Festival Programme EDIFF 24

Afternoon Programme Saturday 19th Oct

Doors open 11.30am

12-1.30pm: Eclectic Popcorn Mix

Shake Stew – Lila. - Rupert Höller *Best Location & Music Video nominee*

OH MY JAZZ! - Emma Ericsson Fanny Karlsson

Historiae vivae - Iwona Pasińska *Best Concept, Dance Ensemble, Costume & General category nominee*

Sonder - RJ Muna *Best Dance Ensemble, Choreography & General category nominee*

Helena Vedralová - Tělo/Body EN - Matěj Hřib *Best Music Video nominee*

"Childhood/Adulthood" - Jagoda Turlik

Klangkarussell x GIVVEN – Afterglow. - Rupert Höller *Best Music Video nominee*

Maestro - Manas Sirakanyan

Playing House - Jennifer Scully-Thurston *Best Concept & Experimental category nominee*

one man band - Alexandra Grace DiCastro *Best Student category nominee*

The Music Box - Alessandro Amaducci *Best Concept, Costume & Music Video category nominee*

We Know Who You Are. - Ryan Renshaw *Best Editing, Music Composition & Experimental category nominee*

Morning Interlude - Sirius *Best Cinematography, Concept, General & Film of the Festival category nominee*

2-3.15pm

Invisible

You are also Us - Cathy Waller *Best Location & Dance Ensemble nominee*

So I - Charlotte Sun *Best Music Composition & Short Short category nominee*

Seen - Idalmy Vandepas-Carcache

Les mots d'amour (Words of Love) - Laetitia Demessence

Fabric of Time

The Good Life ( ailleurs/ici ) - Didier Mulleras *Best Editing, Experimental & Film of the Festival category nominee*

Wasteland - Melanie Rose Huff, Chris Jordan

TEM PO RA RY - Anna Guseva *Best Music Composition & Music Video category nominee*

On the other side - Einy Am-Sparks *Best Editing nominee*

The Elevator Dance (For Elisa) Remix - Jessica Sison

Sentence - Rosemary Lee *Best Editing & Experimental category nominee*

3.15-3.40pm

Q&A with Special Guest Rosemary Lee to discuss her film Sentence

4-5pm: Urban Adventures

10 steps to success - Tuulia Soininen *Best Student category nominee*

Bronx Magic - Marta Renzi

Status - Cristobal Velasquez *Best Student category nominee*

Lucid dreaming - Emma Evelein *Best Dance Ensemble, Sound, Costume & General category nominee*

Slowly - Christophe Dachy *Best Editing & Music Video category nominee*

RESTART - Jan Tégláš

Closer - Raoul Paulet

Synergy - Honor West, Emilie Bouet Conran

Moutya Lapoud - Steve Woods *Trigger warning: heroin addiction theme *Best Choreography nominee*

5-5.15pm

*AWARDS CEREMONY*

Evening Programme Saturday 19th Oct

Doors open 6pm

6.15-7.45pm: Water & Land

Watermorphosis - Daniel Bichsel

An Ocean Away - Wilma Casal

Sea beats - Macarena Guarachi *Best Cinematography nominee*

Not Now - Joshua Molony, Loughlan Prior *Best Short Short category nominee*

PISCES - Francisco Sutil Roque Vieira Borges *Best Short Short category nominee*

Carrying Wood - Linda Schirmer *Best Cinematography & Location nominee*

The Dance Weavers - Dancing With Darkness - Nikki Northover

Heartlands: Earth and Bones - Darren & Suzanne James-Teale

Waving Distances - Kinga Kovács

Ruins Within Ruins - Lefteris Parasyris *Best Editing & Location nominee*

Bowland Beth - David Lefeber & Catherine Seymour *Best Cinematography, Location & Film of the Festival category nominee*

7.45-8.10pm

Q&A with Special Guests David Lefeber & Catherine Seymour to discuss their film Bowland Beth

8.45-10.15pm: Human Struggle

Voilà - A Short Dance Film - Aman Mehra *Best Concept, Short Short & Film of the Festival category nominee*

