GIF.DANCE SELECTION
LOOPING ORBIT
Director: Blas Payri/Producers: Alma Llerena & Víctor M. Barbera/Dancer:JInés Vieites
USA 10’14
We extend our sincere appreciation to Blas Payri, an esteemed sound and video artist, and professor of audiovisual communication at Universitat Politècnica de València. His captivating gif has been included in the Screendance teaser, adding a unique and mesmerizing dimension to the presentation. Thank you, Blas Payri, for your invaluable contribution to our project.
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 1
TUESDAY 23th Nonstop 11.00-17.00 AT DANSMUSEET
BEAST
Director: Iwona Pasińska /Producer: Polish Dance Theatre/Dancers:Evelyn Blue, Momoko Den, Julia Hałka, Katarzyna Rzetelska, Sandra Szatan, Zofia Tomczyk, Emily Wong-Adryańczyk, Kacper Bożek, Bartosz Dopytalski, Patryk Jarczok, Jerzy Kaźmierczak, Zbigniew Kocięba, Mateusz Krzysiak, Dominik Kupka, Daniel Michna, JinWoo NamKung/Camera:Marek Grabowski/ Editor: Natalia Jacheć/Music:Michał Lorenc Poland 9’00
SAMENESS: MAGNIFICENCE
Director: Alana Waksman/Dancer: Jacqueline Cousineau/Camera: B. Rubén Mendoza/ Music: Logan Stahley USA 10’14
TEARS
Director: Nate Sheppard/Choreographer: Rachel Bonkoungou/Dancers: Evie Henriksen & Alena Corniea USA 5’31
STORK FICTION
Directors: Mehdi Sli & Nourddine Sli/ Producers: d-o-t-s (Laura Drouet, Olivier Lacrouts), Lights Production & Eva Albarran & Co/Writers: Laura Drouet, Olivier Lacrouts, Pollyanna Moss, Evey Kwong, Daniel Parnitzke, Wendy Owusu, Hadrien Vénat, Léone Salinas Muñiz & Jasmin Sisti/ Dancers: Jasmin Sisti & Léone Salinas Muñiz France 9’32
WITH YOUR SWEET FRAGRANCE: THE DAYDREAM
Director: Katherine Maxwell/Cinematographer: Taylor Antisdel USA 5’10
BRAVE STEPS
Director: Wilma Casal
Dancers: Amanda Egan, Devin Loh, Audrey
Lipson & Caiti Smith
Cinematographer: Natassja Ebert
Editor: Ann M Mewes
Puppeteer: Theresa Linnihan
Voice: Laila Berzins
USA 14’36
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 2
WEDNESDAY 24th Nonstop 11.00-17.00 AT
DANSMUSEET
BRONX MAGIC
Director: Marta Renzi/
Dancers: Arthur Aviles & Aislinn MacMaster/
Cinematographer: Cari Ann Shim Sham USA 4’57
LUCID DREAMING
Director: Jolijn van Rinsum/
Producer: Thomas Mataheru
Netherlands 14’13
BOLD
Directors: Alla Kovgan & Miko Malkhasyan USA 3’
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 3
THURSDAY 25th Nonstop 11.00-17.00 AT DANSMUSEET
IDOLEKTOS
Director & edit: Matteo Pizzocaro/ Production/Concept: Alexandra Kostopoulou/Director: Matteo Pizzocaro/Director of Photography: Costas Nilsen/Performance : Olga Dimitraki, Alexandra Kostopoulou/ Song: “Creatures”- Music Production -Virgin Mary’s Eyes *aka: Michalis Chatzivasileiou, Antonis Mallidis, Stefanos Ouzounidis, Akis Papanikolaou & Kostas (TheFlip) Filippou Greece 4’13
TOPIA
Directors: Jessie Lee Thorne & JusVn Thorne/ Producer: David Orr/Dancers: Laja Field, Matt
Luck, Annalise Gehling, Keilan Stafford & Jessie Lee
Thorne/Music: Lauren Dessinger & Distant Cowboy/
Cinematographer: Ryan Maslyn USA 15’00
YOUR POWER
Directors: Rachel Freeman & Elisabeth King/ Producer: Rachel Freeman/Dancer: Chloe
Elizabeth Job, Elisabeth King, Natalia
Shepherd & Gabriella Thompson USA 5’16
ENTROPY
Director: Jan Hajšen
Producer: Drustvo
