Cinéhaïku went back to school in September after teaming up with the film department at one of the UK’s top specialist arts institutions, the University for the Creative Arts, to put poetry into motion.
A total of 35 first-year BA (Hons) Film Production and Photography students took part and created their rendition of a Cinéhaïku. This short poetic film form, inspired by Japanese haiku poetry, must be composed of three distinct parts and last no longer than 30 seconds.
The project was organised as a competition, with Radoslav Gramatikov’s playful interpretation selected as the winning Cinéhaïku. Florentina Contantinescu, Magdalena Grunwald, Tom Harris and Aine Lewis Baker were named runners-up among several original and high-quality films.
Explaining his Cinéhaïku, Gramatikov said: “Haiku for me is pure poetry – untranslatable, unexplainable and unfiltered. Hence, a Cinéhaïku is visual poetry. I wanted to achieve a sense of visual poetry, combined with the themes of childhood and freedom.”
UCA, based in Farnham in the south of England, was named “Modern University of the Year” in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018 for its excellent graduate record, which includes Oscar and BAFTA winning filmmakers and animators.
The collaboration with UCA was organised as part of the third edition of the Cinéhaïku Festival, which will officially kick off this month at artgenève 2019, the international contemporary art fair based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Cinéhaïku will have its own dedicated exhibition space and present a curated selection of films alongside a host of leading gallerists. Radoslav Gramatikov’s film and those of the four runners up will be showcased alongside the winners of last competition, and the works of 10 contemporary artists.
For more information on the art fair, visit www.artgeneve.ch. To enter your film into the Cinéhaïku competition please click here.
Calling all filmmakers to create a very short film in three parts and 30 seconds on the theme of Japanese haiku poetry.
The Cinéhaïku Association is pleased to announce that the 3rdedition of the Cinéhaïku Competition will open for entries on 4 February 2019.
Every month, until 29 November, Cinéhaïku invites filmmakers across the world to participate by adhering to one simple exercise: adapt the rules of the Japanese haiku to an audio-visual format.
A winning film will be selected at the end each month, excluding August, and awarded a €1,000 cash prize. The competition will culminate in the annual Cinéhaïku Festival, taking place in January 2020 at the international renowned art fair, artgenève.
All nine finalists will be automatically entered into the festival, where their works will be exhibited. An overall winner of the year’s best Cinéhaïku will be invited to receive a further €1,000 prize by a professional jury from the art, film and literary world.
Artgenève
Artgenève welcomes international galleries and also devotes a large area to public and private collections, as well as independent spaces and curators, promoting a dynamic dialogue between institutions and galleries.
Cinéhaïku is delighted to be taking part in its inaugural Artgenève exhibition in January 2019, where it will showcase the winners of the second edition, first exhibited in May at the Cinéhaïku Fesitval in Gordes.
The exhibition will bring to end of the 2018 edition and kick-off the next round of the competition, opening on 4thFebruary after the closure of artgenève.
Cinéhaïku
Cinéhaïku is short poetic film in three sequences and lasting between 20 to 30 seconds in length. The name is derived from the words “cinema” and “haiku”, a very short poetry form of Japanese origin. In a Cinéhaïku, the haiku is reimagined and expressed in an audio-visual format.
Films must be composed in 3 parts, reflecting the haiku structure, and last between 20 and 30 seconds in length. More guidelines and examples of haiku poetry can be found under the “compete” section of our website. Please make sure you adhere to all terms and conditions before applying.
Sponsors and partners: The Cinéhaïku festival is organised in association with Memo Paris and Floraiku with the support of Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris.
Born in Mexico, Daniel Lezama studied international relations in his home country before deciding to pursue his passion for film at Cuba’s International Film and TV School (EICTV). Since 2001 he has worked on several short films including “Dedicatoria”, “Amores”, “Acaso su Silencio”. He has also co-directed the documentaries including “Bajo un Nuevo Sol”.
