Film Catalogue
Falso Vacío online potential
Julio Ramos, 2023, IT, MX, 6 min
Who are these entities of abandonment? They have never seen the light and a simple lightning strike awakens the hope of escaping from confinement.
Noora online potential
Anna Kekkonen, 2023, FI, 8 min
Noora is a dance short film that follows Noora's movement. She is a dancer. Her body's impulses are generated in the moment from contact with different environments. Noora has congenital bone fragility, osteogenesis imperfecta. She uses a wheelchair as a dancing aid. In it, she can move widely, but feels isolated. On the ground, she feels the ground against her skin. In the water she can let go of her wheelchair. Noora's toes sink into the mud bottom, which pulsates with her steps. The water supports her fragile body with its pressure and surrounded by it she dares to move more freely, her body is more elastic, her expressions and range of motion are greater. In water she finds ways to move as independently as other dancers on land.
Dark Field Analysis Out of Competition
Jefta Van Dinther, Max Vitali, 2022, DE, SE, 19 min
We may imagine ourselves unaffected by the changes of contemporaneity, but the organic and the synthetic have fused. In Dark Field Analysis, we take a dive into the disconcerting strangeness of the inner self, of what often remains hidden – anatomically, psychologically and spiritually. The film speaks about the complexity of living in this world, incorporating animal forces, desire, instinct and technology.
A BIRD CALLED MEMORY Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Leonardo Martinelli , 2023, BR, GB, 15 min
A bird called Memory has forgotten how to come back home. Lua, a trans woman, searches for Memory in the streets, where she finds the city to be a hostile place.
10 Years Junior Company Het Nationale Ballet Out of Competition
Eva Oosterveld, 2024, NL, 15 min
The Junior Company of the Dutch National Ballet, nurturing and developing exceptional young talent and shaping the future generation of leading dancers, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. A celebratory documentary about a crucial platform for the development of young and ambitious dancers.
Parel Moerwijk New Dutch
Bart Sturing, 2023, NL, 6 min
Bart shares his experiences of living in Moerwijk-Oost, a working-class neighborhood in The Hague. The many empty buildings merge the world of a group of inhabiting creatives with the daily antics of five children living down the street. Shot with a hand-held 16mm and super 8 camera and accompanied by a photo series by Nas Hosen and soundtrack by Unit Nine.
Inei New Dutch
Siba Sahabi, 2023, JP, NL, 4 min
Inei, meaning darkness in Japanese, is a poetic exploration of the unfixed time system known as futeijihō. The dance film unfolds against the breathtaking backdrop of Mount Yufu and is a visual and emotional feast for the senses. From the blue hues of sunrise to the dusky shadows of sunset, the film captures the shifting atmospheres and moods that accompany the passing of time.
Lucid Dreaming New Dutch
Emma Evelein, 2023, BE, NL, 13 min
Lucid Dreaming tells the story of a girl in a train, who loses herself in the world of another passenger. As she falls deeper in his emotions and sensations, the train and its passengers become part of the world she encounters through him. During this non-verbal encounter between strangers, she experiences how imagination and empathy are both powerful and vulnerable at the same time.
This film is part of the online program but accessible only in the Netherlands.
Bull Rider Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Steven Gray, 2023, US, 2 min
Bull Rider merges meditations on dance from choreographer Martha Graham, music by composer Philip Glass and featuring bull rider in action Ouncie Mitchell.
100m online potential
Monika Szpunar, 2022, PL, 5 min
Shot in a single take in a long industrial tunnel, within its strict time, choreographic and spatial framework ‘100m’ underlines uniqueness of the experience of going through stages of grief.
Parades Out of Competition
Alan Lake, 2022, CA, 16 min, 16+
Parades is an initiation to a mysterious pagan feast made by powerful images between fantasy and allegory. Director and choreographer Alan Lake depict a universe that is as alluring as it is disturbing.
Life Left Behind Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Valia Phyllis Zwart, 2022, NO, 6 min, 9+
Whilst driving, a woman attempts to reconcile with her past and the scars it left behind.
Play / Repeat online potential
Carlos E. Lesmes, 2023, EE, 7 min, 12+
There is a couple. Two bodies. Two beings. 1+1. Sometimes it feels like only one. This film piece wants to explore aspects of a relationship through movement, through the bodies of the performers. The unfathomable distance between two people. Broke but never broken
The unfathomable distance between two people. Broke but never broken
Tales of Freedoom Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Riccardo Saraceni, 2022, CH, IT, 21 min, 18+
Tales of Freedoom explores the possibility of movement through recycled materials and wild thoughts. Like a magnifying glass that reveals what’s hidden in the evident, the main character embarks on a journey through the city and a world of sensations. A naively intuitive research, exposing fear, poetry, frustration, freedom and its restrictions.
