MALDITO videopoetry festival on the horizon with auspicious dates 31st Oct – 5th Nov
This is a wonderful festival based in Albacete, Spain, that celebrates video poetry amongst all kinds of performance – as happy amongst live bands and VJing as in a quiet, reflective cinema. And following its raunchy and evocative name – Maldito means ‘Damned’ – the event links two feverish dates: Halloween and Guy Fawkes night (okay only British people might understand the spooky and fiery connection here!). Congratulations to the team of organisers and director Javier Garcia for bringing this exciting event together, now in its seventh year. Maldito is something that you really need to celebrate in situ – my slow attempts and false starts at learning Spanish aren’t helping here! Happily there is a healthy online presence for some of the longer films available at ON-LINE | FILMIN www.filmin.es/festival/maldito-festival.
They say: The festival is organized by non-profit Association Cultural Maldito; formed by a small team of professionals from the film industry, poetry and culture in general. The MALDITO team, as lovers of poetry, image and the expressive possibilities of their symbiosis, intend to promote their approach to the public, either with the events of the festival or with the educational activities that we carry out.
The PROGRAMME is available HERE
To make things more interesting it also includes 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes alongside an Audience award, and also a section for longer films, documentaries etc. I am very proud to say that my film with Ian Gibbins and Mary McDonald – Climate Change and Subjectivity, first screened for REELpoetry 2023, will be part of this really interesting section, alongside a creative tour-de-force and very moving autobiographical narrative film by Jack Cochran and Pamela Falkenberg.
There will also be a section on the winning films from each edition of the festival over the years. I am also really happy to say that my film on view at Selfie with Marilyn, featuring XaiLA with compelling poem by Heidi Seaborn, will be part of that. It sounds a really rich curation with films of varying approaches and from many different countries.
They say:
WINNING VIDEOPOEMS PREVIOUS EDITIONS
‘Within the established schedule you will be able to enjoy, free of charge, an uninterrupted screening of the winning video poems from all editions of our International Video Poetry Contest , which in this VII Edition will be held on October 31 at the Teatro Circo de Albacete.
A collection that offers us a panoramic vision of what is happening in the world , and, what is even more significant, in the artistic field. Here we find what inspires and excites us, as well as the artistic trends that emerge in other disciplines. It is an authentic reflection of the artistic and, of course, social panorama. An opportunity to see high quality works, creations by artists from all over the world, who use various visual techniques and poetic styles to elevate this genre to the category of art.’
And, by the way, the website is looking, well, wicked…
CONGRATULATIONS to everyone at MALDITO!
¡FELICITACIONES a todos en MALDITO!
