Film Catalogue
Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones
Kaveh Nabatian, 2022, CA, HT, 67 min
On the night of August 14, 1791, a Vodou ritual took place in Bois-Caïman that became the precursor to a mass uprising against slavery and the birth of Haiti, the world’s first black independent republic. Since then, ceremonies of artistic and religious expression have been a mainstay of Haitian culture and its resistance to external oppression, poverty and natural disaster. Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones is an intoxicating creative and spiritual experience. In this captivating documentary, director Kaveh Nabatian worked closely with local dancers, musicians, fishermen, daredevil rollerbladers and priests to create a sensory immersion in these sacred rituals.
Physical Culture Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Anna Bogomolova, 2022, NL, 8 min, 0+
Physical Culture frames rave as a vital human practice in the information age. It invites us to explore physical movement, to discover who we are when we dance and why we do so. It asks universal existential questions and puts them in a refreshingly queer, playful package. It's rave, it's queer, and it's for everyone!
The Paper Ensemble #16 Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Jiska Rickels, Jochem van Tol, 2022, NL, 16 min, 0+
In an old empty paper factory, we follow a woman playing with sculptures made of paper. Inspired by the design of Japanese gardens, #16 by The Paper Ensemble invites you to be receptive to a world made entirely out of the sounds of paper: crackling bushes, ocean waves and singing whales.
Until Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Tanin Torabi, 2023, IR, 13 min
We walk. We run. We fall. We hug those whom we love and then we run again. We walk together until the walls move.
SOMA Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Arturo Bandinelli, 2023, GB, 10 min, 12+
A contemporary myth on the genesis of the human body, the film oscillates between two distinct dimensions: an infinite black hole, where bodies exist outside linear space and time; and a labyrinthine house, where a strange decadent gathering takes place. As the dreamlike narrative unfolds, different characters go through experiences of love, enchantment, pain and death.
MisFit Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Conner Bell, 2023, US, 12 min
On her way home from a dance rehearsal, a young woman’s spiraling thoughts begin to blur past and present as she questions her identity and place in the world.
The Key Is online potential
Tyler Carney-Faleatua, 2022, NZ, 11 min
'The Key Is' focuses on the idea of wanting to leave a space before one is ready. We see a dancer wanting to pass through this space but then quickly come to realise that they are not in control of this decision. In order to unlock the door, they have a lesson to learn. They need to embrace their whole self, including the ugly and dark parts. It is not until they honestly welcome a darker sense of themselves that they are allowed to leave. This story is portrayed through contemporary, street dance and krump movement that is brought alive though dancer, Ooshcon.
Herbarium online potential
Iwona Pasińska, 2021, PL, 13 min
It is a fairy-tale episode, told with tenderness, gushing with the intense colours of flowers and élan vital. Choreography composed to a suite by Edward Grieg and presented by the artists-dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre takes the audience into the world of flora. It allows to explore a day in the life of a plant from the moment it blooms to the end, drowned in warm nostalgia. We invite you to immerse yourself in the beautiful world of flowers and leaves, in the greens, reds and purples transitioning to the greys and browns of the autumn. And all this told with movement to the rhythm of the dynamic sounds of the suite Peer Gynt op. 1 performed by Trondheim Symfoniorkester & Opera.
When Sleep Enfolded Her online potential
Grégoire Verbeke , 2023, BE, EG, 10 min
Almost full moon in an arid mountain landscape. A young woman waters her flowering plants. The riverbed is dried out. She is at one with her silence. When sleep enfold her on the broken earth, she is transposed home.
When Sleep Enfolded Her offers a portrait of young woman looking for tenderness in a vaste environment. A deceptively simple, choreographed dance filmed in the heart of an oasis endangered by drought.
The Machines New Dutch
Publik Universal Frxnd, 2023, NL, 19 min
This short documentary follows two performers who mix traditional clog dancing from the North West of the UK with choreography for two modified fitness machines based on agricultural yokes. Clog dancing is said to have originated in East Lancashire from the weaving mills of the 19th century, where working women would tap to the rhythm of the machines. The film explores identity and belonging in the context of industrialisation and economic migration and how movement, as a result, has been transformed by it.
UWD Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Myriam Verreault, Brigitte Poupart, 2023, CA, 18 min
Until We Die is a poetic film, set in a devastated world where collective disorder is the precondition for survival. Eloquently moving bodies replace the spoken word and reveal the bruised characters, haunted by a past sweeter than the crumbling world they find themselves in.
This film is part of the online program but accessible only in the Netherlands.
Carried in Silence Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Vilma Tihilä, 2023, FI, 11 min
Carried in Silence is an extract of a relation between a mother and a daughter. Through contemporary dance and classical music the film speaks about intergenerational trauma and suppressed emotions, carried in silence. The chain of generations is also reflected in the music of the film, composed by Isabella Leonarda in the 17th century – one of the few female composers of her era.
I dream no more I remember Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Dehors/Audela (Salvatore Insana, Elisa Turco Liveri), 2023, IT, 12 min
A gateway, a threshold and a figure pausing, maneuvering his being within a misplaced frame. I dream no more I remember is a palindrome film, a mystical ritual in a magical and archaic place. An homage to the poetry of Lorenzo Calogero.
Urban Genesis Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Fu Le, 2023, FR, VN, 18 min
Phuong is released from prison and returns to her home province. She finds Khang, her childhood sweetheart, but no longer recognizes her village. All the small factories in the province have closed, and the big city suddenly bristled with countless skyscrapers. Urban Genesis questions the place left to love when time passes faster than the clouds.
Thick Skin Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Laura Steiner, 2022, CO, 3 min
To be able to live in Bogotá, you need a skin that can adapt, that can turn reptilian when it doesn't stop raining for weeks and that can go soft when the woman in the corner shop gives you a free morning coffee. Thick Skin is a dance film that takes the viewer through the Colombian capital, high above the Andes, with stylized movement that speaks of life in the bustling city.
In the Same Boat Out of Competition
Mervi Junkkonen, Mia Malviniemi, 2023, FI, SE, 8 min
A film about the limits of the aging body and the boundless mind. Rauno's story takes us on a boat trip with his father. A journey of misadventures and his father's new Finnish record in cursing.
Buoyant Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Đoàn Thanh Toàn & Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, 2023, VN, 19 min
In this non-dialogue tale, set along the coast of Vietnam, a mermaid is rescued from the fish market by a fisherman. As the hero carries her back to the ocean they are joined by two seahorses. Upon her awakening on the beach the mermaid performs a sensual dance. But her joy is short-lived: the waves have other plans.
Fight or Flight New Dutch
Jody Geijsendorpher, 2023, NL, 12 min
In a dystopian world, freedom comes with ranking. An MMA fighter is about to step on the ring when his social anxiety disorder takes over. The only way he knows how to deal with his fears is to either fight or flight, but this only takes him further away from winning the game.
A Fire in My Belly Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Naomi Kats, Elie Polyrock Haddad, 2023, IL, IT, 3 min
“Simple is complex and complex is simple.” Choreographer and director Naomi Kats exposes the internal world and the perspective we hold on our thoughts. To which extent do we allow ourselves to choose, and to look in the mirror?
the_ongoing_process_of_trying_to_make_sense Competition Shorts and International Short Film Competition
Martin Klukas, 2023, DE, 16 min
In the process of encountering an abandoned building, multi-disciplinary artist Martijn Klukas playfully tests our perception in a series of parables. Representation, decontextualization, deconstruction and sequentiality in text, image and sound playfully reveal an intuitive body that constantly searches for meaning and expanded connections.