Speaking to Cinéhaïku in Gordes, with a dramatic thunderstorm to set the scene, Lezama tells us how he got involved and what his plans are for the future.
CH: How did you get involved in Cinéhaïku?
DL: I found out about this festival back in January when a professor recommended that I visit their website to find out more. It is interesting that in 3 plans you count only with 30 seconds, which forces you to synthesize your message in the most efficient way. I think this is what drew me, because it seems easy to make a movie of 30 seconds, but when it comes down to conveying a concise idea, that’s where the difficulty comes. That’s when I decided to participate.
CH: What is your Cinéhaïku “Time Stands Still” about?
DL: Well, the idea that I had for this piece that I have shown was to represent in a poetic way the passing of time and how bodies are related to it. In a way, when we are born, we move forward and at the end, we still keep going while time passes. I think it is like running in perpetuity.
CH: Do you have any ideas yet as to what your $5,000 prize will go towards?
DL: I will use it for the documentary I am preparing at this moment, called ‘Campoamor’, a theatre where its last curtain fell in 1965 and for which one man still cares for and calls it home. I am currently filming this back in Cuba.
CH: What are you highlights from the festival?
DL: Something that I absolutely loved about the festival was the hospitality. It’s incredible to have the opportunity to meet directors, poets, writers, artists, museum curators and all that warmth that they offered. I felt like I was amongst friends discussing film. Also, the city of Gordes is so impressive. It is like a story book tale with its castle, its people, the weather – everything was great.
CH: What tips would you give to anyone out there wanting to participate in next year’s Cinéhaïku competition?
DL: A few tips for people looking to create their Cinéhaïkus is that to first feel what they want to convey, to be visceral, not to create a script, to come really from a poetic and experimental angle. Also, to think about the piece considering sound. And lastly, be more specific with what you want to present. I think that to create this type of piece helps a lot to develop a filmmaker’s thinking. (It helps) to bring a new way to think, another form of creation that helps for bigger pieces such as documentaries, movies, short films, etc… That’s why I think it’s really interesting to create Cinéhaïkus. It is a great way to capture all the feelings and all that you want to say in a short time.
Mexican filmmaker Daniel Lezama has won the coveted 2018 prize for the best Cinéhaïku of the year for his film “Time Stands Still”.
Lezama, a Masters student at the International School of Film and TV in Cuba (EICTV), was selected from a shortlist of 15 finalists after receiving the most number of points from an 8-strong jury from the art and literary world.
Jury members included award-winning Japanese film director Naomi Kawase, authors Christophe Rey and Thomas Clerc, artist Xavier Veilhan, Cinéhaïku director Clara Molloy, AsiaNow festival director Alexandra Fain and Tsutomu Sugiura, President of the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris, and curator Jean-Hubert Martin.
Speaking at a prize-giving ceremony held on the opening day of the Cinéhaïku Festival, in Gordes, Lezama said he was delighted to have won and added that the $5,000 prize would be used to fund his next documentary film about an old theatre in Cuba that had its last curtain call in 1965.
“Festivals like Cinéhaïku help promote a different way of thinking and a different way of how we create cinema. It also allows young artists to develop and spread their work. Thank you for this opportunity.”
His winning Cinéhaïku, filmed in three parts and 30 seconds, shows two figures running both towards and away from the camera, through a densely wooded forest and along an open tree-line lined road. The two scenes are punctuated by an image of an abandoned car that has succumbed to nature with time – its motionless state in stark contrast with the urgency of the moving figures.
“The idea that I had for this piece was to represent in a poetic way the passing of time and how bodies are related to it,” Lezama said of his film. “In a way, when we are born we move forward and at the end, we still keep going while time passes. I think it is like running in perpetuity.”
The launch of the Cinéhaïku Festival, which took place from 31 May to 15 June, was celebrated with an opening cocktail attended by guests including members of the jury, Gordes council, press, and the artists who exhibited their specially-commissioned films at the festival.