Predmestje/Dancers:
Mitja Obed Slovenia 8’03
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 4
FRIDAY 26th Nonstop 11.00-17.00
LIKE DROPS ON A BED OF EMBERS
Director: Juliette Pons/Dancers:
Coppi Antoine & Pierre Louis Kerbart
Voice over: Sandrine Schiller Hansen
Music: Casper Van De Velde
Belgium 9’10
AT DANSMUSEET
SHARED BREATH
Original concept & choreography: Roger Sinha/ Director: Damian Siqueiros/Dancers: Emmanuelle Martin, Citlali Germé-Trevino, Amélia Lamanque & Olivia Jaen Flores/Cinematographer: Max Machado/Music: Of Sound Mind and Body
Canada 7’52
LAPSÚLYOS ||
CERTAIN SOLITUDE
Director :Bernadett Jobbágy/Producer: Dániel
Herner/Dancers: Attila Dániel, Attila Horváth, Rebeka Petra Kiss, Emese Kovács, Henrietta
Sudár & Zsófi Szász/Cinematographer: Dániel
Szandtner & Zsolt Magyari/Music: Rozi Mákó
Hungary 8’35
I NEED A FIX
Directors: Romain Winkler & Alban Richard/Producer: Alban Richard/Dancers: Anthony Barreri, Mélanie Cholet, Max Fossati, Romual Kabore, Alice Lada, Adrien Martins, Clémentine Maubon, Arnaud Rebotini, Asha Thomas & Sakiko Oishi/ Cinematographer: Nicolas Bordier/Editor:
Romain Winkler/Music: Arnaud Rebotini
France 6’57
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 5
SATURDAY 27th Nonstop 11.00-17.00
AT DANSMUSEET
TO HOLD MY LOVE
Directors: Elettra Giunta & Adam Othman
United Kingdom 10’00
GROWING PAINS
Director: Joann Seow/Choreographer: Joann
Seow/Dancers: Amirah Azman, Arianne Ramos
Palatino, Alexis Pang, Cheyenne Oh, Claire Chow, Fikri Ahmad, Syahindah Nurul, Jasmine Chiam, Jin Pin Lim, Jing Yi Yap, Keira Shyanata, Kin Mun
Toh, Lisa Kong, Matthew Ting, Megan Leong, Myn Chin Lim, Shermaine Lim, Yong Yan Tan, Elizabeth Leong, Zakiah Siti och Joann Seow/ Cinematographer & editor: Shafiee Shadan
Singapore 5’28
YOU ARE AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
Director: Dimitri Yuri/Writer: Pascale Abou
Jamra & Dimitri Yuri/ Producer: Pascale
Abou Jamra & Cindy Le Templier/ Dancer: Anne Laure Pecot
Qatar 8’21
A TORCH IN THE MACHINE
Director: Janessa Clark/ Producer: Wandering
Camille Films/Dancers: Rosalynde LeBlanc & Colleen
Thomas/Cinematographer: Mary Trunk/Editor: Kathleen
Kelley/ Music: Anne Müller
USA 14’00
NEBULOSA
Director: Carlos de Oliveira Alves
Producer: Carlos de Oliveira Alves
Choreographer & Dancer: Marta
Kosieradzka/Music: Alessandra
RombolàPoem: Viola Vocich
Poland 3’50
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION 6
SATURDAY 28th Nonstop 11.00-17.00
AT DANSMUSEET
INVERNO
Director: Karim Zeriahen
Dancer: Marie-Agnes Gillot
France 11’08
SOLSTICE
Director: Zachary Chant
Producers: De-Da Productions & Denislav Kanev/Dancer: Albert Galindo
Germany 6’38
YUGO MANCHESTER
Director: Daniel Rodrigues Correia
Producer: Center Plesa Maribor
Writer: Daniel Rodrigues Correia
Slovenia 13’00
GLIMPSES
Director: Peter Litwinowicz/Choreography: Lizz Roman, in collaboration with the dancers/ Dancers: Liz Duran Boubion, Erin Coyne, Colin Epstein, Clairey Evangelho, Clarissa K. Ko, Jamie Nakama, Diego Ramil, Daniel Rojas, Hentyle Yapp och Hannah Westbrook/Music: Jerome Lindner USA 5’25
YOUR POWER
Directors: Rachel Freeman & Elisabeth King USA 5’16
INTERNATIONAL SELECTION
(Compilation of standout films), Swedish Selection & Award Ceremony.