The Goddam Milky Way Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Jérémie Battaglia, 2021, CA, 19 min
From the depths of the Earth to the dunes of an unknown desert, a group of women embark on an initiatory journey. A pagan mass, a quest, or a common elevation, The Goddam Milky Way celebrates femininity in all its roughness and complexity.
to be near you. online potential
Jarret Blinkhorn and Ali Kenner Brodsky, 2021, US, 10 min, 0+
Based on a live duet between Ali Kenner Brodsky and Jenna Pollack, to be near you. honors the memory of those that we have lost, collapses distance by energizing the spaces between, and demonstrates how people can find connection through physical separation. to be near you. pushes at the boundaries of time to create a feeling of reconnecting with something, or someone, who is gone.
Heartache Out of Competition
Iker Karrera & Alberto D. Centeno, 2023, ES, 3 min
Heartache deploys tensely expressive movement in a darkly playful take on the dynamics of seeing and being seen. Dark humor, sarcastic imagery and expressive choreography conveyed a unique atmosphere to color the interactions between the dancers and their setting.
THORN Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Alexander Stamatiadis, 2022, GR, 8 min, 0+
In a remote gas station in the heart of winter, a place where time stands still, three strangers cross paths and reshape time in their own way.
Branché Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Janique L Robillard, Eric Bates , 2023, CA, 16 min
Through unique female circus and movement art, Branché traverses time and Quebec's lush natural landscapes. While diminishing resources and livable land are causing existential collapse, the performers' bold three-high formations and breathtaking falls remind us that a oneness of nature and humanity is undoubtedly worth preserving.
Spellbound New Dutch
Nicola Hepp, 2023, NL, 11 min
A woman walks slowly through a dark, untouched forest. She is following someone in the distance, someone she can’t quite make out. Or is the other actually following her? Too late, the woman regrets a desperate attempt to escape her pursuer. As she starts to understand and approaches the point of no return, she is lured into making a dire decision.
Leleb Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Marc Aziz Ressang, Nathaniel J Brown, 2022, ID, 3 min
Set in the flooded villages of Java, Indonesia, this dance film attempts to come to terms with the despair that surrounds a disappearing home. Leleb is dedicated to those who endure.
Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl Out of Competition
Claudia Owusu & Ife Oluwamuyide, 2022, GH, US, 18 min
Ampe is a high-energy game played by girls in Ghana. It includes jumping, clapping, and an all-around cheer as two teams select a stepping pattern and face off. The innate joy and competitive edge of ampe discloses the desire of girls to be set free unconditionally and feel a range of emotions without judgment.
And Me, I´m Dancing Too Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Mohammad Valizadegan, 2023, CZ, DE, 20 min
Saba, an Iranian girl, is a dancer. She wants to be indifferent to her surroundings and manifests this self-being and freedom with her body. She is in love with the art of dancing, the art of letting go and living away from conventional bonds. But this art of being is forbidden in an ultimately religious state that ignores the very basic human rights. The film is an honest portrait of the daily oppression women have to deal with in Iran towards the path to freedom.
This film is part of the online program but accessible only in the Netherlands.
In My Skin Out of Competition
Sándor M. Salas, 2022, ES, 14 min
Far from homogenizing parameters, flamenco uses the subversive power of art to enhance the diversity of bodies on stage. Disability is no longer a limit, but a creative starting point.
Spiral Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Eva-Maria Koskinen , Salla Sorri, 2022, FI, 19 min
Anna sees Jasmine, her former bully from school, after years when she brings her daughter to dance class. Anna and Jasmine try to behave nicely, but something is bubbling beneath the surface. And then things get out of hand.
Then Comes The Body Out of Competition
Jacob Krupnick, 2023, NG, US, 15 min
When a video of kids dancing in the rain goes viral, it brings global attention to an unlikely ballet school outside Lagos, Nigeria. Now, Daniel Ajala -- who learned ballet over YouTube -- is training students to perform on the world stage.
Dear Passengers Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Madli Lääne, 2022, EE, 11 min
A lonely traveler embarks on a journey to find relief for a hidden yearning. Her restless longing spreads around and forces fellow passengers to face their own desires and disappointments.
This film is part of the online program but accessible only in the Netherlands.
Slurping & Co. Out of Competition
Katrin Olafsdottir, 1998, IS, 13 min
Overworked office workers decide to take action against the company director. An absurd, wordless choreographed office comedy, with a bizarre conclusion.
The Heart of a Tree Out of Competition
Clare Langan , 2020, IE, IS, 12 min
In a barren treeless landscape which could either be a future vision of earth or another planet, a group of people struggle through the inhospitable environment, harvesting air, the new gold. They plant trees on a deserted black beach, hoping to repopulate the planet with its source of oxygen. A contemplation on the importance of trees and a timely metaphor of a world turned upside down by our disregard for nature and the planet.
