Literature North West

27th July 2010

Comma Film, in association with Manchester's Version Festival, are now calling for participants in this year's POEM-FILM CHALLENGE. This challenge has previously run for several years, but only for the last two as a national project.

Filmmakers of all shapes and sizes are invited to choose and then adapt and film a short poem, visualise and realise it in anyway they choose, with the guarantee that the r...esults will be screened at this year's one-day Version festival, at the International Anthony Burgess Centre on Saturday 20th Nov.

Poems have to be from a selected list (for which the copyright has been cleared), and the one rule is that the poem is featured (as a voice-over or enacted) in its entirety in the film, without abridgement or any alteration to the text. Otherwise the filmmaker has complete freedom, and the poet doesn't get involved (unless the filmmaker wishes to use them as the narrator).

Previous poem-films commissioned by Comma have gone on to win awards (inc. the Femme Fantastique award at the London Short Film Festival), included in key showreels (Best of Birds Eye View, WIFTI), been shortlisted for even bigger awards (Virgin Media Shorts 2008), and been shown all over the world (in over 30 countries).

Deadline for selecting a poem: 15 August 2010
Deadline for delivering finished film: 1 Nov 2010 (see technical guidelines for how the film should be delivered at www.versionfestival.co.uk)

To view the poems, email Ra Page on ra.page@commapress.co.uk
Please note you have to adapt a poem from this list, any other poem-adaptations will not be considered as they will constitute a breech of copyright.

This year's Version Festival is on Saturday 20th November.