Pulled - Idalmy Vandepas-Carcache *Best Concept, Dance Ensemble, General & Film of the Festival category nominee*

The Birdcage - Emma Giuliani *Best Cinematography, Sound, Choreography & Student category nominee*

Masks All the Way Down - Litza Bixler *Best Dance Ensemble & Choreography nominee*

Hype. - Lauren Heckler

TooMaNY - John Degois *Trigger warning: violence against women theme

BLUE FUNK - Louise Coetzer *Best Dance Ensemble, Choreography & Experimental category nominee*

Square One - Victoria Koberstein *Trigger warning: car crash theme

THE BUTTERFLY - Satya Prakash Gautam, Gili Twena *Best Sound Composition & General category nominee*

Sunday 20th October

10am-1pm: Workshop with Rosemary Lee

Doors open 1.45pm

2-3.45pm: Voices

Without Her - Sadra Kazemeyni *Best Location & Student category nominee*

Lettre à ma fille - Michael Maurissens *Best Short Short category nominee*

Jongo Abroad: Traditions in Transit - Rosely Conz *Best Documentary category nominee*

Bomba Ancestral - Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi *Best Documentary category nominee*

HEDERA - Volume I (medium cut) - Angelo Chiacchio

Dancing with Time - Marie Lavorel, Tamar Tembeck, Paul Tom *Best Documentary category nominee*

Inside the Cauldron - India Ayles, Sophie Mei Birkin *Best Location, Sound, Costume & Experimental category nominee*

SENSIBLE - Axel Chemin

Widening Circles, Aditi Mangaldas - Camilla Greenwell *Best Costume, Documentary & Film of the Festival category nominee*

4.15-5pm

Q&As with attending Official Selection filmmakers

An opportunity to hear from the makers of these amazing films, and to ask any burning questions

5.30-7pm: Mixer session. Meet, mingle, chat

Get to know each other as artists and audience with a shared passion for world-class indie dance film.

Film Synopses afternoon

12-1.30pm

Eclectic Popcorn Mix

Shake Stew – Lila. - Rupert Höller

In a surreal dance video, a dancer is melting into a landscape of palm trees, rocks and ocean waves.

OH MY JAZZ! - Emma Ericsson Fanny Karlsson

Diving into the world of jazz - this screen dance explores, exhausts and manipulates elements and concepts from vernacular jazz dance - choreographed in relation to a restricted space. Step into and experience a mysterious and quirky storyline divided into 7 chapters which each has its own agenda - travelling through different areas of a lowkey basement bar, where anything can be utilised as a stage! A duet through rooms of rhythm, repetition and play. From RAZDAZ Dance, E.Ericsson & F.Karlsson

Historiae vivae - Iwona Pasińska

Drawing from various forms of expression, from line drawing through collage, patchwork, and cartoons, "Historiae vivae" revives the unique atmosphere of silent cinema. The essence of silent cinema lay in the use of gesture and facial expressions as means of expression. "Historiae vivae" draws from this source, narrating ordinary things in a light and playful manner, transforming them into something extraordinary through the magic of the silver screen.

Sonder - RJ Muna

In a brilliant white void, “Sonder” explores the multifaceted lives of passersby through individual and collective expression. “Sonder” references the sensation of realizing every person you encounter is living a life as complex and vivid as your own. Through abstract swirls of interlocking gestures and fluid athleticism, the dancers explore moments of epiphany and exchange. Directed by RJ Muna, choreographed by Mia J. Chong, and produced by EIGHT/MOVES.

Helena Vedralová - Tělo/Body EN - Matěj Hřib

A story of male and female bodies developing throughout life in a form of scenic dance.

"Childhood/Adulthood" - Jagoda Turlik

Bathed in colors, cheerful and carefree "Childhood", despite having fun, has its end. We "get out" of it in different ways. Its turning point is "Adulthood" which brings its inevitable change. Regardless of the "scenery" in which we live and the "costume" we wear as adults, "Childhood" is part of us and we can always refer to this land of joy. Together.