Sense of the Damaged New Dutch
Miloushka Bokma, 2023, NL, 8 min
An allegorical film based on the news photos of refugees. Reality is often more absurd and bitter than you could have ever imagined. We are inundated with images that make us jaded in a certain way and our conscience has become a casual phenomenon of our time: today it is here, tomorrow it is gone.
The film is accompanied by a performance by artist Miloushka Bokma.
Terra Mater - Motherland Breaking the Chains and Out of Competition
Kantarama Gahigiri, 2023, CH, RW, 10 min
There she stands, confidently, like a goddess of technological junk, surrounded by endless mountains of rubbish, plastic, stench and rare earth minerals. An angry appeal to the world to take responsibility for the consequences of capitalism, colonialism and environmental destruction in Africa.
Through Magma Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
elisabeth raymond (elieli), 2023, SE, 9 min
Inspired by hydrofeminist theories and wearing a vessel suit, full of leaking water, artist Elisabeth Raymond tells an otherworldly story about sorrow, the plastic in our oceans and how our borders are fluid.
Every Step Counts | Takano Yonen Out of Competition
Andreas Guzman, 2023, HK, 4 min
This short portrait takes an inside look at the artistic inspiration and motivations of Takano Yonen, a Japanese soloist member of the Hong Kong Ballet. As he dances through urban and natural surroundings, he meditates on the influence of his cultural background and his approach to the ritual and language of dance.
Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer Breaking the Chains
Daniela Yohannes & Julien Beramis, 2023, GP, 27 min
In Atopias: The Homeless Wanderer, a black woman embarks on a meditative journey through the wild Caribbean landscapes, confronting dreamlike memories and traumatic experiences. This exploration of migration, transgenerational memory and trauma reshapes her voyage, taking her deep into her subconscious, where she encounters her inner child and ventures into ancestral realms.
Burial of this Order Out of Competition
Jane Jin Kaisen, 2022, DK, KR, 25 min
In an arresting procession, a group of non-conforming people – from musicians, artists and poets to anti-military activists, environmentalists and diasporic, queer and trans people – carry a coffin through the ruins of an abandoned resort on Jeju island in South Korea. By performing a burial, they come together to undo a world order built upon hierarchy and division. By performing this ritual, time and place begin to lose their stability as mythical Dokkaebi deities pass through the building and heavy rain and wind blow through its cavities.
Holding Moses Out of Competition
Rivkah Beth Medow, 2022, JP, US, 17 min
For Broadway performer Randi, birthing her son felt triumphant until the doctors explained that Moses was profoundly disabled and faced a tenuous future. Randi fell into a well of grief before unearthing a new language with which she could learn to love her son. The film illuminates the often invisible story of the caregiver and helps shift the shame narrative around the stunning challenges and surprising gifts that come with the birth of a child with a disability.
Wrestling Out of Competition
Grímur Hákonarson, 2007, IS, 20 min
Denni is a tunneller and Einar a farmer in the countryside of Iceland. They both practice wrestling but must keep their relationship a secret from the inner world of Iceland's national and very macho sport.
UNLEASH Out of Competition
Sean Wirz, 2020, CH, 7 min
Five perfect strangers meet in the middle of the night and break into an abandoned house. Are they occupiers? Vandals? Far from it! They are in need to free themselves from the shackles of everyday life. It is not a break-in, but a break-out! And so it begins. The five withdraw and start their individual ritual. Their lust can be felt, their power is contagious. No one can stop what has been unleashed.
Under the Sky of Fetishes Breaking the Chains
Caroline Déodat, 2023, FR, MU, 17 min
Under the Sky of Fetishes responds to the complexity of colonial archives. It reinvents the specters of a haunting gaze to tell the story of Mauritian sega – a cultural practice born during colonization and slavery, now mainly seen in tourism. How do we project, literally bring out of ourselves, the narrative of the oppressor? Mixing fiction and ethnography, the film sanctifies the power of the projection as a mental as well as intimate enigma to release ghostly and alienated bodies, including our own.
Crni Tito - Blaq Tito Addressing the Parliament of Ghosts Breaking the Chains
Christian Guerematchi, 2022, GH, NL, 11 min
A figure of a black Tito appears in the big and empty underground structure of a former silo in Tamale, Ghana. He visits the people of the country by plane and rickshaw to spread his message and joins the Parliament of Ghosts in session. An artistic interaction between NAM – Non Aligned Movement by Christian Guerematchi and the Parliament of Ghosts by Ibrahim Mahama. Both works speak about forgotten histories and the contemporary echoes of the cultural connections from the time of the Non-Aligned Movement between Ghana and Yugoslavia – Nkrumah and Tito.
