September 24, 2023 - Hope Alkazar
1- PERSIAN SWAN 7’52’’ USA, 2023
Director: Tara Ghassemieh; AD
Director of Photography: Leandro Glory Damasco Jr.
Production: Tara Ghassemieh, Elle Toussi, Kelly Johnstone;
IntuiTV and Boom Dia Media
Unveiling untold stories of the Iranian National Ballet, Tara Ghassemieh, the first-known Iranian-American principal dancer, pays homage to living dancers.
Once referred to as the largest ballet company in the Middle East, Ghassemieh reflects on the prestigious ballet company she once belonged to in Iran, exploring the devastating moment when everything came to an end. Finally, TRIBUTE showcases mastery in dance art with the words of Rumi.
2- A DAY’S WORK 7’55’’ USA, 2022
Director/Editor:Marta Renzi
Performers: Crespo Rosario, Brooklyn Toli & Alexis Von Maluski
Three individuals arrive at a factory with work boots and tin lunch pails. What kind of production is this? It resembles a dance. After a long day's work, they head home exhausted. Is this a kind of joke, or just a different type of rigorous work?
3- NINA 8’02’’ USA, 2022
Director: Jenna Zavrel
Choreograph/Performer: Nina Tucker
Production: Neal Ten Eyck
Nina is a project exploring the intersection of memory and space. The work illustrates how isolation in such spaces supports the freedom to feel the depth and breadth of the emotional distance created by memory.
4- EVERY STEP COUNTS; Takano Yonen 3’31’’ Hong Kong, 2022
Director: Andreas Guzman
Choreography: Yonen Takano
A brief glimpse into the world of Takano Yonen, the Japanese soloist member of the Hong Kong Ballet.
5- BEAST 9’ Poland, 2021
Director: Iwona Pasińska
Production: Polish Dance Theatre
Performers: Evelyn Blue, Momoko Den, Julia Halka, Katarzyna Rzetelska, Sandra Szatan, Zofia Tomczyk, Emily Wong-Adryańczyk,Kacper Bożek, Bartosz Dopytalski,Patryk Jarczok, Jerzy Kaźmierczak
Eeny meeny miny hump, neither your son nor your daughter is very obedient and chubby
Embrace the lamb for slaughter
What is the largest species of predatory animal?
Behind the seven lakes, seven hills, and seven forests lies a land that appears to be like paradise. And as if by magic, an unexpected encounter occurs not just once but three times. The first time, as if emerging from a flying carpet, we see an animalistic figure among the bushes. The second time, we witness a confrontation between a moving herd of animals and otherness. The third and final encounter is the moment when humans enter the ordered world of nature. How is the relationship among animals different from the relationship between humans and animals? – this question is posed by the creators of the sixth choreographic film project of the Polish Dance Theatre.
6- MAN MADE 4’29’’ Singapore,: 2022
Director: Jaron Boey, Ryan Foong
Love can be nourishing. But it can also be destructive. When love is built on comfort and exploitation, we find ourselves crippled by our habits that serve our own interests. In this dilemma between our plastic obsession and our love for Mother Nature, which one will prevail?
7- INVISIBLE BUT PERSIVABLE YET UNSPEAKABLE 6'32'' Turkey, 2023
Director/Choreography: Zeynep Demirhan, Can Durucan, Yiğit İlkkutlu, Şiva Canbazoğlu
A philosophy of life that is invisible but perceptible yet unspeakable; when felt with an open heart, it becomes a tremendous remedy that can be found everywhere. Accepting what the naked eye cannot perceive. Being aware of the invisible and contemplating it are skills that, in addition to being skills that can be developed, should be an innate duty for every conscious being. This is an urgently needed shift in perception in our society. Born out of this necessity, the film is a manifestation of a delicate and poetic conversation between the body and the landscape. Creating a performative poem and a visual meditation.
8- OTHERSIDE 14’58’’ USA & Cuba, 2023
Director:Gabriela Cavanagh, Grace McNally
Three of Cuba's most renowned dancers depart from the national ensemble to create their own trio. Part documentary, part performance, Otherside is a behind-the-scenes look testing the boundaries of contemporary dance, friendship, and art.
9- ON MENDING 14’55’’ Italy, 2021
Director: Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern, Emilie Louise Leriche
A contemplation on the beauty and inevitability of transience, On Mending is a short dance film that explores a community's effort to process overwhelming loss. The film and its characters navigate through a vast and barren mountain landscape, wandering in an abstract land of memory and nostalgia. At its core, On Mending is about reflecting on the acts of repairing, supporting, community, and letting go of things we can no longer bear.
10- THICK SKIN 2’31’’ Colombia, 2023
Director: Laura Steiner
A reflection on the beauty and inevitability of transience, Thick Skin is a short dance film that follows a community's attempt to process overwhelming loss. The film and its characters wander through a vast and barren mountain landscape, navigating an abstract land of memory and nostalgia. At its core, Thick Skin is about contemplating the act of repair, support, community, and the release of things we can no longer carry.
11- THE RIVER WITHIN 8’57’’ USA, 2023
Director: Daphne Fernberger
Music: Joshua Crumbly
Editor: Daniel Madoff
This film poetically reveals and embraces the beauty, value, and transience of life... Daphne is there to be a soul activist with her art. Something is turning, even if it is not an overt event. Through meditative and fluid movement, viewers can experience a transformation with or through her. The river represents a person's self and inner world, the flow of emotion and thought. Crossing the river, for example, symbolizes overcoming emotions, and this struggle, even danger, is part of this process.
