Dutch Poetry Film Festival 2026

On Friday 6, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November 2026, the fifth edition of the Dutch Poetry Film Festival (NPF) will take place in Zutphen. The festival, featuring films inspired by poetry, will take place at five venues: Luxor Theater, Zutphen Library, Hanzehof Theatre, Atelier ’t Pakhuys and Eetcafé Uffies.

At a time when alarm bells are ringing because images seem to have supplanted the written word, resulting in a worrying decline in reading, poetry films use imagery to restore the written word’s significance. In the Netherlands, poetry films are gaining an increasingly firm foothold. The fifth edition of the Dutch Poetry Film Festival is the premier platform in the Netherlands for this exciting, stimulating intersection between film and poetry, between image and word.

Over 150 poetry films
The festival screens more than 150 films based on poems by, amongst others, Edgar Allan Poe, Robin Block, Remco Campert, Paul Demets, Dean Bowen, Sjaan Flikweert, Sylvia Huber, Babs Gons, Kurt Schwitters, Rikkert Zuiderveld, Isa Krebbekx, Lucebert, Ivar van der Walle, Pierre Lauffer and Elis Juliana, created by a diverse range of filmmakers such as Eileen van Arkel, Aat Ceelen, Pat van Boeckel, Natusha Croes, Jan Hovers, Gaite Jansen, Naomi van Niekerk, Nataly Burgzorg, Alida Dors, Jeremy Flohr, Martyna Gawęcka, Tamira Koeiman and Johannes Giscard-Lemarque. In addition to poetry film screenings, there will be music performances, workshops, readings and interviews related to poetry and film.

Programme
• Competition films and the NPF Award | The best Dutch poetry films of the past year will compete for the NPF Award 2026. The prize was designed by artist Felo Hettich and will be awarded by a three-member jury comprising writer/poet Ken Mangroelal, filmmaker/poet Ralph Winedt and Suzanne de Jong, winner of the NPF Award 2025.

• Guests of Honour | The festival has four guests of honour: Jan Baeke (poet and writer, winner of the 2016 Jan Campert Prize) creates poetry films and digital poetry under the name Public Thought, together with visual artist Alfred Marseille (co-founder of the Tropism Art and Science Collective) under the name Public Thought; Helmie Stil, of Poetry Cinema, is renowned worldwide for her award-winning poetry films made in England and the Netherlands; Spinvis (Erik de Jong) will present a selection from his music videos and *Het hoofd van Ferdinand Cheval* (*The Head of Ferdinand Cheval*), a poetic musical tale about an eccentric postman who spent years working on his megalomaniacal *Palais Idéal*. In 2010, he was awarded the Johnny van Doorn Prize for his ‘magnificent musical, linguistic and poetic body of work’, and last month he won the Golden Calf for best film music for *Toutes Directions*; Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel presents his personal selection of the best Dutch and international highlights from the Zebra Poetry Film Festival in Berlin, the very first and largest poetry film festival in Europe.

• School Programme | As part of an educational programme, films are made by school pupils. With the collaboration of four poets: Lemuël de Graav, Roberta Petzoldt, Chelsea Oost and Kees ’t Hart, who have had their poems adapted for film and will be present at the premiere. The premiere takes place on Friday afternoon at Buitensociëteit/Hanzehof. Presented by Jesse Laport. On Saturday, the films will be screened at Luxor Theater and the library. The school programme is offered nationwide in collaboration with Filmhub Oost and Netwerk Filmeducatie.

• Concert: Stef Kamil Carlens & The Poem | The Flemish musician Stef Kamil Carlens is a well-established figure in Belgian pop music. As bassist with dEUS, the driving force behind Moondog Jr. – later Zita Swoon – and as a member of many other projects, he has helped write several chapters of Belgian music history. At the Dutch Poetry Film Festival, he will take to the stage on Saturday evening in an intimate setting, alongside Nel Ponsaers. Without a large backing band and with a stripped-back sound, the songs are given plenty of space to breathe, grow and resonate. Two voices, a shared sensitivity and arrangements that give the music plenty of space. At times small and fragile, at times unexpectedly intense. A warm and personal concert that brings you close to the essence of Stef Kamil Carlens’ multifaceted musical world.

• Workshops at ’t Pakhuys studio | Make your own poetry film: led by interdisciplinary artists Sjaan Flikweert and Hemanth Madupu, participants will write a short poem and turn it into an audiovisual film to get a taste of making poetry films. TikTok poetry film: a workshop led by Eileen van Arkel, in which she teaches participants how to convey short but very powerful poetry to a young audience. Meet & Greet: poets from Proces-Verbaal and filmmakers get to know each other’s work and engage in creative dialogue. In collaboration with Oostpact.

• Caribbean Focus | Spotlight on the long-lost but recently rediscovered film *Poesia Bibu* (1972), in which arid landscapes and a setting sun provide the backdrop for poems by Antillean poets, such as *Sekura* by Enrique Goilo, *Keho* by Elis Juliana, ‘Laman di Nort’ by Pierre Lauffer, ‘Laman’ by Guillermo Pieters Kwiers, ‘Te Awora Laman’ by Luis Daal and ‘Atardi’ by Joseph Sickman Corsen. The programme also features films from Aruba and Curaçao exploring themes such as connection and transience, growing up amidst different languages and cultures, touch and nostalgia, machismo culture and healing.

• The Best of NPF | The Dutch Poetry Film Festival offers cinemas in the Netherlands, Flanders and overseas an ‘NPF On Tour’ programme, for Poetry Week, World Poetry Day or any other occasion.

• Readings at the library | City poet Dietske Geerlings and poet Lars Knapen will read from their own work at the library on Saturday afternoon. Dietske Geerlings is a Dutch teacher in Zutphen, where she is also city poet for the period 2025–2026. She is also the author of various novels, poetry collections, short stories and essays. Lars Knapen is a writer and poet whose stories and poetry are often surrealist and socially critical.

• Liedfs | Annelies van Wijk will be at Luxor with her typewriter, and visitors can strike up a conversation with her. Her conversation partner will take home a rolled-up copy of the typed poetic text.

• NPF Conversation | Robert Dorsman speaks with guests of honour Thomas Zandegiacomo Del Bel, Public Thought: Jan Baeke & Fred Marseille, Helmie Stil, and Spinvis.

• Opening night | The presentation will be hosted by Lin An Phoa. A live performance will be given by Tom America (guest of honour in 2021).

• Johan van der Keuken | Filmmaker Johan van der Keuken is being honoured for two of his films, made in collaboration with Remco Campert and Lucebert.

A complete programme overview, a free downloadable programme booklet and ticket information can be found at www.poeziefilmfestival.nl. Tickets are available from the box office at the Luxor theatre café and online via www.luxorzutphen.nl