LGBTQ+ storytelling and has screened all over the world since 2020. He is also founder of POW! Play on Words, a vibrant, boundary-pushing poetry, film and performance platform which he currently co-curates with Colin B. Osborn. Based in Central London, POW! brings together poets, performers, and experimental artists for events that fuse spoken word, film, and multimedia performance. POW! Play on Words reimagines what a poetry event can be, replacing the quiet intimacy of traditional readings with a charged, visually and aurally immersive experience. A performance punk poetry platform that transforms traditional readings into visceral acts of thought and expression. Each edition showcases a diverse lineup of established voices and emerging talents, celebrating innovation, inclusion, and the raw energy of live performance. Expect poetry that doesn’t just speak but performs, often accompanied by projected film, soundscapes, or interactive elements that blur the line between text, art, and theatre.

His experimental performance poetry films have been selected for many international film festivals since 2019.  Recent selected film accolades include ** HONORABLE MENTION ** for ‘One Day’ at MIDWEST POETRY VIDEO FEST, 2026 and Award nomination for Best Gay Porn Short for ‘Lee in Leatherland’ Porn Film Festival Vienna, and in 2025 include Finalist for ‘One Day’, ‘Uncharted (The Cartographer)’, and ‘Dog Boy’, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales, Finalist for ‘One Day’, Absurd Arthouse Film Festival, Isle of Sheppey, U.K, Finalist for ‘Hot Mess’ and ‘STD’, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales. In 2024, Runner-up, Best Animation for ‘Reclaiming My Voice’, Gilbert Baker Film Festival, USA. Also in 2024, ‘Periscope’, ‘Proper Shave’ and ‘Press Eject’ nominated for Best Experimental Film for ‘Periscope’, Fisheye Film Festival, Bucks, U.K. In 2023, ‘ Michael in the Mountains’ was Nominee for Best Experimental Short at Appalachian Queer Film Festival, Huntington, West Virginia, USA, ‘Rufus’ and ‘Slang Bang’ were selected as Finalists at the Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales.,‘Bears with Bananas and Bubbles in Their Boxers’ was a Finalist in The Artists Spoken Word Competition, NYC, USA and 'Rufus' won Best Animated Short at The Rooster Film Festival, Portland, USA. His film Eye’ (2022 version) as finalist in the Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2022 and 2023 and an Honorable Mention for 'Let Rip: Teenage Scrapbook' at REELPOETRY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL 2023, Houston, Texas, USA and for 'Juniper Park' at Experimental Forum, Los Angeles in 2023.
 
Lee had his first solo exhibition in North America of his poetry films, See Me: Performance Poetry Films at Fountain Street, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A in July 2022 and a solo exhibition of poetry film, Bona Polari! at The Margate School, Margate and Wimbledon College of Arts Library, UAL in February 2022. In September 2023, a solo retrospective of Lee’s recent film work SEE ME: Lee Campbell Recent Poetry Film Works was held at Raum fĂŒr Kunst, Paderborn, Germany.
 