12- OFFERING 5’ Canada, 2023
Director: Marlene Millar
Writer & Producer: Marlene Millar & Sandy Silva
Music: Joshua Crumbly
The Migration Dance Film Project creates a meaningful and enjoyable convergence between body percussion artists and emerging artists from dance (performance, contemporary, street) and circus arts. The choreography utilizes the power of a procession in the heart of Montreal's Little Burgundy district to strengthen the story of the (re)imagined home landscape amidst the pandemic. The procession, created by movement artists from diverse communities, weaves its way through urban corridors, neighborhoods, green spaces – anchoring the intimate knowledge of individual and collective experiences of storytellers who have unraveled a dissolved community. The HOST injects movement into the stillness of our city and seeks refuge in powerful migration patterns observed throughout our cityscape.
13- THE MIGRANT BODY 12’ USA, 2023
Director: Paula Gil Higa, Cal Hopwood
Writer: Mario Auriemma Higa
Producer: Haley Bradstreet
This film explores human migration through the creative lens of Paula Higa, the Artistic Director of PH Dance. Drawing from her personal experience as a dual citizen of Brazil and the United States, Higa delves into the various reasons for individual displacement. People migrate for reasons ranging from new life experiences to safety, from demographics to human rights, and from socio-economic factors to climate change. Thus, this performance focuses on the meaning of self-discovery by exposing the physical geography, the gap between past and present, and the sense of not having a home. Dancer Paula Higa proposes a thought about who isn't a migrant in this world.
14- GHOSTLY LABOR: A DANCE FİLM 13’11’’ USA, 2022
Director: John Jota Leaños, Vanessa Sanchez
Writer & Producer: Harry Gregory
“Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film” explores the history of labor in the U.S.-Mexico border regions through Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro-Caribbean movement, and live music. This work brings together polyrhythmic movement and original music to examine the (ongoing) years of systematic exploitation of labor while emphasizing the power and joy of collective resistance.
September 26, 2023 - Hope Alkazar
1- WAVE RIDER 24’41’’ Canada 2023
Director & Producer: Dustin Chok
Writer: Daniel E Kelley III “Future” & Sekou Sonko-Boisclair “Sekou”
While house music is widely recognized in popular culture, its roots are often overlooked. Legendary house dancer Future shares the stories of his decades-long experience in the subculture. His journey from dancing to teaching unfolds through the mentorship of Edmonton house dancer Sekou Sonko-Boisclair. Together, they weave a magnificent mosaic of body movements alongside the grand rhythms. A documentary worth seeing with invigorating dance scenes. It serves as a beautiful and poetic exchange of knowledge across generations, almost as a continuation of the torch for the preservation of culture. *This film contains English dialogues.
2- CITY OF DREAMS 13’59’’ USA, 2023
Director & Writer: Robin Daberath Cantrell
Producer: Robin Daberath Cantrell & Jonathan Hollander
City of Dreams is a dance-infused love letter to New York. This interconnected trio of stories, created in collaboration with Battery Dance, explores the magic that emerges at every corner when we let ourselves go and allow imagination to coexist with reality.
3- PAS DE TROIS 7'08'' France, 2022
Director/Producer/Writer & Music: Guillaume Herment- Berrebı
Performers: Samuel Famechon, Adam Fontaine, Elsy Robert
Initially collapsing into each other and the ground, the dancers will gradually separate, rise, individualize, discover themselves, learn to dance for themselves, and then reach a desire-filled climax with a growing burst of energy. Starting from a primitive core and shedding traditions, we will arrive at a desiring trio.
4- BLUE BURROW 14’10’’ USA, 2023
Director & Producer: Leah O'Donnell
Cinematographer: Robert Platt
Dancers: Taylor Craft, Joey Mattar, Maddy Petz
Blue Burrow is a short movement based film fully immersed in the sun, sand, and water of Lake Huron. The shore is the meeting place for characters of different species, while the world underwater comes to represent the subconscious. Perspectives shift from fish to human to sun, and metaphors about our relationship to the natural world emerge.
5- NOT FROM HERE 6’31’’ Güney Afrika/South Africa, 2022
Director & Producer: Oscar Tony O'Ryan, Louise Coetzer
NOT FROM HERE is a tribute to the unique landscapes of South Africa's Karoo. The film follows the journeys of two visitors in the barren desert landscapes shaped by their surroundings. The moving figures amidst the vastness of the spiritual terrain they encounter draw sharp contrasts. NOT FROM HERE signifies the unfamiliar, expressing a sense of quest.
6- NOT THEN, NOT YET (in situ) 10’ ABD/USA, 2023
Yönetmen/Director & Prodüktör/Producer & Choreographer: Tiffany J Mills
Videographer & Editor: Theo Cote
In the NOT THEN, NOT YET (in situ) exhibition, artists map external landscapes (trees, wind, soil, and an unstable sculpture) with internal landscapes. They believe that changing weather conditions caused by global climate change simultaneously manifest with internal turmoil triggered by transient and fleeting relationships. Negron's blending of electro-acoustic, classical instrumentation, and found sounds, Louveau's expansive vocal palette and singing in her own imaginary language, Mills' attention to details where a thrown gesture and accelerated echoes are equally emphasized, Cote's sharp perspective in merging subject and space, along with the dancers' raw and unsteady movements, creates a provocative, kinetically charged world.
