The Film and Video Poetry Symposium is a 28-day annual event that is rooted in Los Angeles, CA. Venues range from micro-cinema to architecturally significant facilities. We host a video art gallery for the duration of the event and occasionally present satellite programming internationally.

The Symposium has hosted with Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Maysles Documentary Center, Boston Court Performing Arts Center, The Getty Villa, Arts on Site NYC, Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, Cinema Kosmos Moscow, PAM, Revive Theater LA, and the University Library of Leuven.

All events presented by the Symposium are free to the public.

The Symposium draws a general audience alongside poets, filmmakers, students, scholars, cinema enthusiasts, and public officials from around the world. In-person discussions, Q&As, and reflective engagement are facilitated. Participants also benefit to the fullest extent our resources allow, including free lodging when possible, travel, visa assistance, and opportunities for meaningful networking and professional visibility.

Detour is a film festival with a pure independent spirit. We believe true creativity and fine art is not entirely dependent on big budgets in order to flourish. Our aim is to support and promote films that are challenging and beautiful, those that speak to our hearts and make us think. We are looking for free-thinking films and filmmakers that create fantastic art despite the budgets and other limitations.

We want to see your best films either following a traditional narrative or a more challenging and experimental one, with true grit and low-budget mindframe.