Forthcoming and recent screenings include London Fetish Film Festival, Porn Film Festival Vienna, P/RNights, Schikaneder Cinema, Vienna, Brockley Max Film Festival, London, Brockleywood Nights film screening at Brockley Taproom and Brewery, London, BFI Reuben Library, BFI Southbank, London, Gilbert Baker Film Festival, USA, Fixations, selected by BUTT Magazine, The One Minutes Series, various venues across the Netherlands and internationally, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales, NSFW Film Fest, Los Angeles, U.S.A, Failed Films, Los Angeles, U.S.A, Porn Film Festival Berlin 2024, Berlin, Germany, Queer Ecology, Laneway Gallery, Cork, Ireland, Brighton Rocks International Film Festival, Brighton, Cauldron International Film and Video Festival, Salt Lake City, USA, Festival ECRÃ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, MicroActs 18, London, Queer Visions, Vienna, Post Pxrn Film Festival, Warsaw, Porn sur Mars, Marseilles, France, Brecon Beacons Film Festival, Brecon, Wales, Fisheye Film Festival, High Wycombe, PFF Vienna 2024, Austria, Terrible Fest Toronto, Toronto, Canada, Kino Short Film Open Mic, London, FetFilms, Stockholm, Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2023, NSFW Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales, Queer Shorts Vienna, PORN Film Festival, Barcelona, Persian Experimental Film Festival, Gay Binge Film Festival, Gay Binge TV, Homography/Homografia, Brussels, Festival Fotogenia, Mexico, Kinoclub Goes Sompasauna, Helsinki, Finland, Wal Goch Football Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales , Failed Films Festival, Media Pollution, Los Angeles, USA, The Artists Spoken Word Competition, NYC, USA, Appalachian Queer Film Festival, Huntington, West Virginia, USA, Filmfest Paderborn, Paderborn, Germany,  Squish Movie Camp, Rotterdam, Post Pxrn Film Festival, Warsaw, The West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival, Morgantown, USA, Hacker Porn Film Festival, Italy, Brighton Rocks International Film Festival, Brighton, Hastings Rocks International Film Festival, Printworks, Hastings, New York City Independent Film Festival  New York, TEASR Film Festival, Tucson, USA, The Rooster Film Festival, Portland, Oregon, USA, Lynchian Film Festival, Global Fest, Kino Club Helsinki with global Impro ensemble from The Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki, Musiikkitalo Finland, Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2022,Down East Flick Fest, North Carolina, USA, PFFB Porn Film Festival Berlin, Berlin, WIPE Film Festival, Berlin, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales, Ealing Film Festival, London, Monologues and Poetry International Film Festival, CINEM’aMOSTr, Teatro Municipal de Vila do Conde, Porto, Portugal, VIDEOAKTION #3, Raum fĂŒr drastische Maßnahmenm, Berlin, SECS FEST, Seattle, USA, Hombres Video Poetry Award (Finalist) for ‘SEE ME’, SlamContemporary, Italy, (de)construction,, Kino Club Helsinki, Finland, SF Queer Film Festival, San Francisco, CA, USA, Failed Films Season 5,Los Angeles, U.S.A, Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, New Mexico State University, U.S.A,TRANÅS AT THE FRINGE - International Screening of Experimental Films and Videopoems, Sweden, Post Pxrn Film Festival, Warsaw, Living with Buildings II, Coventry, REELpoetry/HoustonTX 2022 International Poetry Film Festival, The Football Art Prize, UK-touring exhibition to Touchstones Rochdale, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield and Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens,NFSW Film Festival, Los Angeles, USA,Miami Performance International Festival, EdgeZones, Miami, FilmPride Brighton & Hove Pride's official LGBTQ+ film festival, Brighton, UK, Festival ECRÃ Edition 5, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wicked Queer Film Festival, Boston, USA, Fisheye Film Festival, UK, Southampton Film Week, UK, The Gateway Film Festival, UK, STATES OF DESIRE: Tom of Finland in the Queer Imagination, Casa de Duende, Philadelphia, USA. Darkroom Film Festival, Deptford Cinema, London, The Gilbert Baker Film Festival, USA, HOMOGRAFÍA/HOMOGRAPHY, Brussels. Visions 2020 selected by Hetain Patel, The Nunnery, Bow Arts Trust, London, Porn Film Festival Vienna, Satyrs and Maenads: the Athens Porn Film Festival, SPLICE Film Festival, OUTStream Film Festival and Queerbee LGBT Film Festival. 

Lee has been interviewed numerously about his current film/performance work including interviews on BBC Radio Ulster with WIlliam Crawley, BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey with Kathy Caton for Out with Kathy, KMTV (local Kent-based TV station) interview feature about Bona Polari! solo exhibition, interview with Jane Glennie, Moving Poems Magazine in July 2022, Daniel Hess for To Tony Productions, Tim Kirk, Matt Skallerud for I Love Gay Today/PinkMedia LGBT, Hamish Downie’s Five Questions With – Lee Campbell (March 2021) BBC Radio Kent- Interview with Dominic King for The Dominic King Show January 2021. His film work has received critical acclaim with recent review features of his film work by Francesca de Luca in Cut Frame Magazine and James Clark in Lost Creatives. In 2008, he was interviewed by Libby Purves for BBC Radio 4 where he discussed his solo performance for Whitstable Biennale that year. 
 
Lee’s poetry has received critical acclaim and was mentioned in a Summer 2022 edition of London’s Islington Tribune. His poem ‘Clever at Seeing without being Seen’ was recorded for Sometimes, The Revolution is Small, Disarm Hate x Poetry project by Nymphs & Thugs Recording Co. UK.Publications of his poetry include Hakara: A Bi-Lingual Journal of Creative Expression, The Atticus Review, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Untitled. Voices, Gob Jaw Anthology 2019-2022, Issue Two: Wasteland, Powders Press, Issue One: First Times, Powders Press, Otherwise, You Are Here - The Journal of Creative Geography, Queerlings – A Literary Magazine for Queer Writing, New Note Poetry, Streetcake Experimental Writing Magazine, The New Normal and Step Away Magazine. His debut poetry collection ’See Me: An (Almost) Autobiography’ was published in 2024 by London Poetry Books.
 

