INTIMATE EARTH | Film Adjacent Experimental Film Symposium

Film Adjacent presents Intimate Earth, a symposium dedicated to the aesthetic, cultural and political energies of experimental film in Aotearoa and beyond. Intimate Earth celebrates ways of seeing in distinction to dominant modes of audio-visual media in the twenty-first century. The symposium will assemble artists, curators and audiences around micro and macrocosmic imaginations of a world otherwise. 

This will be a two-day event, featuring six programmes, multiple roundtable discussions, and a filmmaking workshop. Attendees can come and go as they please.

Saturday 21st November

9am - 12pm:  Attentive Medias: Filmmaking workshop with Tiso Ross and Tyler Shane Tesolin

1pm - Doors Open

2pm - 3:50pm:  Indigenous avant-garde. Pres. by Missy Molloy & Fernanda Miño + artist talk

4:30pm - 5:45pm: Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival 2026. Pres. by Alfio Leotta

6:30pm - 8:30pm: Electromorphic Poetry. Pres. by Tyler Shane Tesolin + video introduction by R. Bruce Elder

Sunday 22nd of November

1pm - Doors Open

2pm - 3:50pm: Film Ecologies; Toxic Legacies. Pres. by Christopher Thompson + Artist talk with Fiona Amundsen and Tim Corballis

4:20pm - 6:10pm: Student Programme: Unbound: Bodies, Whenua & Becoming. Pres. by Lucy Heath (Contrast Massey), followed by Student Films & Roundtable on student filmmaking.

6:45pm - 8:00pm: Cinema for Friends + music performance by The Last Dream 

We welcome film submissions from all artists working in the experimental tradition. We are especially interested in ecological, Political, Indigenous, poetic, identity-focused, and young peoples filmmaking.

Send us an email or DM.
Deadline: 25th September

Attentive Medias Filmmaking Workshop

From 9:00am–12:00pm, November 21st, creatives of all levels are invited to join Pōneke-based filmmaker Tiso Ross and Film Adjacent co-founder Tyler Shane Tesolin to explore practical filmmaking methods that engage poetic thinking and the use of everyday media technologies and infrastructure. The workshop will incorporate manifesto readings, group discussions, practical experimentation, and hands-on creation. Each participant will finish the workshop with a short reflective creative piece to be screened on the Film Adjacent Community Screen at Intimate Earth, Sunday, November 22nd. 

Date: Saturday November 21st, 2026
Time: 9am to 12pm
Location: Massey University. Room TBA

Signup Here.

Organised by: Tyler Shane Tesolin and Christopher Thompson with the help of many colleagues and friends.

A huge thank you to our partners who are supporting this symposium:

Massey University | National Academy of Screen Arts

Wellington City Council

Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival

Fruit Cru Ciders