Cadence 2021 – Foam to Form [Online]
All Cadence 2021 film programs are pay-what-you-can, priced on a sliding scale, $5–25.
Full festival passes are also available for $50, with $35 passes for NWFF members.
* No one turned away for lack of funds; email paul@nwfilmforum.org about free community tickets!
Enter the Cadence 2021 virtual cinema to see more film programs.
About
The phrase “foam to form” appears in two video poems in this program, both made in 2020 – one generated by eight University of Washington Bothell students, and the other by an Austrian artist. Incidentally, both creative teams were working in response to “Lethe,” a poem by Botswana-based writer Tjawangwa Dema. This synchronicity, as well as the very different outcomes of the two pieces, exemplifies the theme of this screening: something taking shape out of frothing emotions, divine conception, nascent nostalgia, or organic material. Every piece you’ll see is an excellent example of formal exploration in video poetry.
Image credit: Delirium by Thelma Tunyi, Shanley Fermin & Tjawangwa Dema
Showcase title credit: Tjawangwa Dema
Short Film Program:
Rotten Fruit
(Lyr Casper, US, 2020, 7 min, in English, with English intertitles and text)
Rotten Fruit is an audiovisual poem exploring time, gender, origins, transformation, and self-actualization.
Knot Waking
(Lauren Flinner, US, 2020, 4 min, nonverbal, with English intertitles)
Northwest premiere!
A dream of the combined afterlife of one thousand trees.
Mad! (Fou!)
(dir. No Budget Animation, poetry by Hélène Matte, Canada, 2018, 3 min, in French, with English subtitles)
The child king learns to walk in the universe. His environment falls as he rises.
L
(dir. Nikolaus Jantsch, poetry by Tjawangwa Dema, Austria, 2020, 1 min, in English, with no subtitles or captions)
US premiere!
This short animated film explores the relationship between visual and spoken worlds, when they unite, or when they take separate ways.
Backwards God
(Natalie Cook, US, 2019, 6 min, in English, with hardcoded English subtitles)
Backwards God tells the story of how man made God in his image.
Final rest
(dir. Jerin Louis, poetry by V.G Thampy, India, 2019, 10 min, in Malayalam, with English subtitles)
This poetry film portrays an artist’s moments of death: before, during and/or after. Life doesn’t end with death. Moments of death are moments of revelation. Man and Woman complete the circle of death. Last sleep becomes first sleep.
Delirium
(dir. Thelma Tunyi & Shanley Fermin, poetry by Tjawangwa Dema, US, 2020, 7 min, in English, with no subtitles or captions)
US premiere!
Delirium is a short film based on the poem “Lethe” by Tjawangwa Dema that utilizes original collage artwork and animation techniques, intertwined with live-action videography, to express the mutable reality of a character with a cognitive affliction.
Delirium was created collaboratively, under the condition of COVID-19 quarantine and with the supervision and mentorship of filmmaker Masahiro Sugano.
🏆 Cadence 2021 award-winner! 🏆
A Scale for Hurt
(dir. Julia 秀英 Ngeow, poetry by x, Australia, 2020, 6 min, in English, with hardcoded English subtitles)
A Scale for Hurt explores the question: How can we comprehend a scale that is so much bigger than ourselves – a scale that is far too big to feel?
nothing comes close
(dir. Tamar Tabori, poetry by Hannah Karpinski, Canada, 2020, 3 min, in English, with English captions)
US premiere!
Part of an ongoing collaboration across space and time, “nothing comes close” breathes life into a summer scene, exploring the protective power of love between friends. Original text of “nothing comes close” forthcoming in Rogue Agent, May 2021.
Winter Sleep
(dir. Chad Galloway, poetry by Sheri Benning, Canada, 2021, 6 min, in English, with no subtitles or captions)
World premiere!
This poem and film, in conversation, ask viewers to reckon with the devastating socio-environmental impact of agribusiness, a clarifying task in re-conceiving new horizons.
Back to Festival Catalog:
Cadence: Video Poetry Festival 2021 Index
Cadence: Video Poetry Festival is an annual series of screenings, workshops, and discussions on the genre of video poetry, held during National Poetry Month. The festival approaches video poetry as a literary genre that is presented as visual media, cultivating new meaning from the combination of text and moving image.
In its fourth year, the 2021 festival features 80 artists from throughout the world. Cadence is the Pacific Northwest’s only festival dedicated to the form of video poetry.
Feature film:
- Huw Wahl’s The Republics
Short film programs:
- Foam to Form
- Housed But Not Homed
- Ink of the Unfamiliar Pen
- This Is How I Excavate
- Uncanny Intermingling
Live collaborations:
- Cinema Divina: Contemplative, Creative, Communal Practice with Marilyn Freeman (Apr. 21 at 5pm PT)
- Haiku You: An All-Ages Film Poetry Workshop (Apr. 28 at 4pm PT)