MONDAY 29th 17.00 - 18.00 AT DANSMUSEET
Featuring a compilation of some of the week’s standout films
BEAST
Director: Iwona Pasińska /Producer:Polish Dance Theatre/Dancers:Evelyn Blue, Momoko Den, Julia Hałka, Katarzyna Rzetelska, Sandra Szatan, Zofia Tomczyk, Emily Wong-Adryańczyk, Kacper Bożek, Bartosz Dopytalski, Patryk Jarczok, Jerzy Kaźmierczak, Zbigniew Kocięba, Mateusz Krzysiak, Dominik Kupka, Daniel Michna, JinWoo NamKung/Camera:Marek Grabowski/
Editor: Natalia Jacheć/Music:Michał Lorenc
Poland 9’00
IDOLEKTOS
Director & edit: Matteo Pizzocaro/ Production/Concept: Alexandra Kostopoulou/ Director: Matteo Pizzocaro/Director of Photography: Costas Nilsen/ Performance: Olga Dimitraki, Alexandra Kostopoulou/Song: “Creatures”- Music Production -Virgin Mary’s Eyes *aka: Michalis Chatzivasileiou, Antonis Mallidis, Stefanos Ouzounidis, Akis Papanikolaou & Kostas (TheFlip) Filippou
Greece 4’13
BRONX MAGIC
Director: Marta Renzi/Dancers: Arthur Aviles & Aislinn MacMaster/ Cinematographer: Cari Ann Shim Sham
USA 4’57
I NEED A FIX
Directors: Romain Winkler & Alban Richard/Producer: Alban Richard/Dancers: Anthony Barreri, Mélanie Cholet, Max Fossati, Romual Kabore, Alice Lada, Adrien Martins, Clémentine Maubon, Arnaud Rebotini, Asha Thomas & Sakiko Oishi/Cinematographer: Nicolas Bordier/Editor: Romain Winkler/Music: Arnaud Rebotini
France 6’57
SHARED BREATH
Original concept & choreography: Roger Sinha/Director: Damian Siqueiros/ Dancers: Emmanuelle Martin, Citlali Germé-Trevino, Amélia Lamanque & Olivia Jaen Flores/Cinematographer: Max Machado/Music: Of Sound Mind and Body
Canada 7’52
TO HOLD MY LOVE
Directors: Elettra Giunta & Adam Othman
United Kingdom 10’00
SOLSTICE
Director: Zachary Chant/Producers: De-Da Productions & Denislav Kanev/Dancer: Albert Galindo
Germany 6’38
LUCID DREAMING
Director: Jolijn van Rinsum/Producer: Thomas Mataheru
Netherlands 14’13
Network & Mingel with artist & festival organisers at Bistro Rolf de Maré 18.00-18.30 & 20.30-22.00
SWEDISH SELECTION
MONDAY 29th 18.30 AT DANSMUSEET
WATT
Directors: David Ricci & Maria Josefsson/
Dancer: Maria Josefsson Sweden 6’23
WEST SIDED STORY
Directors: Robin Dingemans & Majula
Drammeh/Cinematographer: Robin
Dinegmans/Music: Johan Arrias Sweden 7’15
CRUCIFIGA
Directors: Erika O’Neill & Simon Hjortek/
Producers: Erika O’Neill & Emmy Park/Dancers: Hilda Hedin, Linn Stääd Hedberg, Elin Busk, Kajsa
Norman, Sonja Nillius, Maj Rendalen, Amelia Hjelm, Kajsa Hjelm, Emilia Kempe, Tova Smeds, Victoria
Nordgren, Emmy Park, Elias Kraft & Luna O’Neill Sweden 7’58
QUEENS OF UNWANTED THINGS
Director: Anna Holmström/
Producer: Petricore Movement/
Dancers: Rebecka Jonsson, Kitty Chan, Lydia Gelang, Wanda Berntsson, Elin Lindberg, Linnéa Hult, Mona Namér, Anna-Karin Åberg, Tilda Kristiansson, Elin Eriksson, Emma Berg & Wilma
Wictorin/Music: Patrick Zylka Sweden 5’28
THE SOURCE
Directors: Gilda Stillbäck & Sofia Norlin/ Producer: Vanessa Labañino/Dancers: Aloun
Marchal, Maria Phil, Sandy Harry Ceesay, Melinda Jacobsson, Matilda Larsson, Mpululu
Ntuve, Vincent Jonsson, Jasmine Attié, Isac
