a
b
c

Ineffable Shape: The shape of language

Available online: 22/03/2025
Play trailer
Director Emilia Tapprest & Miri Lee
Choreographer Miri Lee
Netherlands 2024
13 minutes
English
In the hum of the environment, two candidates train to become interpreters for the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What begins as an exercise in empathy and attunement provokes unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

Synopsis

In a world where translation is increasingly automated, what understanding can emerge from intuition, improvisation, and nonverbal bodily intelligence? Amid the hum of their environment, two candidates train to interpret the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What starts as an exercise in empathy and attunement leads to unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

This film is currently not available.

In a world where translation is increasingly automated, what understanding can emerge from intuition, improvisation, and nonverbal bodily intelligence? Amid the hum of their environment, two candidates train to interpret the rhythms, patterns, and nuances of a nearby field sparrow. What starts as an exercise in empathy and attunement leads to unexpected realizations about the ‘shape’ of language.

Full credits

Section
New Dutch
Director
Emilia Tapprest & Miri Lee
Choreographer
Miri Lee
Production countries
Netherlands
Production year
2024
Duration
13 minutes
Producer
Miri Lee

You might also like:

Disconnected
Online
Disconnected International Student Competition

Roger Bayerri, 2024, ES, 5 min

Smartphones have undeniably transformed the way we live, impacting nearly every aspect of our daily lives. A crew of young dancers explore the effects of technology through a dynamic interplay between dance and camera.

Contresens
Online
Contresens International Student Competition

Tizia Benmchich-Lanardonne, 2024, FR, 3 min

From a Parisian Métro platform below to the night streets above, one woman decides to go against the current and defy the Parisian routine.

I Wan'na Be Like You
Online
I Wan'na Be Like You New Dutch

Broersen & Lukacs, 2024, BE, FR, NL, 13 min

Lukács and Broersen examine the Western colonial perception of the jungle as an untouched wilderness or 'terra nullius.' The film reimagines botanical gardens in Brussels, Paris, London, and Amsterdam—places where the wilderness was once appropriated and transported to Europe. The iconic song I Wan'na Be Like You from Disney’s Jungle Book (1967) is reinterpreted by collaborators, most notably the Afro-Surinamese music group Black Harmony, offering a proud reimagining of their community’s history and future in the diaspora.