DEFF 2021 Poetry Film Jury
A great poetry film based on a written poem should convey more than the poem on its own. It may not be “better,” but it should take advantage of the ability to communicate through elements like the choice of colors, composition, symbols, and sounds. This fusion of sounds and sights, spoken words, and images can create independent or interdependent nuances. Technology can be manipulated to play a significant and enhancing role in a production, or it may not. It does not matter how much technical skills are used if the poet’s voice is lost and the connection to the audience suffers. The appeal of poetry films is their ability to broaden and deepen the accessibility of the poet’s words to create a new experience for new audiences.
Malaika King Albrecht
Malaika King Albrecht is serving as the inaugural Heart of Pamlico Poet Laureate. She’s the author of four poetry books. Her most recent book is The Stumble Fields (Main Street Rag 2020). Her book What the Trapeze Artist Trusts (Press 53) won honorable mention in the Oscar Arnold Young Award and was a finalist in 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Her chapbook Lessons in Forgetting was published by Main Street Rag and was a finalist in the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Awards and received honorable mention in the Brockman Campbell Award She’s the founding editor of Redheaded Stepchild, an online magazine that only accepts poems that have been rejected elsewhere. She lives in Ayden, N.C. on Freckles Farm with her family and is a yoga instructor, Reiki practitioner, and equine specialist in mental health and learning.
Caleb Beissert
Caleb Beissert is translator of Beautiful: Translations from the Spanish, poems of Federico García Lorca and Pablo Neruda, published by New Native Press in 2013. Beissert’s poems, translations, or other writings have appeared in numerous publications, including International Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry, Asheville Poetry Review, Terrain.org, Beatitude: Golden Anniversary 1959-2009, and Animal Poems (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014). Beissert has been awarded grants from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Arts & Science Council for teaching poetry. He resides in Asheville, North Carolina, where he continues to write, translate, teach, give readings, and play music. Beissert is founder and host of Poetry Open Mic Asheville, Artistic Director of Poetry Cabaret Collective, Co-editor of Redheaded Stepchild, and West Region Chair of the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series.