Hellman/Cinematography:Adam Nilsson/ Music: Erika Vega/Editor: Agathe Debary
Sweden – 15’00
OR WE DON’T TALK AT ALL
Directors: Kit Brown & Carl Johan Folkesson
Karlidag/Writer: Henry Bronett/
Producer: Mira Helenius Martinsson/
Choreographer: Kit Brown/
Dancers: Kit Brown & Niels Simonsen
Sweden 6’41
PREFACE
Director: Madeleine Månsson/Producer: Mira Helenius Martinsson/ Dancer: Kit Brown/Cinematographer:
Carl Johan Folkesson Karlidag
Sweden 7’49
CURRENT
Directors: Ami Skånberg & Anna Viola Hallberg/
Dancers: Ami Skånberg& Alfiyanto Wajiwa/ Music: Mats Skånberg
Sweden 8’20
HIGH VOLTAGE
Director: SU-EN/Producer: Mon no Kai/
Dancer: SU-EN & Matthias Röhrich
Sweden 11’
RAT KING
Directors: Simon Balthazar/Dancers: Enrique Melgarejo, Francisco (Pako) Nava, Patrick Trigoso, Octavio Dagnino, Sabina Villagómez
Guzmán & Claudio Mansour/Cinematographer:
Oliver Victoria/Editor: Alina Philippova/Music:
Simon Balthazar
Sweden/Mexico 6’43
IN THE SAME BOAT
Directors: Mervi Junkkonen & Mia Malviniemi/ Dancers: Nanna Rahikainen & Rauno Männistö/ Music: Antti Paalanen Sweden 7’30
SPELLBOUND
Directors: Nicola Hepp/Producer: Niekie
Khaled/Creative Development Producer: Iris Lammertsma, Witfilm/Choreography: Nicola Hepp in collaboration with Célinne Bodinger and Jorijn Vriesendorp/Cinematography: Reinout Steenhuizen nsc/Edit: Nola Zeegers/Music: David Doesburg Sweden 11’24
BUBBELGUM PARADISE ’DISCOVERY’
Directors: Herman Nygren & Amelis
Riquelme Nicoletti/Producer: STHLM
DANS/Dancers: Miriam Aigbogun, Diana Iedan & Timothy Waliggo Kakeeto Sweden 3’48
SVENSKA FILMSKAPARNA OM PROCESSEN BAKOM SINA DANSFILMER
Swedish filmmakers on the process behind their dance films.
1. Vilket tema undersöker du/ni i er film?
What theme do you explore in your film?
2. Varför fick du/ni idén i filmen?
Why did you get the idea in the film?
3. Vad genererade rörelsematerialet i filmen?
What generated the movement material in the film?
4. Vad vill du/ni att vi ska bära med oss när vi sett din/er dansfilm?
What do you want us to carry with us when we have seen your dance film?
David Ricci & Maria Josefsson (Watt)
1. How to break free from habituated patterns.
2. It started out as an experiment of what could be achieved with no budget and minimal equipment.
3. The movment was generated from the limited area of visual space.
4. The beauty and danger of of leaving once herd.
Robin Dingemans & Majula Drammeh (West Sided Story)
1. In short we are playing with what is projected upon us and identity archetypes juxtaposed with actual lived realities of who we are. Within a context of a problematic country relating to this: Sweden is the most segregated country in the OECD, with high levels of minority stress. Scientific racism was invented in Sweden, and it was part of The Atlantic Slave Trade, and complicit in The Holocaust. In general there is a lack of awareness in Sweden and internationally of this difficult heritage and current reality, particularly by nonBIPOC Swedes of certain generations. This in turn exacerbates minority stress and segregation and hinders the “assimilation” right leaning politics says it desires.