11- CREATIVE SPARK THAT FOLLOWS SAYING I DON'T KNOW 8'15'' Croatia, 2022
Director/Producer: Glen MacKay
Performer: Mia Bourhis
A dance exploration film that benefits from the excitement of a creative spark. Saying "I don't know" is challenging for most people. But the moments that follow saying "I don't know" are the most thrilling moments that exist. It signifies moments where we are about to learn, discover, or experience something new.
12- LUVEMBA 5’50’’ Brazil, 2021
Director: Isa Machado
Writer/Producer/Dancer: Maria Clara Laet
Music: Edward Simon
Luvemba is an artistic portrayal of death during the COVID-19 pandemic from the perspective of the Bakongo cosmogram. Bringing together step/tap dance, elements of Central African cosmology, and the thoughts of philosophers like Tiganá Santana and Bunseki Fu-Kiau, Luvemba visually and aurally expresses the presence of absence imposed upon us by the pandemic. The initial ideas and experiments for this project began in April 2020 when the choreographer and step dancer lost her grandfather due to complications from COVID-19 in Brazil.
13- REPLICA 5’06’’ France, 2023
Concept: SimonaGun aka Nicolas Simon, Virna Hagen Auvergne, Mes Lesne
Director & Producer: SimonaGun aka Nicolas Simon, Virna Hagen Auvergne
Director & Choreographer: Mes Lesne
Music: Thomas Couzinier
REPLICA is a choreographic film that stages human nature. It explores where people are becoming increasingly attached to a kind of standardization and 'normalization.' Time remains key in this quest, as people chase after it in search of eternal youth. The mystery of Replica continues to be time, spacetime, and the cycle of time. In a world where the gap between "normal" and "marginal" is widening, will a simple gaze from a small group of individuals moving with the love of dance be enough to break the unchanging cycle in which these copies seem destined to wander? And perhaps, in the end, we can bring to light the beauty of all differences.
"In an age where normalization is king, a person becomes a copy of the one who sows normality." - SimonaGun and Mes Lesne
September 28, 2023 - Akbank Sanat
1- I’M NOT OK 12’10’’ USA, 2022
Director: Gabrielle Lansner
Writer: Tiffiney Davis
Dancers: Pat Hall, Dahsir Hausif
Music: Philip Hamilton & A.T.N. Stadwijk
In the midst of protests sparked by George Floyd's death, a mother and son react to the endless killings of Black Americans. Through dance and archival photos, fear, anger, and the need for communities to come together and find solutions are brought to light.
2- THE BODY OF THE WAR 7’’ Sweden, 2023
Director & Performer: Viktoriia Khoroshylova
Cinematographer: Carl Johan Folkesson Karlidag
Producer: Mira Helenius Martinsson
A documentary dance that emerges in the gap between Victoria's peaceful outdoor experience in Sweden and the war-filled indoor environment in Ukraine. The body has become the body of war, searching within itself to find where the war is in the piece. Are the wars stored in the cracks, wounds, hairs, skin pores, feet, curves, and body lengths? War is closer than we think. This piece reminds us of what it means to be human and the importance of caring for the environment and humanity.
3- DANCE LIME 5’59’’ Trinidad and Tobago, 2023
Director & Producer: Juliette Mccawley
Writer: Juliette McCawley, Tyler Island
On a warm summer night in Trinidad, Dance Lime brings together dance and music, as Caribbean creatives share their feelings about identity and cultural ties.
4- A BUTTERFLY KNOCKING ON THE WINDOW 7’ Iran, 2022
Director & Production & Story: Mohammad Hasani
Performers: Neda Naser, Atefeh Moghadasi, Zahra - Raeisi,Sheila Shahraki, Heliya Allahverdi, Nazanin Mahour, Ebrahim Abdi, Reyhaneh Esmaeili
Injuries do not always manifest as visible scars.
5- DUE NORTH 23’10’’ Canada, 2022
Director & Writer & Producer: Chantal Caron
Cinematographer: Richard Saint-Pierre
Music: Pierre-Marc Beaudoin & Vivianne Audet
A dance film about life in its embodied form, as the wildlife.
6- LOOK THE PART 6'30'' Australia
Director & Writer: Claire Fletcher
Performers: Ellen Maher, Luke McMaul
Sam, a disabled cleaner who loves to dance, works in a large theater but is afraid to step into the spotlight. When Peach (his magical inner diva-drag queen) comes out at night, Sam's creativity soars. Set to the rhythms of The Cat Empire, it breaks into a bold dance number. Look The Part is a story of talent challenging expectations and the magic that transforms reality.
7- SALMON DANCE 10’25’’ USA, 2023
Director & Producer: Sarah Campen
Choreographer: Sarah Campen & dancers
Dancers: Anouk Arden Otsea, Hali Duran, Marissa Gu’nu’ku Truit
Sarah Campen's contemporary dance, blending documentary footage and interviews with fishermen, provides a window into the life and livelihood of commercial salmon trolling in rural Southeast Alaska.
8- LA GALERIE 11’19’’ Canada, 2021
Director: Claire Fletcher
Writer: Olivier Lépine
Producer: Sophie Dubé
Music: Fredéric Lebrasseur
During a visit to the museum one night, an unexpected connection between a woman and a painting triggers an unexpected journey between reality and the unreal.