Klangkarussell x GIVVEN – Afterglow. - Rupert Höller

Afterglow tells the story of loss and grief. It’s about coming to terms with loss and learning how to keep living in the Afterglow of a person that's no longer here, but still can be felt.

Maestro - Manas Sirakanyan

A pianist's fantasy. Rachmaninoff's masterpiece interpreted as a b-boy round.

Playing House - Jennifer Scully-Thurston

Playing House is a cautionary tale that takes the audience into a little girl's fantasy of womanhood. As children do, the 5 dancers adventure into their vision to see how it feels. Disappointed, they find themselves trapped in the fairytale. Maturing and coming of age, they reject the predetermined ideas of what being a woman is like. The viewer, along with our protagonists, feels the triumph of their rebellion and the vulnerability of taking destiny into their own hands.

one man band - Alexandra Grace DiCastro

A dance film where the live movement manipulates the sound score through the dancer’s rhythmic initiation.

The Music Box - Alessandro Amaducci

A music box dancer, surrounded by animated mannequins, performs her usual choreographic routine, beginning to become uncomfortable with its mechanical repetitiveness. A techno dancer plays with energy and light. They are both alone in their respective dimensions, one linked to the past, the other projected into the future. Artificial Intelligence and a mysterious priestess intervene to create a space where the two characters can meet, to create a hybrid of tradition and technology: a new dancer capable of exploding matter unleashing on a digital dance floor.

We Know Who You Are. - Ryan Renshaw

Four talented female quadruplets form a rock band, but as success grows, they unearth shocking secrets, revealing a haunting truth that challenges their sisterhood. Based on a true story.

Morning Interlude - Sirius

At daybreak on a country road, a young couple returns from a restless night visibly exhausted. Angry with each other the couple will in a magnetic dance try to reconcile.

2-3.15pm

Invisible

You are also Us - Cathy Waller

You are also Us is a powerful exploration of the complex and multifaceted experience of invisibility. The film explores the themes of pain, joy, power, connection and resignation that come with the struggle to hide certain parts of ourselves from this world. Through a nuanced and empathetic lens, the film examines the toll that keeping ourselves hidden can take, while also acknowledging the sense of protection and control that invisibility can provide. Starting as the Director's self exploration around invisible disability, over 400 people contributed to the research in finding what invisibility means to us all. This work is filmed on drones in stunning National Trust locations in Dorset, UK.

So I - Charlotte Sun

This film is a hand-drawn animation exploring the concept of animation through dance movements. In the meanwhile, it gives a perspective about loneliness, the inevitable isolation of physical body as well as gaining an introspective approach through self-exploration. Sometimes the thing I've been longing for doesn't really exist in places I can see, So I decided to dance.

Seen - Idalmy Vandepas-Carcache

Sometimes the loneliest place one can be is in a crowd. In spite of us all being constantly connected, we are more disconnected than ever. “Seen” is a film about someone who yearns to be noticed in a world where everyone seems to be in a world of their own. What can we do to truly be noticed and loved for who we are and without judgement? How long can it take? No matter how hard we try, we cannot control what others choose to see. But we are never invisible, no matter how often it seems we are. We can be seen. It may just take some time and happen when we least expect it.

Les mots d'amour (Words of Love) - Laetitia Demessence

“Les mots d’amour” is a short poetic dance film portraying an elderly woman who is trapped in solitude. Alone in a world without human connections, she finds refuge in the mysterious companionship of her feathered neighbours—the pigeons. Her desperate longing for love transforms into an obsession, blurring the line between reality and illusion.