2. The film centres around disorientating false narratives of Swedish (positive) identity relating to race, and its self image as avant-garde of anti-racism. Sweden is in fact, too often, an anti-racist failure, through lack of overt positionality and, in our view, some basic education of the population of the dark sides of its history and currently how it relates to Swedes with non-European ancestry, non-European people, minorities (including Sweden’s Sámi) and other cultures in general.
3. Originally the work was commissioned to respond to the prelude of West Side Story, which was initially conceived just four years after The Holocaust by choreographer Jerome Robbins, eventually actualised in 1957, by Robbins
and three other Jewish collaborating artists (first iteration of the story was Jewish vs Irish Catholic, changed to Puerto Rican vs White). We responded to some of the movement language of West Side Story, but in general made our own response to those historic and current tensions. We interwove images from the disturbing to the absurd, such US torture of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib, to getting a facial. We later replaced the West Side Story music with a new commission (by chance our composer Johan Arrias has some Jewish heritage too).
4. We want to make visible and transpose into the viewers bodies and minds the unknown knowns - such as Sweden’s difficult heritage relating to racism and how that negatively effects the current lives of Swedes, and the ethical responsibilities of all Swedes to increase their depth of knowledge, sense of kinship to the oppressed and ideally spur into action, rather than be stunned by shame - an all too common reaction by many Swedes to the themes of the work. Hopefully the work translates to contexts outside of Sweden, even if only one small chip away at the archetypes of nonBIPOC Supremacy, even those such as supposedly liberal peace embracing nations. There is a absurd side of how it deals with colonialism and racism, humour is one way to con front difficulties and open conversations.
Anna Holmström (Queens of unwanted things)
1. Queens of Unwanted Things explores the theme of plastic and paper littering in nature. The different art forms create a dialogue about human impact, where trash is transformed into innovation.
2. During the summer of 2020 I spent some time at my parents summer cottage. One day I was folding paper figures from old newspaper together with my cousin. A series of pictures began to take shape in my mind where a dancer was moving through nature. She was wearing the paper figures as a costume. The idea led to the creation of a dance film and has continued to develop into an exhibition - Queens Of Unwanted Things.
3. The movement material for the shortfilm was developed in relation to location, the COVID-19 pandemic, seasons and costumes. Through recording scenes in summer, autumn and winter we could highlight the decomposition process and the differences in length between plastic and paper materials. The dancers dressed in paper become weaker over time until they completely disappear. The dancers in plastic remain in motion, until they are the only ones left.
4. To spark an interest for recycling and how we humans treat nature. By reusing materials a new value can be given to something that usually would be conside red old or broken. Perhaps we as humans can give ourselves the same chance? To reshapes perspectives, celebrating intrinsic worth over superficial judgments.
Erika O’Neill & Simon Hjortek (Crucifiga)
1. Crucifiga,’ a dance film that transcends the boundaries of reality, blending the synergy of humankind and artificial intelligence into a biotechnological ’humanoid’ masterpiece. In this distant future, we witness the creation of a ’perfection’ molded by societal icons, challenging the very essence of womanhood and questioning the norms dictated by a patriarchal world. In a world where social media reigns as our ’Gods,’ ’Crucifiga’ questions our perspectives on happiness, freedom, and integrity. Through artistic dance, the film challenges societal ideals, norms, and forms, prompting us to confront the hypnotic influence of unrealistic expectations on our reality as well as our history. How we, over generations, subtly and insidiously, have allowed ourselves to shape our tolerance for normative expectations and quietly pushed our boundaries for what we are willing to sacrifice to achieve ’perfection’. The narrative, inspired by Jesus and his 12 disciples, presents ’Crucifiga’ as a cinematic explo ration during a artificial production of a female deity and her disciples in a subtopic laboratory. Humans produced through biogenetic experiments in the image of the ultimate icon. A female version of Jesus, prompting us to reflect on the societal norms and the elusive ideals humanity relentlessly chases.
2. We wanted to create a sci-fi inspired dance film, questioning the time we live in as well as the future we are heading towards. In the roles of parents as well as working artists, we aimed to craft a piece that contemplates over humanity’s formed ideals, normative boundaries, and demands. Inevitable structures permeating ever younger ages, shaping our children to compare, mold, and confine themselves based on unreasonable expectations which often results in distorted body perceptions and mental illness.