Opening the event, the Mayor of Gordes, Mme Françoise Rambau, said: “This year marks the second edition of the Cinéhaïku exhibition in the town of Gordes, where once again talented contemporary artists shed light on this art form full of poetry and imagination. Displayed at the heart of Gordes, in the town’s historic castle, these short films inspired by Japanese haiku poetry bring a fresh new poetic twist full of power and colour.”
John Molloy, president of Memo International, a sponsor of the Cinéhaïku Association, said: “Two years ago the town of Gordes took a chance in promoting our little-known festival and it has since grown to include participants from close to 30 countries.”
“It is a great pleasure for us to share this passion and to watch it grow. It gives us ideas for the future because what we are doing is sowing the seeds for the future. We don’t know where we will be in 10 years but if we have imagination, courage and conviction in a few years we will be part of something extraordinary.”
Cinéhaïku director Clara Molloy said the idea of holding the festival in Gordes came to her after an inspiring trip to the medieval hilltop town: “We were captivated the first time we visited Gordes. That feeling of surprise is the same feeling you have watching a good film and is what we wanted to create watching Cinéhaïku- that moment of suspense.”
John Molloy added: “Cinéhaïku is something democratic: anyone can participate as long as you have a phone. The only criteria is talent. It is international, there is no single language, it is modern and digital, and we want to inspire people to take part.
“I hope that step by step between now and ten years time we will create a Cinéhaïku festival in countries across the world centred on a main event here in Gordes.”
Award-winning directors, curators and writers among the jury members for the Cinéhaïku Festival 2018.
The annual Cinéhaïku Festival will return to the historic town of Gordes, in the Luberon region of southern France, for its second edition, from 28 May to 17 June 2018, showcasing a new collection of short poetic films alongside a curated programme of artistic events.
The festival brings together the winners of the bimonthly Cinéhaïku film contest, held from 2 October to 17 May, in an exciting exhibition held inside of the castle of Gordes. Find out more about take part, here. The overall winner of the best Cinéhaïku 2018 will be announced on 30 May by a professional jury from the art and literary world, presided over by award-winning Japanese film director Naomi Kawase.
The 2018 event will also build on the success of the first edition by presenting the works of 10 prominent French artists and their visual renditions of a haiku. These include internationally acclaimed French visual artist Xavier Veilhan, whose works include the French Pavilion at the 57th Venice Art Biennale.
Carine Soyer, editor-in- chief of the art review, Profane, is curating this year’s festival. The scenography is being overseen by Alexis Bertrand (Studio Venezia, 57 th Venice Art Biennale; Château de Rentilly – 2014).
“We all need poetry in our lives, if this could bring people together and add some beauty to the world, it would make all the team behind Cinéhaïku very happy,” Cinéhaïku founder Clara Molloy – Irk Magazine.
The jurors for the second edition:
Award-winner Japanese film director Naomi Kawase; Clara Molloy, Director of the Cinéhaïku Association; Thomas Clerc, award-winning French author of several books including Interior and Poeasy; Swiss photographer and poet Christophe Rey, and author of 237 haïkus; Jean-Hubert Martin, (pictured) leading art historian and curator of international exhibitions including the French Pavilion 54th Venice Biennale and Salvador Dali at the Pompidou Centre 2013; internationally acclaimed artist Xavier Veilhan; Tsutomu Sugiura, president of the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris; Alexandra Fain, director Festival Asia Now.
artists exhibiting at this year’s festival:
Xavier Veilhan is a Paris-based visual artist whose work encompasses sculpture, photography, film and instillation art. His recent works include the French Pavilion at the 57 th Venice Art Biennale, 2017 and Flying V, his seventh solo exhibition at the Galerie Perrotin, Paris.
