ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival

The ZEBRA Poetry Film Festival Münster | Berlin is organizing five competitions between September 27 and 30 at the Schloßtheater in Münster. 66 films were nominated from 1,200 entries to the competitions. Three juries award prizes with a total value of 13,000 euros. These include the "ZEBRA Award for the Best Poetry Film", donated by the Haus für Poesie, Berlin, the "Goethe Film Award" of the Goethe-Institut, the "Ritter Sport Filmpreis" of Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, as well as the "Award for the Best Film for Tolerance" from the Federal Foreign Office.

Notable films in the competition include "Negative Space", an enchantingly thoughtful animated film about a boy's relationship to his father's suitcase, nominated for an Oscar in 2018, and the animated film "Rooms", a short film about "life, death and mice". It was adapted from the poem of the same name by Billy Collins, who was elected US poet Laureate in June 2001 and thus held the highest office for poetry in his home country for two years. In the adaptation of Goethe's "Erlkönig", filmmaker Georges Schwizgebel clearly follows the lines of the poem without quoting it.

"Negative Space" by Ru Kawahata and Max Porter

In the German-language competition the film "Nico – Sphinx of Ice" is dedicated to the late singer of the band Velvet Underground and is spoken by the well-known actress Corinna Harfouch.

For the second time the festival takes place in Münster. Once again, numerous exciting and moving films from the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia were submitted. Eleven of them compete for the "Award for the best poetry film from North Rhine-Westphalia".

Ten directors from eight countries followed the call to film this year's festival poem "Endless wall-to-wall carpet (of the VIP foyer)" by Ann Cotten. Four of them will be shown at the festival in the presence of the filmmakers and the poet.

The festival is organized by Filmwerkstatt Münster in cooperation with Haus für Poesie, Berlin. It is supported by the Kunststiftung NRW, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Münster.