WILLEMSTAD:--- After last year's great success, the Caribbean Cinepoetry Contest is returning with a new open call for film poems - this time also for children. Last year, three cinepoems were selected from no fewer than thirty entries from all six Dutch Caribbean islands.
Film poems are short films in which poetry and cinema come together. A cinepoem is a film based on a poem, or a film that follows the form, aesthetics and rhythm of poetry. With the competition, Wintertuin Curaçao wants to promote multidisciplinary collaborations and offer a platform to artists from various Caribbean islands.
The three winners of the first edition were selected for the Dutch Poetry Film Festival. One of the selected films, Mangel, was also shown at the Curaçao International Film Festival 2025.
For this edition, Wintertuin Curaçao invites poets and filmmakers from Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius to create short, poetic films. The selected duos will receive a production budget of 1500 dollars, and will receive professional guidance from award-winning filmmakers and spoken word artists German Gruber jr. and Juan-Carlos Goilo.
The theme for 2025 is Brio – a Papiamentu word that means both ‘brilliance’ and ‘courage’. This year, cinepoems can be about courage, creativity, radiant stories or radical imagination. “Create a film poem that celebrates creativity, serves as a means for activism and tells a story that inspires, confronts and connects,” says Joeri Oltheten of Wintertuin Curaçao. The organization will select two to three cinepoems for children that will premiere during the Wintertuin Curaçao Kids Festival on September 13, 2025 at Het Curaçaosch Museum. Two to three film poems will also be selected in the adult category, which will be shown at the Wintertuin Curaçao Festival on September 20, 2025 at Landhuis Vredenberg.
The deadline for submitting a concept is May 31, 2025. Participants can formulate their idea in a maximum of 50 words. In addition, add a short biography of both the filmmaker and the poet, together with a short motivation. Clearly state whether it concerns the children's or adult category. Send everything to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