Fabric of Time

The Good Life ( ailleurs/ici ) - Didier Mulleras

This film is a poetic and experimental exploration of the notions of separation, memory and absence, in the human relationships that a group of people who have shared long periods of life and actions can have. Some will go elsewhere, others will stay here. What will remain of their shared experiences, of all these moments of osmosis and cohesion? Life will remain. The good life. Un film de Didier Mulleras (DFC dance for camera / 2024)

Wasteland - Melanie Rose Huff, Chris Jordan

Wasteland is an exploration through movement of loss, grief, and the beauty and resilience of the human spirit in the face of devastation. Director & Key Cast: Melanie Rose Huff. Director: Chris Jordan

TEM PO RA RY - Anna Guseva

Exclusive premiere of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vocalise OP. 34, Nº 14 conducted by Teodor Currentzis, performed by Nadezhda Pavlova and musicAeterna orchestra, recorded by Maximilien Ciup. There are certain places gifted with an ability to capture moments, to keep memories of those who used to exist within those walls hundred, or sixty, or thirty years ago. Inside the walls of Dom Radio the protagonist paves her way through multiple periods in the history of the building (1914 – 1998), meeting ghosts of the past. Due to different and often difficult circumstances the same people were forced to change their behaviour and the way they look. Severe times when mercy leaves our world give birth to darkness even among the kindest people, yet after all changes and alterations a human is still a human, staying itself as always has been.

On the other side - Einy Am-Sparks

A seemingly regular day at work takes a different turn when quiet musings of an alternate reality begin to blur the edges of time and space.

The Elevator Dance (For Elisa) Remix - Jessica Sison

This film is a re-enactment and a radical reinterpretation of the infamous Elisa Lam elevator surveillance video. On February 13, 2013, the Los Angeles Police Department released surveillance footage of a missing young woman. The footage showed Elisa Lam in a hotel elevator behaving strangely. This was her last known sighting. It was an instant internet sensation and was seen by 3 million people in China alone. Her body was found on February 19, and the circumstances surrounding her death are still shrouded in mystery. Rather than trying to solve the mystery of her death, this film is meant to be a celebration of her life. Her unusual moves have been re-imagined into a dance where her spirit is set free.

Sentence - Rosemary Lee

Hugo Glendinning’s and Rosemary Lee’s short film Sentence evokes the ephemerality of dance through the experimental use of animation and slow shutter speed. Shot in a former court room, breath like ghostly traces of the dancer Lauren Potter's movements blur into and out of the dark wooden panelling. Filmed in the isolated strange times of lockdown and set against a haunting sound-score by Isaac Lee-Kronick, Sentence suggests a mysterious yearning for permanence.

4-5pm

Urban Adventures

10 steps to success - Tuulia Soininen

Time to grind, overcome and succeed! Screen dance which takes you through to the steps to success.

Bronx Magic - Marta Renzi

The everyday magic of dance is everywhere in a Bronx neighborhood. Near the ice cream truck, under the elevated train, and at the subway station, everybody becomes part of the daily dance.

Status - Cristobal Velasquez

As immigrant artists we come into this city in the pursuit of what we’ve craved for all our lives: drive, freedom and opportunities. Yet, when we see that things are falling into place, we face a reality check that is no different than from any other immigrant: a status. The purpose of this video is to show all immigrant artists and dancers that we’re not alone. That even if there are some bumps on the way, we together can uplift and come through to follow our dreams. It is a call to keep on pushing, even if we’re on the verge of giving up.

Lucid dreaming - Emma Evelein

Lucid dreaming tells the story of a girl in a train, who loses herself in the world of a man sitting across from her. As she gets carried away in his world, the train and its passengers become part of the experience she encounters through him. As a non-verbal meeting between two strangers is established, she experiences how imagination and empathy are powerful and vulnerable at the same time.

Slowly - Christophe Dachy

Paris, Place de la République, July 2022. Alone, facing the trampling crowd, the march of time, the freezing rain, she dances. Time twists to the silence of the body and the limits of breath; dance suspended in a quasi infinity. The lights of the city flash by; people run, trace, compress, stumble and collide with the soaked asphalt, mirror of a life that escapes us. What do these worried glances say? What do these hurried steps, these tumbling stairs, these frantic races tell us? What do these accelerated heartbeats cry out? And she, in the midst of these obstacles and injunctions, has chosen: she dances, expresses herself, frees herself. She simply takes the time to live.