3. As we navigated the choreographic process with 14 dancers, ages 6 to 40, the question emerged: What is a woman’s/girl’s greatest sin? The team’s resounding answer was ’Freedom’—the unconditional freedom to experience lust, anger, envy, sorrow, or true happiness. ”The choreographic movement is inspired by ’cultivated behaviors’ and ’courteous customs.’ Patterns that shapes a ’
normative behavior’ inspired by traditional courtesy phrases, driven to their outer extreme to evoke a exaggerated, repetitive, and mechanical expression. As a reflection on the biblical legend we also analyzed jealousy, betrayal, and the complexity of human beings in managing their conscience versus their natural emotions.
4. With Crucifiga, we aim to offer the audience a reflection on all that we sacrifice to achieve a semblance of ’perfection’. But what is perfection, truly? Can we break free from centuries of archetypal norms and collective ideals? What norms and ideals do we impart onto our children, and why?”
Ami Skånberg & Anna Viola Hallberg (Current)
1. Current is the first part of a trilogy by Berg Duo (Hallberg & Skånberg) exploring embodied conversation through layers of time and place (space). On another level the theme for Current, is a reaction to the exploration of a village and its culture in an ongoing process of gentrification. The theme is therefore about biopolitics and understanding of each other beyond the spoken language.
2. Current is special in many ways. Ami Skånberg has been in contact with Alfiyanto Wajiwas of many years ever since he curated film festivals in Indonesia where her works were shown. Recently Alfiyanto Wajiwas got his Phd in dance where he made a community-based project in Ciganitri, West Java. Without this background there would not have been a film. We had an urge to explore this village with him as an improvisation and dialogue between three people without using verbal language. Upon arrival to the village, we had no script/score. We allowed for the film to come about on site and while editing.
3. The close listening of bodies. We set it out as both a dialogue and echoing between the two dancers and the camera person. We had an urge to explore this village with him as an improvisation and dialogue between three people without using verbal language. The camera is unusually close and the movement of all three were part of generating the movement in the film then off course this also happened in the editing. One can say that the person invited becomes both a co-dancer and a co-choreographer. The movements are an immediate response to space, bursting of ideas, outpouring of dreams, while following currents of struggle and hope through a visual journey.
4. First, the etymology of the title current. (Current in water and electricity/ power but also as in tendencies). The film is exploring responsibility of sharing a society and how we live life. We need to be more careful with space (also as art-makers). Why are we here? And how can we communicate over boarders in current times? Current is a screen dance piece made in the village Ciganitri, West Java. Performed as a ritual for resistance in a place where rice fields, fish ponds and gardens currently are replaced by fancy buildings and crowded highway.
Brown & Carl Johan Folkesson Karlidag
(Or we don’t talk at all)
1. I filmen utforskar vi hur demens och åldrande påverkar oss psykiskt, socialt och poetiskt.
2. Idén kom från Skånes Dansteaters konstnärliga ledare Mira Helenius Martinsson, som läst och berörts av dikter av Henry Bronett om relationen med sin demenssjuka mamma.
3. Koreografen Kit Brown hade egna erfarenheter av att vara nära en person som sakta börjar tappa sitt minne och tillsammans med dansaren Nils Simonsen började de undersöka specifika rörelseminnen och dynamiken med mellan den som minns och den som inte minns.
4. Vi som gjorde filmen hade alla egna personliga ingångar till temat, och frågorna vi drevs av var i alla högsta grad självupplevda. Vem leder och vem följer? Hur stöttar vi, när stödet ibland upplevs som en belastning? Hur navigerar vi när kompassen är trasig? Vad återstår av kärlek när identiteter löses upp?
Madeleine Månsson (Preface)
1. Preface looks at the plurality of a life from the perspective of the hands, revealing their function and expression in minute detail. The hands provide a focus against a changing background of situations and feelings.
2. The choreographer Madeleine Månsson had been researching dances built out of small details. The film medium seemed like the perfect opportunity to zoom our focus in to a smaller kind of dance.
3. The movement material had two distinct beginnings. The first was everyday, practical actions. The second was on the other extreme, we wrote very personal letters and tried to express their quality and sense with just the articulation of the hands and arms.
4. I would hope you could carry with you a sense of the variety of an ordinary life and the beauty of small details.
SU-EN (High Voltage)
1. This film came about through a crash investigation. I just entered this section in the Colombi park in Freiburg since I liked the graffiti and it turned out that it was a hang out place for drug addicts.