9- KEŞİF 7’10’’ Turkey, 2023
Director: Melis Aydın
Director of Photography: Mert Gençoğlu
Writer: Doğa Atalay
Producer: Ece Cicioğlu
Performer: Diren Ezgi Yıldızkan
Music: Gerçek Dorman
Our performance video project Keşif (Discovery) is inspired by a postcard sent to Prof. Dr. Sevinç Karol, the Honorary President of the Turkey Women's Associations Federation, from the United States in 1987. The postcard contains explanations about socio-cultural issues, comparing the lives of women in 1987 in the United States, Turkey, and Iran. The writer notes that women in America are freer than in Turkey but still face pressure from the church, emphasizing that Turkey's situation is better than Iran. In our Exploration performance art video, we aimed to narrate the stereotypes that women try to adhere to, the chosen loneliness felt by women who do not conform to these stereotypes, and the abandoned loneliness they feel when they do not conform to the presented stereotypes.
10- MOTH 5’28’’ USA, 2023
Director: Kate Weare, Jack Flame Sorokin
Performers: Nicole Vaughan-Diaz, Kendall Teague
Moth explores the desire of a woman in the dark realm of imagination using a single light source, a lantern. The film complicates the notions of sexual objectification, regret, and lost ideas by tracing the flow of emotions most crucial in the act of mating. Longing is infused with the original song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," written by Horace Ott for his girlfriend to apologize for his own bad behavior and later made famous by Nina Simone's iconic rendition.
11- LIGHT RISING 8’03’’ Netherlands, 2023
Director & Performer: Andrea Hackl
Music: Antoine Viard
Soundtrack: Antoine Viard (solo album TUMULUS) + Zachary Paul ('It's Cloudy Outside', album 'Music for Mourning'),
Voice: Andrea Hackl
Camera + Editing: Andrea Hackl
Text: Excerpt from the Egyptian Book of the Dead
LIGHT RISING is a poetic meditation, a tribute to the invigorating forces that carry and support life. It's a breath, it's a song. Inspired by natural cycles, elements, and their interactions, diving into the fluid space of time, flowing forward, falling and rising, a continuous becoming.
12- BACK TO RIO 4’31’ Brazil, 2022
Director & Writer: Lucas Stuvok
Producer: Féres Ferreira, Alessandra Fróes
Choreographer & Dancers: Maria Clara Laet
Sound: Pedro Laet
"Back to Rio" is a homage to the Cidade Maravilhosa (the "marvelous city," Rio's most famous nickname) through tap dance. This dance film captures the most cinematic visuals of Rio de Janeiro and adds a Hollywood flair to Carioca bossa with Tom Jobim's orchestral version of "Girl from Ipanema."
September 29, 2023 - Hope Alkazar - Akbank Sanat
1- EVERY STEP COUNTS: FENG JINGYI 3'15’’ Hong Kong, 2022
Director: Andreas Guzman
Dancer: Jingyi Feng
Cinematographer: Darren Tan
Editor & Music: Justin Ho
A brief glimpse into the life of Feng Jingyi, a member of the Hong Kong Ballet.
2- LIMIT(LESS) 16’ Norway, 2022
Director: Karolina Bieszczad-Stie
Performers: Kenji Azumaru Tamura, Iiwa Kuka
Limit(less) is a short art film depicting a poetic vision of closeness between a human and a robot. The film imagines a non-dystopian future where a dance duet transforms into a new species as the human and robot meld in their tasks. This vision challenges the widespread perception that technology is a threat to human relationships and instead explores emerging social questions: How would genderless biological and non-biological bodies experience each other? How would their intentions and intuitions converge? What would their post-verbal communication be like?
The film was shot at the Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum - Vemork in Rjukan.
3- WEIGHT OF SUGAR 11'44'' USA, 2021
Director: Jingqiu Guan
Producer & Choreographer: Bernard J Brown
Filmed in a renovated historic mill in Sacramento, CA, this short film by Bernard Brown/bbmoves uses the lens of sugar to illuminate some of the lasting effects of colonialism on Black women. Guided by the support of a strong community, a young Black woman leads us towards empowerment, dispelling the remnants of oppression.
4- PAS DE TROIS 7'08'' France, 2022
Director/Producer/Writer & Music: Guillaume Herment-Berrebi
Performers: Samuel Famechon, Adam Fontaine, Elsy Robert
Initially intertwined with each other and collapsing onto the ground, the dancers will gradually separate, rise to their feet, individualize, discover themselves, learn to dance for themselves, and then reach a desire-filled final peak with a growing burst of energy. Starting from a primitive core and shedding traditions, we will arrive at a trio filled with desire.
5- THE NORTH WIND AND THE SUN 4'56'' USA, 2023
Director & Music: Anat Pollack
Performers: Merry Lynn Morris
The choreography is created through arrangement in a multi-channel work with original sound.
6- SHE DREAMT ALONE 5’51’’ USA, 2023
Director: Nina McNeely
A short story expressed through the art of dance about an ostracized young man: "He had never been a clock like the others - I hadn't seen it as the others had - I couldn't love as the others had seen. From a common spring, He couldn't be awakened. His heart And everything he dreamed of... Dreamed alone."
7- CHILDHOOD/ADULTHOOD 6’29’’ Poland, 2022
Director & Producer & Writer: Jagoda Turlik
Choreography: Julia Domagalska, Szymon Pacholec, Jagoda Turlik
Dressed in colors, cheerful, and carefree "Childhood" comes to an end despite its enjoyment. We "step out" of it in different ways. The turning point is the inevitable change that "Adulthood" brings. Regardless of the "landscape" we inhabit and the "costume" we wear as adults, "Childhood" is a part of us, and we can always access this realm of joy. Together.