RESTART - Jan Tégláš

Using the format of the psychological model of the five stages of grief, RESTART attempts to evoke the feelings of being at a crossroad. It tells the story of how difficult it is to find a new beginning, to come to terms with oneself, using only music and dance images. The path to liberation is without words, only inside thoughts and feelings.

Closer - Raoul Paulet

A woman relives her journey on this planet in the pursuit of belonging. Only through the acceptance of the world around her, she can find our true self. Or, is it the other way round?

Synergy - Honor West, Emilie Bouet Conran

This short film explores identity and self-expression. We follow the journey of August, a gender-fluid person in their early twenties experiencing the mundanity of an urban, fast-paced environment. The film begins with August listening to a track of electronic dance music and immersing themselves in the audio. They are transported to four dimensions in their mind's eye, reflecting separate versions of themselves. The distinct layers of the music are performed by the different iterations of August, each exploring a corresponding movement vocabulary. The amalgamation of the separate versions, and the way they dance, represents a synergy - an extended metaphor for how identity is fluid and multi-faceted.

Moutya Lapoud - Steve Woods *Trigger warning: heroin addiction theme

This morning a Heroin addict wakes up to face another day of slavery to his addition. Far from the sunny beaches of the Seychelles he begs in a laneway at the bus station. The Moutya was a secret dance that the slaves in Seychelles danced. Today there is a new slavery in Seychelles, Lapoud… Heroin. Here in Moutya Lapoud is another secret dance.

Film Synopses Evening

6.15-7.45pm

Water & Land

Watermorphosis - Daniel Bichsel

Weightlessly, life moves through dark infinity, through a mystical space without threat. The jellyfish dance, which embodies the beauty of nature, appears innocent. And as suddenly as it arises, it becomes vulnerable – life is suffocated by dead matter. Plastic. Reality. 4.8-12.7 million tons of plastic waste end up in the oceans every year. – Where did it come from? Where is it going? What remains? These and other questions are asked by the short film Watermorphosis. Abstractly staged, based on facts, it forms an image, a feeling, a thought – open to interpretations and dreams.

An Ocean Away - Wilma Casal

Dreaming of the big catch, a fisherman drags himself wearily to the shore, early as every morning. Suddenly he sees a magnificent fish leap wildly over the waves. He watches breathlessly as the fish swims freely through the water, shimmering in its element. Determined to seize this untamed beauty for himself, he snares the fish in a huge net – only to realize that beauty is freedom.

Sea beats - Macarena Guarachi

Sea beats takes the viewer to a sensory and auditory experience, performed by more than 15 dancers, bowls and the voice of the singer-songwriter Sol del Río. The narrative proposal was made from the stories and experiences of women who live in Pichilemu, Chile. Each body, with its shadow and movements, is part of a whole, a sum of footprints, which remain in the sand and in them as well. A mixture of individualities and beats that together dance in the complicity of intimacy, with the sea as witness, pulse and guardian.

Not Now - Joshua Molony, Loughlan Prior

A Dance film starring Rebecca Bassett Graham (Wayne McGregor) about climate change and the consequences of our inaction. Filmed on the Norfolk coast.

PISCES - Francisco Sutil Roque Vieira Borges

PISCES is an intimate short film that transports the viewer on a journey to another world. This world, although surreal, is not fictional, but the portrait of a real encounter between two human beings in and with the deep blue, a place where the rarefied words cannot reach. None of the images presented were previously planned/choreographed. The work is then a quasi-documentary that seeks to portray the inner experience of the beings involved in this textless narrative.

Carrying Wood - Linda Schirmer

“Carrying Wood” reflects on our connection and dependence upon resources drawn from rural geographies. It explores the cultural practice of collecting firewood and touches on the complexities of the energy crisis. As part of the artist’s research practice, she walked the Western Way in Connemara, Ireland, - through a landscape - strongly impacted by humans, thereby asking questions about managing & apportioning land, but also celebrating the access of green space. On her walk she did not only collect heating material, but also movements inspired by the topography of the Western Way. The artist treats walking as a performative resource and as a mindful art practice.