2. I had walked around the park and saw some spots around the High Voltage generator that interested me. At first my collaborator and I started with a photos shoot title Waisted on the opposite side of the building. Then we moved on to the graffiti wall.
3. I started to dance in relation to the graffiti wall, then Matthias, a man from the park warned me about the needles of on the ground and that I should be careful with my feet. I asked him if he wanted to join and he said yes!
Kit
WITH YOUR SWEET FRAGRANCE: THE DAYDREAM
Director: Katherine Maxwell/ Cinematographer: Taylor Antisdel USA 5’10
He used to be a boxer and wanted to shoe his prison tattoo. The movement then was born out of the boxing idea.
4. To carry with you: art and movement can really be found and explored anywhere, anytime. In my own work I have drifted away from the institutions and black boxes to rathe place my body in spaces and realities of peoples lives wherever they are. Let´s liberate ourselves from cultural institutions and be free!
Simon Balthazar (Rat King)
1. I believe many of us right now share an anxiety about communities and social structures breaking down, and at the centre of Rat King is an exploration of this anxiety. Given the many global threats to human existence at this moment, this is not even an unreasonable fear. But I think that what is particular to these threats we are facing is the delicious irony that they actually have a solution in solidarity, trust and collaboration. To the characters of Rat King, the world is strange and threatening. They are looking for tools to navigate it, through collaborating and through rituals. As the journey progresses however, this frail community breaks down and they become caught up each in their own frantic delusions. The final image of the film is one where the characters find themselves tangled up, pulling in different directions and unable to help each other.
2. We landed on the natural phenomenon of the ”rat king” as the perfect metaphor for exploring this theme. A rat king occurs when rats get their tails entangled and in a panic start pulling, each in their own direction, tightening the knot until they lie dying of starvation and exhaustion. This image is sometimes referenced just for the purpose of being creepy or dark – an example ofcruel nature. But we wanted
to stop and ask: why does this happen to the rats? The answer is: because they are unable to help each other. We humans can, if we want to, help each other and overcome the threats to our existence. We also left a small hint at the end, where one of the characters seems to wake up where the story started. It seems that perhaps the group are forever haunting this abandoned place. That they are forced to relive again and again their failure to work together, echoing the way we see this failure to learn played out in history.
3. The whole project was initially borne from the location. In fact, the music was originally conceived as a site-specific composition. What attracted us to the place was that it is located within the city, but seems completely in its own world: abandoned, with a dreamlike, enchanted feel to it. You have to climb through a whole in a rusty fence to get there, and it’s like stepping through the closet into Narnia, a place for allegories to be played out. The choreography of Rat King was a collaborative process, with the helpful guidance from Mexican choreographer Catalina Navarrete. The device of the red rope works as a metaphor for our fraught relationship with technology: in a Promethean moment, the group discover an object which they imbue with special powers. They let the rope guide them as a sort of compass (in an hommage to Tarkovsky’s ”Stalker”) but it ultimately ends up being the thing that ensnares them.
4. First of all, I have no problem with Rat King being a purely aesthetic experience: you can just enjoy the dancing, the music and the photography. But I would love for it to also be a jumping-off point for a discussion of where we are heading as a society, and how with a little bit of collective will and courage, we really can avoid some of the most alarming disasters we’re facing and actually make the world a better place for so many.
Rat King
Nicola Hepp (Spellbound)
1. Spellbound explores themes of identity, loneliness and depression in an abstract way.
2. After having had several people in my close circle deal with issues of depression, trying to understand how someone can be ‘caught’ in a certain way of thinking became extremely important to me as a fellow human being. The idea for Spellbound was a response to those thoughts.
3. We worked closely together with the dancers in generating the movement material, with notions of closeness, embrace, catching and holding.
4. We hope to open a conversation about these difficult mental issues and to provide a glimmer of hope to someone who is going through a difficult time.