Claire Adelfang, a Paris-based videographer and photographer represented by the art gallery Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris-Salzburg-London); Annabelle Amoros, a videographer whose works has been presented at major exhibitions Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie de Arles and the museum of hunting and nature in Paris; Elsa Brès, an architect and artist whose films have been featured at Loop Barcelona, FID Marseille, Hamburg short film Festival; Louis Cyprien Rials, a photographer and video artist who has travelled across Iraq, Armenia, and Kazakhstan documenting landscapes he describes as “unintentional natural parks” . He was recently awarded the Sam Prize 2018 by the Arts Projects, based in Paris.
Marcel Dinahet, a French artist represented by the gallery Les Filles du Calvaire in Paris and Domobaal in London. Water is the main focus of his work; Emmanuel Lagarrigue, working across sculpture, video and dance, Emmanuel explores themes of language, memory and perception. Represented by Parisian Gallery Sultana, his current exhibition, Appassionata, is an installation in 3 acts over 3 months, following the form of an opera. Natasha Nisic, a visual artist who works across a range of media, Nisic’s fixed and moving images function as substrata of memory, memory torn between its value as proof and its loss. Her most notable personal exhibitions include Haus/raus-aus (Le Plateau, Frac Ile-de-France) and Effroi (Musée Zadkine). Oscar Santillan was born in Equador in 1980 and divides his time between his home country and Holland. A graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in sculpture, he then joined the Jan Van Eyck Academy in Holland and has completed several residencies (Fondazione Ratti in Italy, Seven Below in the USA). He is represented by Copperfield gallery in London and Mazzoli in Berlin. Fern Silva lives and works in New York, where he studied art and cinema at the Massachusetts College of Art and Bard College. His films, in 16mm format, have featured in several festivals, galleries et museums in cities including Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, Paris, Rotterdam, New York, London, Melbourne and Hong Kong. He is also a visiting professor at Bennington College, in Vermont.
The winners of the 2018 Cinéhaïku competition to date:
- Spots, Raphaël Venayre
- The Moon and I, Benjamin Choiselat
- Flower Talks, Constance Boulay
- Rain Song, Erika de Cunha
- Danse Macabre, Olatz Peretz
- Framed, Micah Raburn
- Refuge, Ben Middlekauf
- Where is your mind? Antonin Duhoux
- The last time I saw you, Valentin Curtet
- Destiny, Chrystel Egal
- Tides, Tarryn Doherty
- Playground, Jeremy Ledda
- Time Stamds Still, Daniel Lezama
Keep up to date with Cinéhaïku news by visiting www.cinehaiku.com or through Facebook and Instagram.
A major opportunity for filmmakers to create a very short film in three parts and 30 seconds on the theme of the Japanese haiku.
The Cinéhaïku Assocation is inviting filmmakers across the world to participate in this exciting contest by adhering to one simple exercise: adapt the rules of the haiku to an audio-visual format.
A haiku is a short poem on 3 lines of Japanese origin, which celebrates the evanescence of things: a fleeting moment captured and distilled. As Jack Kerouac said, a “sentence that’s short and sweet with a sudden jump of thought in it, is a kind of haiku”.
Every two weeks, until May 17 2018, a winner will be chosen and awarded a $500 prize. The winning films will be shown at the 2nd edition of the Cinéhaïku festival, which will take place from 28 May to 15 June 2018 in Gordes, in the Luberon region of the south of France.
The winner of the year’s best Cinéhaïku will be invited to Gordes to receive a $5,000 prize awarded by a professional jury, this year led by award-winning Japanese film director Naomi Kawase. The winner of the 2017 contest was French artist Maud Flamand with her film River Sparkle.
Films must be composed in 3 parts, reflecting the haiku structure, and last between 20 and 30 seconds in length. More guidelines and examples of haiku poetry can be found on our website.
The competition is free to enter through the Cinéhaïku Facebook page (@cinehaikuofficial).
Questions may be directed to contact@cinehaiku.com or via Facebook.
Sponsors and partners: The Cinéhaïku festival is organised in association with the Ville de Gordes, Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris, Memo International and Floraiku.