Prismatic Ground is a New York festival centered on experimental documentary and avant-garde film, and for the first time accepting performance, music and poetry/live reading submissions. Hosted with media partner Screen Slate at handful of venues across the city, the festival will hold its fifth edition April 29-May 3, 2026 (with a virtual component, in which participation is voluntary,).
We seek work that pushes the formal boundaries of non-fiction in the spirit and tradition of experimental filmmaking. This "spirit" is somewhat amorphous, undefinable, and open to interpretation, but refers to work that engages with its own materiality, privileges a heightened artistic experience over clear meaning, and/or conveys a liberatory political sensibility in the agitprop tradition.
Especially encouraged: Analog exhibition formats (16mm, 8mm); Queer, Trans and BIPOC filmmakers; medium length films; expanded cinema; performance, poetry and music. For a better— though not exclusive— sense of what we're looking for, you can view lineups of previous festivals on our website: https://www.prismaticground.com/archive
Submissions are reviewed in collaboration with the students of the "Counter Curating: Alternative Film Festivals" course (NMDS 5452) at The New School.
