What happens when the worlds of poetry and film collide? You’ll have to check out the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival at Nick’s Bar on Oct. 21 to find out. The annual event, now in its fourth year, will showcase the talents of artists from around the world as they offer their visual interpretations of different poems.

Founded by Sou MacMillan, creator of Doublebunny Press in Worcester, the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival is a homegrown WooTown effort. Described by MacMillan as “poetryfilms” – all one word – the poems are the launching point for the visuals. Instead of having someone on screen simply reciting the literature, the filmmakers are tasked with communicating it another way – in a four-minutes-or-less presentation, whether that be through the soundtrack, subtitles or perhaps something more esoteric.

It’s a very open concept, but it can’t just be any poem that is included; it must be an original, and the author must somehow be directly involved with the creation of the video. If the poet and the filmmaker are two different people, then the work must be submitted as a team, with an emphasis on the author helping with the “filmy business,” according to the festival’s website.

“Personally, I really love when different genres and media intersect and overlap,” said MacMillan. “There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on that involves the places where those media overlap, and there’s a magic that happens there.”

This year, more than 400 entries from six different continents were submitted to try and capture that magic, with a Best Overall Picture $200 cash prize up for grabs. Prizes of $100 are offered for every other category in the event, including Best Animation, Best Music in a Video, Best Valentine and more.

Among the categories that are part of the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival, MacMillan makes special note of the Shoots! Youth Prize category, which is open to filmmakers 17 and younger and is being sponsored by the Worcester County Poetry Association.

“It’s kind of a big deal for us,” said MacMillan of Shoots! “The crux of the biscuit with Rabbit Heart is that art in general should not be limited to a budget or stifled by a budget; it should be accessible. And with the Shoots! Youth Prize, what I wanted to do was kind of get out there and egg along young filmmakers and say, ‘Hey, lead the way. You can do this.’”

One of those who has submitted work to this year’s contest and has done so for the past two years is Los Angeles poet and artist Rachel Kann, whose 2015 video “Drunk” won Best Sound/Music and 2016 project “Mermaid Esther” earned the Curator’s Choice Award. When asked about the festival, Kann had only good things to say.

“My experience was – and continues to be – extremely positive,” said Kann. “My biggest takeaway is that Sou MacMillan is exquisite and that amazing poetry films are being made all over the world.”

Awards this year will be given out Saturday evening. In addition to the awards ceremony on Saturday, during which the top films will be shown and the winner chosen by judges who are poets and artists themselves, there is also a matinee viewing party showing the work of all the contestants.

Helping to make this festival a reality is the Worcester Art Council (WAC). A program run by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the WAC awards grants each year from a pool of money given by the state. The WAC typically receives 100 applications each year as part of the open application process. A third-time recipient, Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival received $1,200 from this year’s pool of $106,000, according to Kelly Momberger, chairperson for the WAC.

Being unique and having the ability to reach a lot of people is a deciding factor when choosing recipients, according to Momberger.

“One of the big things we look at is public benefit – how many people are going to get a benefit from this and what kind of benefit it is,” said Momberger. “One of the reasons that we really liked Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival was because it combines poetry and film and was a really interesting concept and not something we had seen before.”

Citing the festival’s international appeal, Momberger added, “It also raises the profile of Worcester, which we also like.”

MacMillan, for her own part, is looking forward to this year’s festival just as much as everyone else. There is an unexpected quality to the combination of poetry and film, she explained, one that works in favor of the artists.

“With poetryfilms, what happens is we’re given this permission to escape the literal, and it gives us so much space, it makes the interpretation broader and more colorful,” she said. “It sits the viewer right in the middle of it. I get so excited about that space.”

The showcase matinee will be at 2:30 p.m. and the awards ceremony will be at 8 p.m. Oct. 21 at Nick’s Bar, 124 Millbury St., Worcester. Tickets are $10 for the matinee and $20 for the awards show. For more information, visit Facebook or rabbitheartpoetry.com.

Jason SAVIO