The Dance Weavers - Dancing With Darkness - Nikki Northover

This Dance Weavers film is part of Bridport Youth Dance's Choreography Geography programme. The vast cloud filled sky and undulating landscape of the ancient hill site of Chapel Hill and St. Catherine's Chapel, Abbotsbury becomes a stunning backdrop for the young dancers. The natural landscape creates a mood of history and mystery as "Dancing with Darkness" moves with the landscape, using both the land and the elements as inspiration.

Heartlands: Earth and Bones - Darren & Suzanne James-Teale

What grows in the dug up, broken parts of our post-industrial cities and ourselves? This film explores the excavation of the land beneath our feet, how this relates to our bodies, and whether we can feel the weight of industry in our bones. Inspired by the post-industrial landscapes in south-eastern Québec and her hometown of Stoke-on-Trent, Clare Reynolds (Restoke) created this solo in collaboration with dancer Patsy Browne-Hope. Filmed by Suzanne and Darren James-Teale (Junction15) in the overgrown remains of Chatterley Whitfield Colliery, Stoke-on-Trent, it features original composition and sound design by Paul Rogerson (Restoke) and a poem ‘Wrinkled Skin’ by Ceri Morgan (Keele University).

Waving Distances - Kinga Kovács

Are you here? Good. Stay close. I am the limbs, you are the gaze. Our vertebrae developed from one body. Let’s walk across this sand field. Let’s head somewhere. My steps, where you look. We’ll grow hungry together. Sand between your teeth, salt between my toes. Today I change, tomorrow you. We catch up anyway. Our whims are constant. Our lines keep together and go apart all at once. It happens for no reason, so we can take it calmly as it is. We listen to the breathing of a small beetle. Our attention is a meerkat, our closeness is a chameleon. We gently squeeze the flutter with our eyes. It’s all well. We’ll always be like this.

Ruins Within Ruins - Lefteris Parasyris

A group of dancers positions themselves between the ancient and modern ruins of the island of Crete, Greece. Drawing inspiration from its rich heritage, they craft a series of kinetic forms and patterns influenced by folk dances and Minoan frescoes. These installations, whether harmonising with or contrasting against the island's culture, offer reflections on historical memory and the Cretan identity.

Bowland Beth - David Lefeber & Catherine Seymour

Bowland Beth is the artistic response of director David Lefeber and choreographer Catherine Seymour to the illegal persecution of raptors in the uplands of the UK where they come into conflict with the grouse shooting industry. Ten years ago Hen Harriers had become extinct in England. Our inspiration was the searing and tender poem 'Bowland Beth' by prizewinning poet David Harsent, his elegy to a tagged Hen Harrier birthed on the wild moors of the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, and shot before she could breed. His own reading lies at the heart of our film embedded in Rob Godman’s specially composed and haunting soundscore.

8.45-10.15pm

Human Struggle

Voilà - A Short Dance Film - Aman Mehra

The mind of an artist cannot be extinguished by the mundane. Voilà expresses the inevitability of art in the face of deprivation and celebrates the importance of the imagination through the universal languages of dance, music and art, where words fail. With many artists relying on non-creative sources of income, Voilà shines a light on the internal universe of the invisible creatives who do not get to bring their art to life. This piece was developed during Covid, when being an artist was discouraged by a UK government campaign. At a time when technology is developing faster than ever, it is vital to preserve the raw artistry which makes us human and assert its importance which is all too often overlooked.

Pulled - Idalmy Vandepas-Carcache

Have you ever found yourself within reach of your goals, yet you feel you just cannot take that last step? It can feel almost as if something has tied you down with an invisible rope, preventing you from moving forward. Pulled is the personification of this idea; being within grasping distance of your dreams, but are held back by negative forces in our lives: fear of the unknown, self-doubt, guilt, the list goes on. It’s up to us to find the strength within ourselves to pry that rope away from those destructive feelings and to take control of our destinies. The mountains are calling us. Don’t let the vultures devour your dreams.

