Independent arts incubators Kindling Arts and Defy Film Festival unite once again for a second installment of Heroic Couplets: Poetry into Film Collaborations. This year’s theme, GENDERBEND, is being explored by 8 pairs of local artists (one poet + one filmmaker) who together create a cinematic adaptation of a poetic work. All artists participating on the line-up are female-identifying and/or LGBTQIA+, and many of the poetic works explore deeply personal topics of gender identity, fitting into societal norms, and complicated family dynamics from a uniquely queer perspective.

The premiere screenings at OZ Arts will include all 8 short films, plus a chance to hear from some of the collaborating teams after each screening, moderated by Defy’s Dycee Wildman. The participating artists are:

Simba Alik x Nichole Marie Lim*
Rachel Ebio x Chalet Comellas-Baker*
Kashif Andrew Graham x Jose Luis Benavides**
Theo Hall x Tiffany Abreu**
CJ Holiday x Samantha Szwaglis**
Nora Masters x Abbey Johnson*
Taria Person x Chanel Braswell*
Amie Whittemore x Brynn Abner**