RECENT SELECTED AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
 
Film Awards 

2026 ** HONORABLE MENTION ** for ‘One Day’ at MIDWEST POETRY VIDEO FEST, 2026
2026 Award nomination for Best Gay Porn Short for ‘Lee in Leatherland’ Porn Film Festival Vienna, Vienna
2025 Finalist for ‘One Day’, ‘Uncharted (The Cartographer)’, and ‘Dog Boy’, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales
2025 Finalist for ‘One Day’, Absurd Arthouse Film Festival, Isle of Sheppey, U.K
2024 Finalist for ‘Hot Mess’ and ‘STD’, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales
2024 Runner-up, Best Animation for ‘Reclaiming My Voice’, Gilbert Baker Film Festival, USA
2024 Nominee for Best Experimental Film for ‘Periscope’, Fisheye Film Festival, Bucks, U.K
2024 Nominee for Best Experimental Film for ‘Proper Shave’, Fisheye Film Festival, Bucks, U.K
2024 Nominee for Best Experimental Film for ‘Press Eject’, Fisheye Film Festival, Bucks, U.K
2023 Finalist for ‘Periscope’, Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2023
2023 Nominee for Best Experimental Short for Michael in the Mountains’, Appalachian Queer Film Festival, Huntington, West Virginia, USA
2023 Finalist for ‘Slang Bang’ and ‘Rufus’, Iris Prize LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Cardiff, Wales
2023 Finalist for ‘Bears with Bananas and Bubbles in Their Boxers’ The Artists Spoken Word Competition, NYC, USA
2023 Winner of Best Micro Short for 'The Colour of His Eyes', Under Appreciated Film Festival 2023
2023 Semi-Finalist for 'Head Boy', Neum Underwater Film Festival, Neum, Bosnia
2023 Honorable Mention for 'SEE ME', Los Angeles Underground Film Forum, Los Angeles, USA  
2023 Honorable Mention for 'SEE ME' and 'Juniper Park', Experimental Forum, Los Angeles, USA
2023 Shortlisted for BEST POETRY FILM for ‘SEE ME’, Out-Spoken Poetry Prize 2023, Southbank Centre, London
2023 WINNER of BEST ANIMATED SHORT for ‘Rufus’ at The Rooster Film Festival, Portland, USA 2
2023 Honorable Mention for 'Let Rip: Teenage Scrapbook' at REEL POETRY INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, Houston, Texas, USA
2022 WINNER of BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM for ‘SEE ME’, Ealing Film Festival, London
2022 Finalist for ‘Apple of My Eye’, Deanna Tulley Multimedia Prize 2022
2022 Finalist for ‘See Shells’, Drumshanbo Written Word Weekend Poetry Film Competition, Drumshanbo, Ireland
2022 Juan Downey International Contest (Finalist), Chile 
2022 Hombres Video Poetry Award (Finalist) for ‘SEE ME’, SlamContemporary, Italy  
2022 Finalist for ‘Rufus’, MicroMania Film Festival 2022, Buffalo, NY, USA
2022 Finalist for ‘The Perfect Crime: A Doggy Whodunnit’, Absurd Art House Film Festival 2022
2022 Finalist for ‘Reclaiming my Voice’, Vesuvius International Film Festival
2022 Honorable Special Mention Award, Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
2021 Best Psychedelic Fantasy film winner for 'See Me' (2020), Retro Avant Garde Film Festival NYC, 2021
2021 Semi-Finalist, Serbest International Film Festival 2021
2021 Honorable Mention, Splice Film Festival, New York
2021 Nominee for Best Original Concept and Best Atmosphere Independent Horror Movie Awards 2021
2021 Honorable Mention Award for 'See Me' (2020), Screener Short Films 
2021 Kosice International Film Festival (Finalist)
2021 Best Kent Film nominee for ‘Peer’ (2020), Margate Bookie Film Festival
2021 Honorable Special Mention Award, Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival
2020 Semi-Finalist (3rd place winner), Splice Film Festival, New York
2019 Special Mention Award, London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival
 

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