The Birdcage - Emma Giuliani

In this experimental dance short film, a young man finds himself imprisoned by depression, his body motionless and disconnected from the theatrical facade of people around him. As he embarks on a surreal journey of self-discovery and human connection, he strives to break free from the cage of his own mind, seeking to reclaim lost vitality and rediscover the movement within himself.

Masks All the Way Down - Litza Bixler

The rough-and-tumble world of politics is brought to visceral life in a dance film that explores the performed self, social masks and whether there is an ‘authentic’ self beneath them. Inspired by ‘The Green Table’ (Kurt Jooss) and set in a smoky, hyper-masculine gentleman’s club; dancers move into and out of tableaux; they gesture emphatically; they fight and they fall as they argue and ultimately refuse to budge. A woman occasionally appears at the edge of frame, dancing soulfully in the margins. But no matter how hard she tries, she cannot break in or through. The film was shot in a historic parlor at the University of Wisconsin. Performers were undergraduate-level students from the Dance Department.

Hype. - Lauren Heckler

Hype is an abstracted self-portrait stemming from the idea of 'feeling joy in a body that's out to get you'. Reflecting on learning to live differently post diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), it glitches through euphoria & collapse, the digital & the organic, isolation & community. The choreography echos daily T1D management practices and gestures, with members of the cast and production team having lived experience of T1D & other chronic illnesses. The music was produced by Alice Go and includes AI manipulated sounds of needles in a sharps box, insulin pen clicks, finger prickers, & my blood glucose monitor. The work is a love letter to life and its complexities, as experienced from a chronically ill perspective.

TooMaNY - John Degois *Trigger warning: violence against women theme

Toomany is a short film which aims to denounce all forms of aggression against women. Through the poignant staging of an attack by a man on a woman, JD seeks to raise public awareness by confronting this violence directly. Using dance, JD depicts this brutal act in a powerful, non-minimizing way, creating an immersive, emotional experience in the face of this difficult reality. The film also questions the position of dance and art in the face of violence. How can, and should, art take on these delicate subjects to provoke awareness and a change of perspective? "Toomany" explores these issues, using choreography to convey the emotional and physical impact of violence, while inciting reflection and discussion.

BLUE FUNK - Louise Coetzer

Blue Funk charts the physicality of being afraid. As chain reaction, fear settles over its targets, exposing their innate sentient responses of freeze, fight, fawn, and flight. The resulting cacophony evokes the volatility of this moment in time, a mounting pressure edging towards its breaking point.

Square One - Victoria Koberstein *Trigger warning: car crash theme

After a hit and run car crash, the fleeing driver gets lost in a swampy forest, where he is confronted with figures of his past. He relives episodes of uncertainty, love and detachment – without noticing that not only the car has been following him. His escape turns into a nightmare as he realizes: there’s burdens one can’t flee from. The production picks up themes of gloom, inner conflict and imagination versus reality – while telling an interpersonal story through supernatural motives mixed with elements of thriller, horror and film noir. The ten-member cast expresses deceit, hope, forgiveness, love and revenge through contemporary dance in an infinite-dimensional space.

THE BUTTERFLY - Satya Prakash Gautam, Gili Twena

This film uses dance as a medium of expression to convey the experience of individual anxiety. It depicts various perspectives of anxiety and delves deeper into the physical and emotional sensations that a person witnesses when confronted with this state of mind. The film depicts the contrast between feeling alone and feeling connected. It expresses the sense of disconnection, loneliness, and inner intensity compared to the external experience. Despite these feelings, the film portrays the moment as vibrant and beautiful, reminding us that our vulnerability is part of what makes life magical. It suggests that there is nothing to defeat; you don't have to win this battle. In fact, we may need to learn how to lose.

Film Synopses Sunday 20th October

2-3.45pm

Voices

Without Her - Sadra Kazemeyni

An Iranian woman facing cultural, traditional and societal barriers, yet she determined to continue her chosen path.

