Every few years on the screendance festival circuit, there are films that find repeated play and sweep up festival awards.

Between 2018-2019, that film was the Dutch screendance Sisters. With sophisticated choreography and a meticulously thought-out structure, this dark yet affecting film left impressions on audiences worldwide and has won over 50 awards (and counting). 

We had the privilege to speak with Daphne Lucker and Emma Evelein (director and choreographer of Sisters, respectively) about the extensive process of creating the film as well as the impact it has on viewers.

The members of the Frameform team also offer their insights on the film and reflect on curatorial challenges of presenting such a complex work.

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Film Links

Sisters Trailer

Sisters Film Site

Follow the “Sisters” creators

Instagram

@sistersdefilm

@daphnelucker

@emmaevelein

Facebook

Sisters De Film (@sistersdefilm)

Emma Evelein (@emma.evelein)

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Screenings

Programme of Korean Screendance

The Place, 17 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PY, UK

Dec 4 – 11, 2020

Submissions

Utah DFF

Deadline - Dec 31, 2020

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Pick of the Week

Captain Cal- The Orphaned Mountain Lion

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Website

Instagram

Last summer, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the Vancouver-based filmmaker duo, Kent Donguines and Maxime Beauchamp at Dancinema’s Cascadia Dance and Cinema Festival. 
In this interview, we learn about Kent and Maxime’s career, their collection of films, and upcoming projects that inspire them to think outside the box with their filmmaking.

KENT DONGUINES is a Filipino-Canadian filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC.  Kent is one of the finalists of the 2017 WFF Power Pitch Competition, 2019 Telus Storyhive-Banff Fellowship Program and 2020 HotDocs Doc Accelerator Program. He has produced numerous short films that have been recognized in local and international film festivals such as the Whistler Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival. Kent has also worked as a Production Manager for Cedar Island Films Inc. and has worked with companies like Telus Storyhive, CBC, Black Cap Pictures (Ten17p), Viva Entertainment and Star Cinema. He’s currently working on bringing more international co-productions to Canada from the Philippines and currently in post-production for his next short documentary that received the Telus Storyhive Documentary Edition grant.

MAXIME BEAUCHAMP is an award winning French-Canadian LGBTQ Writer/Director and co-owner of Aimer Films, creator of films such as 2018 Crazy8s Finalist SMALL FISH, multi-award winning and internationally acclaimed short film IRIDESCENCE. In the following year he is slated to direct a factual TV Series with OutTV, Cross-Country baby which was chosen for the Netflix-Banff Diversity of voices and Whistler Film Festival PowerPitch and Irisation, a french-canadian feature film supported by the ÉLAN programme in partnership with Netflix, Téléfilm and more. Over his years of film experience in the narrative world, he specializes in movement and dance pieces.

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Social Handles

Instagram: @kentdonguines, @max.beauchamp, @aimerfilmsinc

Facebook: Kent Donguines, Maxime Beauchamp, Aimer Films Inc.

Twitter: kentdonguines, aimerfilmsinc

Also tag: @cascadiadcfestival @screendance.forum

Grey (2017)

https://www.aimerfilms.com/?lightbox=dataItem-jyjs7b2x5

Small Fish (2018)

https://www.aimerfilms.com/?lightbox=dataItem-jyjs7b2x1

Iridesence (2017)

https://www.aimerfilms.com/?lightbox=dataItem-jyjs7b2x3

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Also mentioned:
The Field (2017)

https://www.wilderprojectdance.com/thefield

Crazy 8’s Film Competition
http://crazy8s.film

Vancouver Film School

https://vfs.edu

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Website

Instagram

Creating dance film can sometimes be a solitary endeavor.

The advantages of remote creation and distribution can be neutralized with the solitary feeling of producing and curating in a silo.

How do we connect with others who are interested in creating, presenting and discussing the form? Are there formalized structures to facilitate these connections?

GITTA WIGRO has almost twenty years of experience as a curator, educator and gatherer of those who create and present screendance. She joined us for a discussion on the challenges of creating and maintaining meeting spaces and networks for dance film makers and enthusiasts. We discuss the factors that facilitate and preclude these meetings and reflect on how the pandemic has changed the way we connect.