8- TOGETHER 14’ USA, 2020
Directors: Sue Schroeder, Adam Larsen, Judd Greenstein
Performers: Walter Apps, Juana Farfan, Laith Stevenson, Lori Teague, Shawny Humlao Evens, Nadya Zeitlin, Dana Lupton
"When Town Hall Seattle commissioned composer Judd Greenstein to write a piece for yMusic, there was no way of knowing how challenging 2020 would be. The isolating nature of the pandemic affected everything from rehearsal to recording, so Judd and yMusic quickly pivoted, turning these limitations into the structure and inspiration for 'Together.' Since live performance was not an option, they reached out to me to create a visual poem to accompany the piece. While listening to Judd's composition, I experimented with various visuals to see which ones best supported the music. During this process, I realized that the human form and gestures provided the emotion and intention I wanted to convey. I invited my collaborator Sue Schroeder to join in. My vision was to film 4-5 dancers exploring what unity/separation meant to them in their homes and outdoors, reflecting on what it meant throughout the past year. Sue and I worked on movement concepts and ideas; considering incredibly calm energies like live portraits, sometimes more dynamic actions. We transitioned from very personal solos to group movements during the shoot. Throughout this process - and without physical touch - the dancers emphasized distances between themselves and other individuals (both close and far) and ultimately found togetherness." - Adam Larsen
9- IMPOSSIBLE IMAGE 8' Australia, 2023
Director & Writer: Karen Pearlman
Producer: Richard James Allen
'Impossible Image' remixes the anarchy and gender play of 1920s women with the anger, irony, and sly humor of dancing women of the 2020s. The juxtaposition of contemporary action and archival footage creates a montage of anger, joy, and feminist protests echoing over 100 years. Inspired by the lively energy of silent film era comedians and their angry nonchalance toward conventions and expectations, this project draws parallels between the destructive forms of protest from our great-grandmothers to us. While dancing in the streets, it brings together the past and future to challenge gender performance and dismantle patriarchy.
10- EMBRACING HOME 7’31’ USA, 2022
Director & Performer: Leah Okamoto Mann
Music: Ela Lamblin
A dancer in quarantine utilizes her home as a creative tool and backdrop.
11- WALLS COME DOWN 6'11'' USA, 2023
Director & Producer & Cinematography: Jake Kruty
Dancer: Xavier Townsend
Walls Come Down; an experimental movement film exploring the often contradictory relationship between masculinity and vulnerability in the process of grieving..
12- GATHERING 4'24'' USA, 2021
Director: Alik Barsoumian
Performers: Noah Garabedian, Gregory Dolbashian
A musician's solo turns into a rhythmic dialogue when summoned by the muse's sound.
13- UĞULTULAR 4'28'' Turkey
Director: İlyas Hayta
Producer: Hakan Vreskala
Dancers: Umut Sevgül, Metehan Kayan
September 30, 2023 - Hope Alkazar
1- MORE THAN BALLET 35'37'' Hungary, 2021
Director: Richard M. Nagy
Writer: Ferenc Fiszter
Producer: Ernő Urbán
Pecs, the fifth-largest city in Hungary, is famous for Hungarian ballet and serves as its center. This documentary film uniquely introduces the last 60 years of ballet.
2- EVERYDAY THINGS 5’ Bulgaria, 2021
Director: Andrea Dragov
Sound: Georgi Atanassov
Choreography: Maria Asenova
Dancers: Maria Valterova, Svetlin Bankin
A girl and a boy are waiting at a train station with another girl sitting behind them. The couple makes a strange backward arm movement and continues to board the train. When left alone, they engage in a peculiar exchange. Upon reaching a bridge in the middle of an urban lake, understanding the couple's intention, the single girl returns to the meeting point. When they arrive there, as we look into their minds, we see the members of the couple surrounded by colorful cages. After the single girl manages to reach them, we witness them having a dance conversation before they all sit on the same side of the bench as a train passes by, concluding the film.
3- SEA OF STARS 2'53'' USA, 2022
Director & Producer: Robin L. Bisio
Dancer: Paige Amicon
Cinematography: Ethan Turpin
Music: James Connolly
Moths are nocturnal pollinators that move according to the stars and the moon. In Sea of Stars, we honor this journey into the dark sky as Paige Amicon explores the secret world of cultivation.
4- ACT 1: ICU USA 10', 2022
Director: Hannah Straney
Producer: Hannah Straney, Jake Kruty, Quaba Ernest, Hannah Straney
Music: Jonathan Rodrigues, Jake Kruty
ACT 1: ICU is the first part of a five-part film series exploring the loss of different senses through site-specific dances. ICU follows two dancers exploring a foreign space without the sense of sight. The film is a collaborative effort of dancers and cameramen taking on the task of conveying the absence of meaning. Together, the artists explore foreign spaces, delving into awareness, perception, disorientation, and reality.
5- HYBRIS 6'11'' Germany, 2022
Director & Cinematography: Corentin Kopp, Aaron Arnoldt Alexander
Choreography & Dance: Louis Stiens, Shaked Heller
Music: Fabien Alea
From the simplicity of one and zero, the future is born. Natural and digital organisms embrace and reject each other in a new parallel world. Learning from each other, how can the human body take shape amidst these balancing acts?
"HYBRIS I" serves as the opening film for a visual dialogue trilogy between the physical and digital worlds. The different worlds in each film can be interpreted as an exploration of the balance between the human body, the primality of nature, and the ongoing digitalization of our world. All draw inspiration from the origin of movement, namely birth. Directed by Aaron Alexander Arnoldt and Corentin Kopp, the performance and choreography are undertaken by Louis Stiens and Shaked Heller (formerly Stuttgart Ballet / currently at Zurich Ballet).
