VIII International Bad Video Art Festival OPEN CALL!

About the Open Call

The VIII edition of BAD VIDEO ART FESTIVAL will take place in January/February 2026 on visualcontainer.tv, the platform for the video art since 2009. The International Bad Video Art Festival (BVAF) is an independent, artist-run initiative. The Festival has been held since 2017. Video artists and B-movie fans Natalia Monakhova and Andrey Slaschilin once decided to explore whether something like bad video art exists. It is well known that B-movies have long since formed a unique cultural niche with their own heroes and fans. In other art sectors, however, the concept of “bad” has not been explored as actively. We are looking for videos that are at the intersection of bad art, bad painting, and bad cinema. We propose to study extreme forms of video art and single out certain works as bad videos or “B-videos”. Join us if you are interested in the issue of quality and boundaries in art. We are looking for works that meet any of the following criteria: • Technically poor (low resolution, over-/underexposed, unstabilized, wrong focus, poor sound or no sound at all, bad editing, wrong color correction); • Lacking content (irrelevant, empty, shot just for the sake of it, without any purpose, idea, or concept); • Consciously/unconsciously exploiting the aesthetics of camp, trash, or B-movies. When submitting an application, please explain why you consider your video to be bad. There’s no need to send a concept if you have one. Submission and participation are free (as a non-profit, artist-run initiative, we are unable to offer any screening fees). We do not accept animation, videos made by people under 18, family home videos, or porn. We accept for consideration 1 video per artist/collective. A video must not be shorter than 1 minute or longer than 8 minutes. If your video contains dialogue in a language other than English or Italian, we kindly ask you to add English or Italian subtitles.

What is Offered

Opportunity for selected video artists to have their "bad videos" screened at the VIII International Bad Video Art Festival in January/February 2026 on visualcontainer.tv.

Requirements

Artists must submit 1 video per artist/collective. Videos must be between 1 and 8 minutes long, and if dialogue is present in a language other than English or Italian, subtitles in one of these languages are required. The festival does not accept animation, videos by individuals under 18, family home videos, or porn. Submissions should explain why the video is considered "bad" based on criteria such as technical poverty, lack of content, or exploitation of camp/trash/B-movie aesthetics.

How to Apply

Applicants should submit their video via the provided Google Forms link (https://forms.gle/LK7uW8878vjzVT3T8) and explain why they consider their video to be bad.