Posts Tagged ‘Dance Films Association’

"Coup de Grace" by Clara Van Gool

Whether your interest is in ballet stars of bygone eras or edgy dance films that push at the boundaries of cinema, there is something for you at the Dance On Camera Festival. The question is just how to find it. The good news is that this year, the festival programming on the Dance Films Association’s website is quite easy to navigate. Arranged by genre, title, and schedule, it is easy to zero in on the programs that you most want to see.

For fans of screendance, the genre of dance made for the camera, the bad news is that there are only two shorts programs being shown at the Dance On Camera Festival this year, but luckily they are good ones. The first is the Dance Film Narratives program, playing on Jan 27^th and 29^th. Featuring two highly anticipated films by veteran dance filmmakers, Clara Van Gool and Pontus Lidberg, this program will be seeped in dramatic storytelling and breathtaking choreography for the camera. Coup de Grace the latest dance film by Clara Van Gool (director of the acclaimed screen adaptation of DV8’s Enter Achilles) features Jordi Cortes Molina and Damian Munoz, two adversaries who meet in a remote location and engage in a physical and emotional duel. Pontus Lidberg’s Labyrinth Within hauntingly depicts the suspense and jealousy surrounding a love triangle and features NYC Ballet Principal Wendy Whelan and a commissioned score by David Lang.

The second opportunity to see dance for camera is the Shorts Program, a free event at Lincoln Center’s new Elinor Bunin Monroe Auditorium on Saturday Jan 28^th. A lighthearted and whimsical selection will be shown here, and features some work by local favs including Jody Oberfelder’s case of mistaken identity, Come Sit Stay and Pooh Kaye’s romp on the wild side in Spring Cleaning.

There are several other other notable screendances sprinkled throughout the festival, including Ora, the first film to use 3D thermal imaging (part of Pilobolus and shorts), and Falling, a gorgeously rendered film about dancers and gravity made by Adrian Churchill the special effects creator of the BBC television series, Merlin.

Several documentaries in this year’s festival seem to blur the boundaries of reality and experimental art film. Examples can be found in the Dance Legacies program on Jan 30^th & 31^st featuring artful shorts about dance being passed through the generations (Cari Ann Shim Sham’s Sand) and as commentary on social changes (David Rousseve’s portrait of Indonesia in Two Seconds After Laughter and Bruce Berryhill & Martha Curtis’s documentary on Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s work after Hurricane Katrina, Re-staging Shelter). The roots of Robert Wilson’s enigmatic theatre work are exposed in The Space In Back of You an homage to the radical Japanese performer and choreographer Suzushi Hanayagi, whom Wilson collaborated with for 20 years.

Last but not least, you don’t want to miss Sally Sommers, Charles Atlas, and Michael Schwartz’s long awaited documentary Check Your Body at the Door, a tribute to New York’s underground House culture, featuring dances filmed over twenty years and never seen before on screen. Check Your Body will be preceded by freedom2dance, a short that examines the devastating impact of Mayor Giuliani’s strict enforcement of the Cabaret Laws on New York’s once thriving underground dance club culture. This program will also screen the winner of DFA’s first High School Student Film Competition, giving us a sneak peak at the future of screendance!

The 40^th edition of the Dance On Camera Festival will take place from January 27-31 at the Walter Reade Theater as well as the new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at Lincoln Center.  For more information go to DFA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s websites to see the full line-up, as well schedule and ticket information.

DFA’s First Annual High School Student Film Competition

Call for entries
Deadline: January 2nd, 2012
Application

Dance Films Association seeks New York City high school student dance film submissions in conjunction with the 2012 Dance on Camera Festival co-sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center to be held Jan 27-31, 2012. Dance Camera West is excited to be partnering with Dance Films Association in it’s first Annual High School Student Film Competition: Capturing Motion NYC. A jury will choose among the submissions for a special student film program during the festival, with the top film selection to screen at Lincoln Center. As a partner in supporting future filmmakers, Dance Camera West will be hosting the winner of the NYC competition at it’s annual film festival in June 2012. The selected film maker will be a guest of DCW and their film showcased in one of the many screening venues in Los Angeles for the 11th annual Dance Camera West Film Festival.

Submissions should be of 1-5 minutes in length. The jury is looking for documentary, narrative, or art films acknowledging the relationship between dance and camera.

Camera Operation and Shooting Strategies with Amy Greenfield & Jeremiah Story

Amy Greenfield

DNA (Dance New Amsterdam)
280 Broadway, Studio 6 (entrance on Chambers)
New York, NY 10007
212.625.8369

October 12, 2011
7:30-10:00pm

Topics will include: basic understanding of camera operation, shooting strategies, and concrete concepts and methods to enable artists to have a more formalized approach to their filming process.

$10 for Dance Films Association or DNA Members; $25 fee for Non-Members.

RSVP to brighid@dancefilms.org with Dance Film Lab in the subject line to reserve your place.

For more information visit the Dance Films Association website

Next Dance Film Lab events:

November 7- Dance Film Lab Screening

November 19 & 20- Moviehouse presents: Curated Screening of works by Dance Film Lab Participants

Dance Films Association members may apply for DFA’s annual post-production grants ranging from $250 to $2,500. This program is open to filmmakers, choreographers or dancers.  Awards will be announced in July 2010.

Proposals should include DVD or VHS of work-in-progress, budget, distribution plans, biographies of key members of the creative team, and a one page description of the project including how funds will be used. There is no form to fill, simply supply the above information.

DFA membership information can be found at http://www.dancefilms.org