Join us at 7 PM on Saturday, April 4, 2026 for the second program of the 2026 Midwest Video Poetry Fest. These 9 videos from the Russian Federation; the United Kingdom; Spain; Ukraine; the Netherlands; Lebanon; Germany; Urbana, IL; Kalamazoo, MI; and Columbus, OH center around storytelling (including myths, cinema, and books) and language.
Additional programs at 6 and 8 PM. Be sure to catch them all!
1) Bigfoot Takes His Wife to Mount Rushmore for their Honeymoon (04m34s)
Directed by Matt Mullins
Written by Matt Mullins
Michigan, United States
This collage of classic film footage posits that's what's unnatural is not our hidden, elusive animal nature but the truths living within our marginalized, overlooked, hated/feared, and forgotten nature.
2) Found Poetry: Invictus (01m00s)
Directed by Dmytro Bondarchuk
Written by William Ernest Henley
Ukraine
A poem written by William Ernest Henley was broken into lines and hidden in films until it was found and restored.
3) Author's Note (03m15s)
Directed by Matthew J. Pitts, Ajanaé Dawkins
Written by Ajanaé Dawkins
Ohio, United States
The opening poem from Ajanaé Dawkins' chapbook, Author's Note, offers a deep insight into her conviction for her matrilineal lineage and the women who guide her writing.
4) Whiteweight (04m45s)
Directed by Alkistis Kafetzi
Written by Hlín Leifsdóttir
Germany
Whiteweight is a film about silence and unspoken truths. It explores the haunting guilt of withheld voices in the face of societal injustices.
5) A Paper Coffee Cup Story (03m47s)
Directed by Igor Gusev
Written by Osip Mandelstam
Russian Federation
A Paper Coffee Cup Story is composed of around 760 frames were oil painted manually on 33 separate 100х75 cm fiberboards. The prototype of the poet in the video is Osip Mandelstam and his poem "Notre Dame."
6) Blood Hounds (03m10s)
Directed by Janet Lees
Written by Michael Martin
United Kingdom
A film based on the poem 'Blood Hounds', by Michael Martin.
7) Silence (04m34s)
Directed by Pat van Boeckel
Written by Peter Verhelst
Netherlands
Pat van Boeckel website
This haunting meditation on silence is Dutch filmmaker Pat van Boeckel's first appearance in the Midwest Video Poetry Fest.
8) Espantamoscas (Shoo-flies) (02m50s)
Directed by Charles Olsen, Lilián Pallares
Written by Julio Alcalá
Spain
This video is based on "Espantando moscas con el rabo" ("Shooing Flies with My Tail") which won the 70th edition of the Spanish poetry competition Palabras Prestadas in 2015.
9) The Tower of Babylon (03m36s)
Directed by Matthew Thompson
Written by Niall McDevitt
United Kingdom
Adrian Brinkerhoff Website
The poem memorializes London's tragic Grenfell Tower fire and the building's working-class residents who anticipated it.
10) Abjad Hawaz (أبجد هوز) (05m00s)
Directed by Hadi Moussally
Written by Hadi Moussally
Lebanon
"Abjad Ḥawaz" (أبجد هوز) is the traditional ordering of the Arabic alphabet once widely used in older times. Abjad Ḥawaz is both a wound and a reclamation: a film that asks what it means for language itself to become dangerous, and how, through art, movement, and beauty, we might transform fear into resilience, and prejudice into celebration.
11) Weathered by the Sun (04m56s)
Directed by Cristobal Bianchi
Written by Cristobal Bianchi
Illinois, United States
"Weathered by the Sun" is a film that shares the common thread of light, memory, video cameras, and the observation of nature.
Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.
Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.