Gimp Gait Out of Competition
Pioneer Winter, Tabatha Mudra, 2016, US, 5 min
Gimp Gait is a solo for two – surrogates to one another. It includes an exploration of the subjects' private and public lives and how the perspective of the viewer may attempt to control or shape who they are. The title of the film discloses its origin: 'gimp', a slur meant to mark a weak or handicapped person and 'gait', the manner or style of a person's walk. Can you notice every part of their bodies – both the similarities and differences?
Kumina Queen Breaking the Chains
Nyasha Laing, 2022, JM, US, 57 min
In the wake of the loss of her mother, documentary filmmaker Nyasha Laing travels into the heart of the Jamaican countryside to research the ancestral ritual of Kumina. “Once you beat that drum, you have called the ancestors”, says Imogene “Queenie” Kennedy. Queenie was a contemporary priestess in post-colonial Jamaica, who catapulted her African spiritual practice into renown. Her mysterious world reveals a divergent pathway to freedom, healing, and transformation. Interwoven with Queenie’s life story are the personal journeys of a generation of cultural icons of Jamaican heritage who unearth their roots and examine their identities. Versed in dance, music and cosmology, they open up a portal to the past, as well as a glimpse into the future.
1,2 and their cigs (3,4) Competition Shorts and Out of Competition
Laura Carnevali, 2023, IT, 1 min
We don't know what happened but dancer 1 and dancer 2 need to take a break, smoke a cigarette and just vent to each other. The conversation heats more and more until the movie itself becomes a dance following the words we can't hear. Winner of La Danza in 1 minuto, presented in collaboration with Coorpi Turin.
D3C05 Out of Competition
Blaze Gonzalez, Hannah Gaengler, 2021, US, 4 min
D3C05 is a sci-fi love letter to Miami’s Art Deco architecture. The film takes the idea of optimistic futurism and reimagines the concept within a neo-human world, where the boundaries between human, nature, and object coalesce; a world where synesthetic communication and performative rituals reign.
HOW TO: Oh, look at me Out of Competition
GeoVanna Gonzalez, 2021, US, 12 min
HOW TO: Oh, look at me features four femmes of color. Two dancers and two poets interact with one another through words and movement, seeking reprieve from the constructs of our current reality. Revolving around a deconstructed playground, an installation designed by director and multidisciplinary artist GeoVanna Gonzalez.
When We Are Born Out of Competition
Mathieu ‘Moon’ Saura, Ólafur Arnalds, 2021, IS, 25 min
A collaboration between Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds and filmmaker Vincent Moon, When We Are Born is a journey about rituals, relationships and our inner landscapes. Filmed in Iceland in the summer of 2020 and based partly on Ólafur’s life, the work ultimately focuses on how we all move forward; a theme made especially potent in the times of disconnection and isolation it emerged from. The music of the film was recorded live on location and interpreted by choreographer Erna Ómarsdóttir and the Iceland Dance Company.
Kankantri Breaking the Chains
Gabri Christa, 2024, NL, SR, US, 25 min
A woman enters a Synagogue and is transported to the parallel universe of all her ancestors who do not let her leave until she participates in their dances and rituals. The film is inspired by Gabri Christa’s first time visiting the Neve Shalom in 2000 where she was overwhelmed by the building and the emotions it brought to her. It spurred her into researching her Surinamese father’s lineage, which revealed that she had indeed also Jewish ancestors. As the famous Surinamese writer Cynthia McCleod says “when you shake your family trees, a few Jews fall out”.
Q5: The Quintessentials Out of Competition
Sarada Sarita, 2024, NL, 70 min
Q5 is inspired by the energy, feeling and expressiveness of Waacking; also known as Whacking or Punking. A dance form that emerged in the 1970s as an expression of oppression in the Latin and African-American LGBTQI+ underground clubs of Los Angeles. Through the sounds and movement language of Waacking, the 5 performers in the film dive into the 5th dimension. They explore different colors, portals, perspectives and worlds within worlds. All in search of the essence: The Quintessentials! The original theater performance and tour of '21 was canceled due to Covid and transformed into a 5-episode Waacking movie series that festively closes Cinedans FEST '24!
Dipped in Black Out of Competition
Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch, 2022, AU, 25 min
When memories from his childhood come to the surface, Derik Lynch, a Yankunytjatjara man, escapes white city life in Adelaide to return back home to his remote Anangu Community (Aputula) to perform on sacred Inma ground. Inma is a traditional form of visual, verbal, and physical storytelling. It is how the Anangu have been passing down stories connected to the land, dreams and myths for over 60,000+ years from generation to generation.
If I Can’t Dance Out of Competition
Dorothy CHEUNG, 2022, HK, 17 min
She faces endless rehabilitation; her body keeps recalling the injury; she wishes to appease, yet she fell……Three dancers who have confronted injuries filled the visual with strain on the body. The film ponders how to co-exist with the trauma and keep going after one’s world falls apart.