6- WHAT'S BRED IN THE BLOOD AND BONE 5'19'' USA, 2023
Director: Robin M Gee
Producer: Steve Haines
Sound: Jaylon Steverson
Performers: Maurice Watson, Claire Young
Cinematography: Kevin Wells
Inspired by the writings of Ida Bell Wells, documenting the intermittent lynching period in the 1890s, What's Bred in the Blood and Bone is a space and place study surrounded by the collective experiences of brown bodies. "Blood" explores "blood memory" as body memory and investigates how our collective experiences bind and empower us as African Americans.
7- A CONVERSATION IN RHYTHM 4'02'' Canada, 2022
Director: Kevin Jin Kwan Kim
Tap Dance/Choreographer: Jullianna Eden Kyoko Oke
Drums/Choreographer: Seth Kitamura
Camera: Deniz Somuncuoglu
A Conversation in Rhythm is an experimental movement film focusing on an improvisational session between a tap dancer and a drummer. The exchanges between these artists with an improvised melody parallel the qualities of verbal conversation: introduction, inquiry, challenge, balance, and, most importantly, trust in each other. The film aims to portray their unspoken dialogues as a conversation. Using the framework of traditional dialogue, A Conversation in Rhythm will emphasize the changing intensity of the artists' movements and rhythms in the film to express a scene of communication.
8- ASYLUM 4’48’’ Turkey, 2023
Directors: Deniz Atlı, Umut Kambak
Performers: Onur Dilek, Deniz Atlı
The term "asylum" has two different meanings: it can denote a mental hospital or psychiatric institution, and it can also signify legal protection provided to individuals who flee their own countries due to fear of persecution or other serious threats to their safety. Although these two meanings may seem unrelated, there is a strong metaphorical connection between them.
Seeking asylum can be a challenging and risky process, as it often requires individuals to embark on a dangerous journey, leaving behind their homes and families for a new and unfamiliar place. While seeking asylum may be the only valid option for escape for many, it can create an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear, leading to anxiety and even mental illness. In a way, seeking asylum can be seen as transitioning from one mental institution (a home, considered a mad place) to another mental institution (described as a modern slavery system by some politicians). Both refugees and mental health patients face significant challenges and obstacles on their journeys to safety and healing, but ultimately, both seek the same thing: a questionable sanctuary and a place of protection within the context of modern migration systems. These conflicts and struggles form the main theme of the film.
9- TOUCH 9’21’ Canada, 2022
Director: Brittney Canda
Producer: Kyra Jean Green
Music: Pascal Champagne
TOUCH is set in an imaginary future where people have been living without physical contact for an extended period for unspecified reasons. In this future, our characters interact with a large, private space through a mechanically simple device for the first time to experience another person's touch physically in a distant new future.
10- UNCOMFORTABLE TREE 6’05’’ Turkey, 2023
Director: Umut Kambak
Team: Laçin Ergül, Ezgi Atan, Nurşah Yılmaz, Yiğit Ürkmez
Music: Berke Can Özcan
As part of the "Thinking Bodies for Climate Justice" project, this film tells a story with the presence of five different bodies in different places and surfaces.
11- RADIX III 14’58’’ Italy, 2022
Director & Writer & Producer: Cristiano Leone
RADIX is a series of three short films exploring the interface between our historical-artistic heritage and contemporary dance and music. Following RADIX I and RADIX II, shot at the Tempietto del Bramante and the Caracalla Baths in Rome, RADIX III completes the trilogy in the magnificent Galleria Borghese. Our heroes, choreographers, and dancers Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich explore the splendor of the collection, initiating a journey through the ages as the sculptures come to life, and the dancers embody these legendary figures. Paradoxically, at the heart of these magnificent artworks lie two disturbing tales of violence.
RADIX III highlights eternal themes in Bernini's works inspired by Ovid's Metamorphoses - the abuse of power, the boundary between consent and refusal, the intermingling of desire, domestic violence, rape, and abduction - and their representation in other artistic works over the centuries.
RADIX III does not attempt to provide morally definitive answers to the issues it raises. Instead, through renewed critical examination and creative interpretation, it encourages the audience to think deeply and personally, revitalizing timeless mythology without censorship or rationalization.
Contemporary artistic creations transform ancient bodies and voices through a fluent dialectic of gestures, sounds, sculptures, and architecture. The drama and dynamism of Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich's choreography blend with the hypnotic and resonant Classical and Baroque sounds of Matteo Franceschini, harmonized with the ultra-contemporary transformations and tones of modular synthesizers.
October 1, 2023 - Hope Alkazar
1- EVERY STEP COUNTS: REINA SAWAI 2'29'' Hong Kong, 2023
Director: Andreas Guzman
Performer: Yonen Takano
A glimpse into the world of Reina Sawai, a Japanese member of the Hong Kong Ballet.
