Cadence Video Poetry Festival 2023 @ Northwest Film Forum

Video 🤝 Poetry

📸: Courtesy Northwest Film Forum | When moon fall, I was me by Letian Lotte Wang & Xuemeng Simone Zhao

April 27-30th

Can any medium express as much as poetry? You can read a line in a haiku and somehow actualize the sound that a frog makes when leaping into water. Poetry is everywhere, especially in film—and Seattle has a film festival that approaches video and poetry in a new light, using combinations of texts and moving images to make it feel like you’re watching a book. Fun, yeah? 

Hosted by Capitol Hill’s Northwest Film Forum, a home to Seattle’s independent film and art scenes since 1995, the innovative Cadence Video Poetry Festival is relatively new. It started in 2018 and has cultivated artists and filmmakers, offering workshops, screenings, and awards. Lovers of film and poetry gather here during poetry month to push the art further in a cozy theater on Seattle’s streets. 

The fest happens in-person at the Northwest Film Forum from April 27th-30th, but if you miss it, virtual films run until May 7th. Fest pass prices are $40 for NWFF members and “pay-what-you-can” for guest admission, ranging from $55 to $85. Limited free passes are available for BIPOC, LGBT+, disabled, and low-income audiences. So come and support in any way you can.

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Author

Nathan Saeturn

Nathan is a recent UW graduate and a connoisseur of instant Vietnamese coffee—the same brand for six years. (“G7 3-in-1” to be exact!!!) He is currently a volunteer book reviewer for The International Examiner and a dog dad to Willow, the world’s most animated terrier.