Herman Nygren & Amelis Riquelme Nicoletti
(Bubbelgum Paradise’Discovery’)
1. Bubblegum Paradise is a surreal, pastel-colored world of dance performances, bold statements and unique embodiment. I’ve always liked bright colors and surrealistic feels and to combine that with dance styles, that are not conventional to certain dance spaces, inspired me and this piece specifically. Since I was asked to do a trilogy I wanted it to have a red thread, DISCOVERY is my first episode of the trilogy. I wanted to portray the feeling of beeing new somewhere, a feeling I am very used to. This feeling I’ve felt in various spaces throughout my life can be described as feeling alienated, wierd and different. The fear of not being accepted, but at the same time that curiosity and force to carry on and explore the world and yourself. What also inspired me is the dream world. I dream a lot, very vivid dreams, and the first scene when the dancers “wake up” in a new place and look different than what they use to can be a parallel to that. Waking up in a completely different environment and having to figure out who you are in it.
2. For the 2023 edition of STHLM DANS, Stockholm-based choreographer Amelis Riquelme Nicoletti was commissioned to create three dance films together with filmmaker Herman Nygren. The themes I examine in my film is a sense of belonging, the internal research required to fit into something unknown, but also the discovery of who we are, what place we have in the society we live in and the harmony between beings. Curiosity and the thirst to know more about the world.
3. The films feature amongst other styles Krump and Afro Dance styles, with the fabulous Miriam Aigbogun, Diana Iedan and Timothy Waliggo Kakeeto. As stated before I wanted to work with dance styles that not often get portrayed in certain dance spaces. In this choreography I decided to work with aspects from different african streetstyles that i practice, dancehall, krump and experiment movement within those cultures. I wanted the choreography to be a balanced fusion between strong charismatic movements and also playful and “quirky” ones. I also work a long side my dancers strenghts and like to highlight them in as many ways as possible.
Bubblegum Paradise’Discovery’
4. I would like the audience to feel transported in a surrealistic experience in which they can feel curious about the world and themselves. That life is a colorful space where we are the dictators of our own story and that in order to do that we need to look inwards, but also pay attention to our surroundings and the people around us. I want to them to feel bold, to go out there and discover more from the world, to let go of fear and be guided by curiosity. We hope the film brings a smile on your face!
Mervi Junkkonen & Mia Malviniemi (In the same boat)
1. Filmens huvudpersons Raunos barndomsminne, relations till havet samt ålderdom.
2. Från året 2017 har Mia hållit dans för äldre personer. Det har redan från början varit inspirerande att höra deras berättelser. Mia började använda berättelser och minnesbilder för att upptäcka rörelse och koreografi. Sen kom idén att man kunde göra dansfilm var det finns en huvudperson med sina berättelser och rörelser/koreografi.
3. Rörelsematerial har uppstått under kreativa danstunder tillsammans med Rauno. Hans barndom berättelse och hans relation till havet har varit början till rörelsematerial och koreograf.
4. Glädje! Vi hoppas att filmen kanske får åskådaren tänka hur man kan i senare livet inträffa och lära nya saker samt dela sin historia på nytt sätt.
Gilda Stillbäck & Sofia Norlin (The Source)
1. Revolt, kamp för överlevnad, strider som ärvs mellan en generation till en annan, hopp och återfödelse.
2. Jag skapade 2019 en koreografi med tio dansare i samarbete med kompositören Erika Vega på Royaumont - Abbey & Fondation, ett kloster utanför Paris. Vi arbetade med att genom musik och koreografi skapa kaos i den perfekta, symmetriska klosterträdgården. Ju mer arbetet utvecklade sig i trädgårdens renässans-inspirerade arkitektur blev koreografin en kommentar kring Frankrikes koloniala historia. När föreställningen växte fram kände jag att jag ville göra en film utifrån de koreografiska idéerna och kontaktade då Sofia Norlin, filmregissör. Vi utarbetade sedan tema och regi tillsammans med utgångspunkt i Alvastra Klosterruin.
3. Jag hade koreografiska idéer kring scener jag ville undersöka, ofta inspirerade av bilder från demonstrationer, krig, människor på flykt som Sofia och jag delade med varandra. Nya idéer föddes när vi arbetade med dansarna på plats i klostret. Miljön, arkitekturen, ruinens olika hålrum och material, naturen och platsens historia hade stor betydelse och inverkan på det konstnärliga och koreografiska arbetet. Så väl som dansarnas olika kvalitéter, erfarenheter och uttryck.
4. Att medmänsklighet är grunden till överlevnad.
The Source
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