2- COSMOCEPTION 8’21’’ Turkey, 2021
Creators: Aslı Öztürk, Gizem Aksu, Melissa Ugolini
Performers: Beril Şenöz, Büşra Firidin, Ezgi Yaren Karademir, Gizem Aksu, Suzan Alev
Original Music: Ah! Kosmos Camera: Muhtar Pattabanoğlu
Camera Assistant: Samet Avcı
Styling & Props: Selen Hayal
Location Sound Mixer: Metin Bozkurt
Production Manager: Mihran Tomasyan
Production Assistant: Selim Cizdan Catering: Gizem Akhan
Accomodation: Cemal Nadir Tekel
Editing: Asli Öztürk, Dilek Aydın
Sound Design & Mix: Başak Günak
Behind the Scenes: Mustafa Erdoğan
Special Thanks: Aakash Odedra, Ali Robertson, Courtney Beadle, Melih Kıraç, Selim’in Annesi, Filmarka, Özgür Mısral, Yücel Kurtul
This experimental short dance film is based on the story of five women embarking on a journey to explore the layers of Istanbul. The narrative unfolds as they seek to discover the ancient and organic relationship between the microcosm of their bodies and the macrocosm of the city.
Utilizing the historical, symbolic, and instructional significance of the Mağlova Aqueduct, a water arch, the women find different ways to explore their strengths and embody feminine energies within themselves. As they get closer to the forces of nature, they gather strength to break free from their artificial cocoons. This liberation from the confines of synthetic cocoons serves as a metaphor for political pressures, expectations, and constraints of public morality.
Cosmoception may be seen as a collective sensory experience that emerges when feminine energies awaken, touching various layers of the city, encompassing body, mind, and soul integrity.This project is the result of a collaboration between Akashodedra Company + Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası
Cosmoception Research Project is Supported by British Council Lottery
In partnership with
MBD + Karma LAB + Heimatlos
www.aakashodedra.com
www.ciplakayaklar.com
3- SHADOWLAND II 6’42’’ Norway, 2022
Director: Kari Hoaas, Alexander Kayiambakis
Dancer: Matias Rønningen
Choreographer: Kari Hoaas
"Shadowland II" is the second installment of a trilogy of poetic solo dance films that explore the moving body within continuity and loss. The film combines circular and spiral choreography with an intimate frame and focus, aiming to bring the audience closer to the dancer and provide an authentic experience of movement action.
4- A QUIET CON-SCULLY 13’28’’ USA, 2022
Director & Writer & Producer: Jennifer Scully-Thurston
A metaphorical exploration of coming-of-age in the narrative, "A Quiet Con-Scully" is a dance portrayal illustrating what it is like inside a situation defined as a "silent intrigue" for women. From youth to wisdom, from talent to diverse talents, from giving birth to an empty nest.
In literary terms, "editing" is something that causes events in a story to occur in a way that may not seem natural or believable. It can also be used as a machine or equipment part made with skill and intelligence and/or artificial arrangement or improvement.
I am examining how these definitions apply to the notion of "women's work." Human-made, an artificial arrangement, or a fabricated structure. In a novel, the multitasking and daily responsibility mountains of women might seem incredible... but this is only the reality of women. We delve into "femininity" with romantic ideas like partners, childbirth, and career, but we don't have real conversations about it until you're in it. One might feel deceived. The quietly assumed, unprocessed, and unspoken societal obligations defined as women contribute to the more efficient functioning of the world but can be evenly distributed across the gender spectrum.
There is also the pressure to try to become ageless... a struggle transcending race, culture, and time.
5- EXTREMELY IN THE MIDDLE 6'05'' Taiwan, 2022
Director & Choreographer & Composer: Yun He Lin
Cinematographer: David Willem Verbeek
What does it mean to be extremely in the middle?
The concept of extreme middle connects me to ancient Tai-Chi philosophy and the Golden Mean of Confucianism, which I studied. Tai-Chi represents the beginning of the universe, expressing the fundamental rule/truth of everything and every relationship, called "Dao." Symbolically, it may appear dual, but it reconciles two energies, "Ying" and "Yang," representing the gradual balance of all substances.
On the other hand, the Golden Mean of Confucius, for me, somehow became a struggle. From my life experience, I observed and noticed that this principle of moderation doesn't benefit anyone else but makes it very easy to educate and even manipulate people. Judging is easy if someone stands out as "too much" under the standard of moderation, and when people are not allowed to expand and extend who they really are in these cultural invisible ties, it leads to a lot of anxiety and stress, particularly in Asia.
In this dance video, I want to paint a portrait of a horror film that explores every dark aspect of being in the middle.
6- POSIDONIES 3'42'' Cyprus, 2023
Director & Choreographer: Antis Lakovou, Evie Demetriou
Performer: Evie Demetriou
Editing & Sound Design: Emilios Avraam
"Posidonies" is a dance film designed by dance producer Evie Demetriou and underwater enthusiast Antis Iakovou. The title is borrowed from the Greek translation of the word Posidonia (plural).
Inspired by a poetic perspective and the idea that pocedonia oceanica is the lung of the Mediterranean, the film reveals two parallel stories where one influences the other.
The first story focuses on the beauty, movement, and symbolic breath of posidonia oceanica, which turns into a distracted underwater surface. (Footage taken after posidonia cutting in the Ancient Kourion area in Limassol, Cyprus, and shared by marine biologists in Cyprus).
Parallel to the story of Posidonia oceanica, a woman's story unfolds. Symbolically breathing underwater, the woman embodies the movement of posidonia. When Posidonia is disturbed, she suffers, running (from distraction) until drowning.
The two parallel worlds are interconnected through imagery, movement, and abstraction to symbolically emphasize the importance of the underwater world for humanity.