Follow Gitta Wigro

 https://gittawigro.com
Facebook

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Links

International Screendance Calendar – Dance film events and opportunities from around the world  

MA Screendance

Frame Rush

Kinesthesia Festival

Leeds International Film Festival

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Announcements

Discussion
South East Dance - 2020 Vision Conversations

November 26th, 3PM GMT (7AM PST/10AM EST)
 

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Website

Instagram

In August 2019, Dancinema’s Cascadia Dance and Cinema Festival collaborated with Vancouver International Tap Dance Festival on a screening of American Tap and a panel discussion at Vancouver Tap Dance Society. 

Facilitated by Frameform’s Jen Ray, this discussion with Andrew Nemr, Max Pollak, Demi Remick and Danny Nielson offers perspectives on their experiences with Tap Dance and Media.

Listen here for a gold mine of personal anecdotes, unique perspectives, honest conversations & lots of laughter along the way.

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Andrew Nemr (Instagram)

Max Pollak (Instagram)
Demi Remick (Instagram)

Danny Nielsen (Facebook)

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Jen Ray 
@cascadiadcfestival
@capitoldcfestival
@thejamyouthproject

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Website

Instagram

In the 1980’s “video killed the radio star” in the 2000’s, the internet is creating video stars and radically altering how we train, teach and watch dance.

Today’s episode focuses on YouTube as a platform and the wave of class videos that has been definitive of dance culture in the 2000’s. Social dances used to be shared and developed in person, but now social dance and social media are symbiotic.

We talk about what characterizes these specific class videos, who are the people behind and in front of the camera, and how the production and sharing of class videos like this has forever altered our expectations of dance training and video production. 

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Topic Films

Millenium Dance Complex Channel

Tim Milgram Channel

Kyle Hanagami Channel

Galen Hooks Channel

Keone & Mari Channel

DanceOn Channel

Urban Dance Camp Channel

Movement Lifestyle Channel

Further Reading

Dance Spirit: Ian Eastwood versus Class Videos

Vogue: Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Informa: “What’s Wrong with Dancing Sexy” feat YPAD
 

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Announcements

Screenings

Leeds Screendance Competition

Nov. 3 - 19

Online

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Submissions

InShadow Lisbon Screendance Festival

Open Call - Early Submissions

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Pick of the Week

Taxi!

Dir. Celia Rowlson Hall

While Maya Deren can be called the mother of modern day screendance practice, Amy Greenfield can be seen as its godmother.

Throughout a career spanning over five decades, Greenfield has developed a practice and visual style scaffolded on ideas of agency and the dissolution of hierarchies within traditional film work. 

She is also influential with her work in curation. In 1983, she and Elaine Sumners curated the Filmdance festival event which included reflections on the dance film form from other artists creating work in that vein at the time.

The precedent she set as an independent artist-curator is one followed by many today. We discuss her work, her legacy, and the challenges of access to information on the rich and varied history of dance film.

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Films

Transport (1970)

ELEMENT (1971)

DP. Hillary Harris

TIDES (1972)

DP. Hillary Harris

Nine Variations on a Dance Theme (1966)

Director/DP: Hilary Harris

Performer: Bettie de Jong

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Sources

Flesh Into Light: The Films of Amy Greenfield

Robert A. Haller (2012)

Women's Experimental Cinema: Critical Frameworks

Ed. Robin Blaetz (2007)

Filmdance 1890s-1983

Amy Greenfield, Elaine Sumners, et al.

(Check Worldcat Library listings, currently available on Amazon for $80)

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Screenings

dança em foco - Festival Internacional de Vídeo &Dança


Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Nov 2, 2020

Online

5th Annual Dance On Screen Festival

Graz, Austria

Nov 20 - 21, 2020

Live In-Person Event

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Nudity on screen is considered to be a taboo topic.

The MPAA slaps a rating on a film if the picture features any nudity of some kind. But when it comes to visual art, the body as a form is almost considered “the norm.” Dance film featuring nudity on the other hand, plays a whole other meaning to the visual expression.

In the three chosen dance films for this episode, we discuss the use of the nude body, how the form brings perspective to the narrative, and how the film would be different if the subjects were completely covered up.