Lettre à ma fille - Michael Maurissens

Unfolding on the beaches and streets of Benin, a heartfelt letter from a mother to her future daughter expresses the challenges and joys of growing up as a woman. Through song and dance, a tribe of women dispel fairy tales myths to center embodied values of feminine power: strength, independence, and self-worth. Their rebellious spirits find freedom and joy through the rhythms of their bodies as hands clap, shoulders shake, hips swirl, and feet stomp out their bold dreams of womanhood.

Jongo Abroad: Traditions in Transit - Rosely Conz

In September 2023, three members of Comunidade Jongo Dito Ribeiro, from Campinas, Brazil, spent a week sharing their traditions in Colorado, USA. This documentary is about that experience, involving important discussions about Jongo, education, and race issues.

Bomba Ancestral - Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi

A short film about the first Bomba Ancestral organized by Sheila Osorio and Samuel Lind in Loíza, Puerto Rico where the river meets the sea. We gathered on the beach. The moon was full and we could feel the connection to the four elements. The FIRE that purifies, WATER, AIR and EARTH. Honoring all of our ancestors from whom we inherited this beautiful dance of Bomba.

HEDERA - Volume I (medium cut) - Angelo Chiacchio

This experimental project explores the potential of dance as a tool for investigation and rediscovery of the landscape and architectural heritage of Basilicata. The eight-part documentary film captures the improvisational performances of the male and female dancers of the Balletto Lucano dance company in some key places in the area where they grew up; whether these are the alleys of a historic center, an abandoned town, the ruins of an ancient Greek temple or an uninhabited landscape.

Dancing with Time - Marie Lavorel, Tamar Tembeck, Paul Tom

Dancing with Time features four Montreal-based dancer-choreographers facing the challenge of aging. Erin Flynn (40s), José Navas (50s), Louise Bédard (60s) and Paul-André Fortier (70s) talk about how they deal with their changing bodies and the demands of the artistic world. As they answer the question "As an artist, what have you gained with age?", we discover how they deal with the challenges of aging with kindness, humility and creativity. What binds us to their stories are their gains in patience, compassion, and love, as well as the urgency to live and create that seem to assert themselves with the passage of time.

Inside the Cauldron - India Ayles, Sophie Mei Birkin

An ecological essay by the pioneering surrealist artist Leonora Carrington has been discovered. ‘Inside the Cauldron’ is an experimental dance film inspired by her lost message, which has resurfaced into the collapsing future she feared. Shot inside Carrington’s previously unseen home and studio in Mexico City, this is a rare insight into her world and work, which celebrates hybridity and the blurring of the boundaries between human and animal. We hear Carrington’s words spoken for the first time: an urgent, intergenerational plea for humans to see themselves as organisms within the natural world, not separate from it.

SENSIBLE - Axel Chemin

“In the heart of emptiness, as well as in the heart of man, there are fires that burn.” SENSIBLE invites us to experience, through dance and the works of Yves Klein, a sensory and hypnotic journey.

Widening Circles, Aditi Mangaldas - Camilla Greenwell

A film by Camilla Greenwell, produced by Sadler’s Wells. In this vibrant film of one of the greatest South Asian dancers of her generation, Aditi Mangaldas unveils a poignant portrait of herself as a dancer, a woman and a human being. Set against the backdrop of Delhi, India, amidst the mesmerising rhythms of kathak dance, witness the layers of Aditi’s identity gracefully intertwine, offering a reflection on the universal themes of artistry, femininity, and the human experience.

EDIFF showcases independent dance films from all over the world.

Each screening is a rich mix of music videos, documentaries, short shorts (under 5 mins), experimental & general category dance films from world class performers, choreographers, directors & cinematographers at the top of their game.

Delving into themes as diverse as human invisibility, the fabric of time, the climate crisis, cultural & historical memory, our connections to landscape and nature, or even what a one man ‘dance’ band might look like!

There are adult themes dispersed throughout so not recommended for anyone under 15 years of age. Some films contain trigger warnings.