7- ELEMENTAL 4'53'' UK, 2023
Director & Choreographer: Lewis Landini, Ross Hoey
A young person's response to the climate crisis, "Elemental" is a brand-new dance film with choreography by 17-year-old neurodivergent choreographer Ross Hoey, created in collaboration with filmmaker Lewis Landini. The film was made as a reaction to the climate crisis and is supported through Creative Scotland as part of the Creative Digital Initiative funded by the Scottish Government, with generous support from The Space & Children In Scotland.
8- ŞEYLER 7’11’’ Turkey, 2023
Director & Writer: Ada Özsar
Producer: Ada Özsar, Zeynep Çamlı
Performer: Zeynep Çamlı, Ece Çamlı, Nezaket Özlem Dede, Sude İnce, Simay Başık
In the peculiar flow of time, we witness four housemates preparing to go out for the night while doing their daily chores. Derived from the relationship between movement and objects, this film is created through improvisation within a specific structure.
9- MORNING 5'25'' USA, 2022
Director & Choreographer & Editor & Costume Designer: Holly Wilder
Cinematography: Duncan Wilder
Performer: Haley Sung, Christopher Luis Medina, Victoria Daylor
Sound Design: Jean Roh, Liam Robinson
Holly and Duncan Wilder, the sibling duo named among "9 Screendance Artists You Should Know" by Dance Magazine, form the NYC-based Wilder Project. Together, they have produced 20 short dance films showcased at over 50 film festivals across 5 continents, winning 14 awards. Critics note that Holly's choreography is close to the heart, and Duncan's work behind the camera is praised. Their most screened film, "The Field," is featured in the official selection of 26 film festivals and has been exhibited not only at festivals but also at venues such as the Boston Fine Arts Museum and the NYC Moving Image Museum.
10- SCARCITY & ABUNDANCE 7’18’’ USA, 2023
Director: Jonathan Potter
Movement Director: Brian Hashimoto
Choreography: Jhia Jackson, Brian Hashimoto, Katy Meeks
Cinematography: Brian Hashimoto & Jonathan Potter
Performer: Katy Meeks, Jhia Jackson
Sound Design: Jonathan Potter
"Scarcity & Abundance" is a scene from two dance films living together in contrast while seeking balance amidst constraints. Photographer Jonathan Potter, inspired by the emotional and artistic challenges of living and working apart from his partner over the preceding 18 months until 2020, designed this work as a meditation on loneliness and creativity. The pairing of the films is a call and response: "Abundance" explores the intensity of solitude in the barren landscapes of Johnson Valley, California, while "Scarcity" responds with nuanced interactions in the lushly green environment of Portland, Oregon. The graceful and powerful movement performances by Jhia Jackson and Katy Meeks draw the audience into exploring the space for deep contemplation.
11- SUBMERSION 7’21’’ Greece, 2022
Director & Concept Animation: Leonard Schulz
Dance Choreography: Eva Stavrakaki
Cinematograph: Duncan Wilder
Performer: Haley Sung, Christopher Luis Medina, Victoria Daylor
Sound Design: Jean Rohe, Liam Robinson
"Submersion" is a video dance performance created by Eva Stavrakaki, Leonard Schulz, and Agnes Ehlich. In their first collaborative work, they developed a common visual language using dance, music, and moving images, answering the question: How can we create a state of absolute equality between body and mind? Through conversations, visual and physical experiments, they tried to create situations that form a symbiosis of both. Using the power of animated light and the body, they explore different spaces, layers, and worlds. Where did their journey take them, and did they truly find an answer somewhere?
12- HOME WITHIN 2’32’’ Taiwan, 2023
Director & Writer: Adrienn Izsépi
Dancer: Marika Masuda
A short dance film telling the story of a homeless girl living on the streets. Living a life of sorrow when there is a reason for it, she chooses to live in a world created by her dreams. The perspective of reality depends on us. We can focus on the negatives around us or find joy in the world surrounding us. Happiness can be constructed within our minds, not found externally. While many of us yearn for a "better" life, we often miss the bigger picture; happiness can only be found within, not externally.
13- SHAPES OF AETHER 6’38’’ Austria, 2023
Director: Elias Benedikt Choi-Buttinger
Dancer: Weng Teng Choi-Buttinger
Producers: Weng Teng Choi-Buttinger, Elias Benedikt Choi-Buttinger
"Shapes of Aether" is a dance film exploring the concept of ether through the language of movement. Ether, also known as the fifth element, is interpreted as a divine and transformative force that surrounds us. The film presents a spiritual, invisible power that permeates our surroundings and can be captured through the fluid movements of the human form.
14- 3 WINDOWS, 1 DOOR 6'46'' USA, 2023
Director & Writer & Dancer: Marta Renzi
A door opening and closing reveals a small dance studio framed by three beautiful windows. The choreographer uses a camera; three dancers count their movements, practice coming together in dance. We get an insider's view of the unfolding process, entering into language and laughter as it expands before us.
15- OMEN 27’ USA, 2021
Director: Harlan Taney, Justin Clifton, Blake McCord
Writer: Elisa Venezia, Harlan Taney, Elisa Venezia
Performers: Myra Popejoy, Joanie Garcia, Elisa Venezia, Carrie Reynolds, Abby, Isabelle Dove Robinson
"OMEN" tells the story of a woman's discovery of courage and determination through dance and movement; closely following her as she takes risks and overcomes fears. The film speaks to the beauty of our shared vulnerability and surrendering to the unknown. Directed by award-winning filmmakers Harlan Taney, Justin Clifton, and Blake McCord from Sandcast Media, "OMEN" is a 27-minute dance film with an accompanying documentary.
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