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Topic Films

Sigur Ros - Valtari

Dir. Christian Larson 

Chor. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

Personal Space

Dir. Altin Kaftira

Chor. Peter Leung

Vanitas

Dir. Vinícius Cardoso

Pick of the Week

Selfies

Dir. Claudius Gentinetta

Additional Videos

Some Body

Dir. Francesco Puppini and Matteo Palmas

And Still I Continue

Dir. Kate Monson & Scott Cook

Pick of the Week

Selfies

Dir. Claudius Gentinetta

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Website

Instagram

We sat down with George Turnbull, Dance & FIlm artist and Scholar, in Vancouver, BC at Dancinema’s Cascadia Dance and Cinema Festival 2019, and talked about his film ID.

George Turnbull is a screendance scholar and practitioner who is completing his Ph.D. in Cinema and Media Studies at York University. A recipient of the prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, his doctoral research aims to situate screendance in Canada, examining artists, scholars, film festivals and funding modules. Currently, Turnbull sits on the Editorial Board of The Dance Current.

Follow The Dance Current

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Announcements

Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema x Martha’s Vineyard Film Society

Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, MA

In-Person Screening - Oct. 24th

Online Screening - Oct. 23rd - Nov. 6th

Cinedanza festival

Drama Teatro Theatre - Modena, Italy

In-Person Screening - Oct 23rd - 25th 

Online Screening - Cinedanza Youtube channel

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Website

Instagram

Gender identity, expression and dynamics  through the lens of dancefilms.  We’ve highlighted just a few, but there is much great work being done exploring this intrinsic part of our beings and the ways in which we perceive and interact with the world.

Many traditional dance forms have examples of gender binaries, including costume, posture, movement, choreography, characters, and the roles they play in the dance.  While we don’t intend to enforce rigid categories or labels, we discuss labels and ideas such as masculine and feminine, male and female, gender binary and fluidity.  

Dance is not just aesthetic or entertainment, it’s social, cultural, political, personal, communal and there is much exciting work being made to explore gender, our experiences in these bodies and how they interact with the world. 

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Topic Films

Frontiers

Dir. Eve McConnachie

Chor. Myles Thatcher

Us

Dir. Wayne McGregor

Chor. Jordan James Bridge

Making Men

Dir. Antoine Panie 

Chor. Harold George

Other Mentions In This Episode

Curing Albrecht
Cinderella Games
Tremble
Jess & Morgs Films

Festival Announcements

San Francisco Dance Film Festival - Marquee.tv

October 18-25

Online

CinedansFEST

Final Deadline - October 15

Pick of the Week

Teletubbies “Rite of Spring” 
 

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Website

Instagram

Last year, we sat down with our friend Steven Butler, Dance & FIlm artist, in Vancouver, BC at Cascadia Dance and Cinema Festival, and talked about his dynamic career.

Steven Butler is a multi-talented creative with an open mind, passion for storytelling and an aptitude for intersecting multiple art forms. He began his creative career as a dancer and choreographer with credits including Transformers 2, The Latin Grammy’s, Weeds, Good Morning America and artists including Ludacris, Nick Carter, Aaron Carter, Paulina Rubio, Cheat Codes and Macy Gray. He received a Bachelor of Arts in film from ArtCenter College of Design, graduating with distinction.

His directing credits include music videos for Precarious Records, Ultra Records, and Raid Records. He has also received recognition for his writing, directing, and producing from Slamdance, The Addy Awards, Zooppa, Los Angeles Dance Film Festival, Standard Vision and the Academy of Television & Sciences Blue Ribbon Panel.  In addition to his creative work, Steven was a 2018 TEDx Speaker.

By intersecting his creative passions and vast practical experience in varying artistic fields, Steven aims to use art as a means of storytelling that both engages and inspires viewers and participants while simultaneously shaping a progressive and culturally relevant narrative.

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Steven’s Films

Confrontation

Tellurian

Steven Butler’s TEDx Talk

The 4th Wall App

Follow Steven

@stevenjbutler_

Stevenjbutler.net

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Submissions

Utah Dance Film Festival

Salt Lake City, Utah
Regular deadline - Nov 30

 

Screenings

Dancinema 2020 : Quaranscreendance

Online

Free

4th Annual Capitol Dance & Cinema Festival

Live Event

Saturday October 10
DM @capitoldcfestival or email [email protected] to get on the list

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