POSIEDONIES| EVIE DEMETRIOU (Cyprus)
“Posidonies” is a dance film conceived by dance maker Evie Demetriou and underwater lover
Antis Iakovou. Posidonies is borrowed from the Greek translation of the word Posidonia
(plural).Through a poetic lense and inspired by the notion that pocedonia oceanica is the lung of the mediterannean sea, the film uncovers two parallel stories in which the one affects the other.
The first story is about the beauty, movement and symbolic breathing of posidonia oceanica which is distracted and becomes a naked underwater surface. (Filmings after the cutting of posidonia oceanica in Ancient Kourion area in Limassol are used, shared by marine biologists in Cyprus). Parallel to the story of posidonia oceanica the story of a woman unfolds. The woman, who symbolically breaths underwater embodies the movement of posidonia. When posidonia is ruined, she is also suffering, runs to escape until she is suffocated (from the distraction.)The two parallel worlds are connected through imagery, movement and abstraction to highlight in a symbolic way the importance of the underwater world to humanity.
Credits:
Direction: Antis Iakovou, Evie Demetriou | Concept/ Cinematography: Antis Iakovou | Choreogrpahy/ Performance: Evie Demetriou | Editing: Emilios Avraam |
Music/ Sound Design: Christina Georgiou | Advisor: Chrysanthi Badeka | Additional Filming: MAR Lab | Production: En drasi |Sponsored by the Culural Services of the Deputy Ministry of the Cyprus Ministry of Culture
Awards:
2023 Award Winner Flamingo International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Taiwan international short film festival
2023 Award Winner Sentinal International
2023 Award Winner Kathakali International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Couch Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Rohip International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Makizhmithran International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Lotus International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Canary International Film Festival
2023 Award Winner Sittannavasal International Film Festival
KR MARKET| MICHAEL MAURISSENS (Germany/India)
2023 Dance film
A physical exploration on the relation between. The sensing body and the intense environment of the flower market in the city of Bangalore
Credits:
Director: Michael Maurissens
Performance: Papia Chakraborty
CARRÉ BLANC Productions / Goethe Institut Bangalore
SAMSARA| MICHAEL MAURISSENS (Germany/India)
A Dance film in collaboration with Anuraj Rajendran.
Artist Statement-“From perspective and experience, I see dance as a space for negotiation, interconnection and hybrid forms of expression between the body and its environment: It is in the medium of dance in which ideas of culturally diversified societies emerge”
Direction: Michael Maurissens
Performance: Anuraj Rajendran
SURENDRA TEKALE [INDIA] | ‘ANNO DOMINI‘
“Anno Domini” is a captivating dance film that embarks on an
extraordinary journey where its central character endeavors to escape from the relentless grip of time itself. Set against a backdrop of ever-changing landscapes and ethereal settings, this visually striking and emotionally charged film weaves a mesmerizing narrative that explores the profound human desire to break free from the constraints of time. Through the power of dance, the film takes viewers on a spellbinding odyssey, offering a unique perspective on the age-old quest to transcend the boundaries of temporal existence. “Anno Domini” is an evocative and thought-provoking cinematic experience that uses movement and artistry to convey the eternal struggle against
the unyielding march of time.
Credits:
Concept and Direction : Surendra Tekale |Video Credit: Marina Melero | Editing : Divija Melally |Music: Hur by Dariush Dolat-Shahi
ANNABEL GUEREDRAT [MARTINIQUE] | ‘I’M A BRUJA‘
Choreographer, performer and “Bruja” means “Caribbean witch”, Annabel Guérédrat, is working and living in Martinique. Her somatic practice as Body-mind centering, allows her to write organic performances, linking the intimate and the political. Filmed as an excerpt of a longer work, as part of an exploration of dance in public spaces in the city of Poitiers, the stage version sees the performer embodying several witches and conjures various female identities such as philosopher Elsa Dorlin, singer Nina Hagen and rapper Princess Nokia to speak of female intimacy. Whether covered in glitter or paint, or in drag, she crafts a singular gestural vocabulary that draws from Yoruba and Caribbean rituals used in Afro-Caribbean culture.
Credits:
Film creation supported by the Festival À Corps/ Poitiers Film Festival.
Author, designer, performer Annabel Guérédrat Stage design Henri Tauliaut Music Marvin Fabien & Renaud Bajeux Lights Suzanne Péchenart & Torriep Artistic eye Christophe Haleb Academic insight Paola Lavra
Production Artincidence Cie Supported by la structuration Dac Martinique, l’aide à la création de la Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique, les coproducteurs Korzémo and le petit théâtre de Redoute, le FEAC (Ministères des Outre-Mer and de la Culture and de la communication) Studio reception in Dans les Parages (Cie La Zouze, Marseille), in Korzémo (Ducos, Martinique) and in Tropiques Atrium, scène nationale de Martinique
TING-YING MA [CHINA] | ‘STUDIES: OBLITERATION‘
Studies: Obliteration is the latest iteration of Future Host’s Studies dance cycle. This film explores the idea of qi and its bodily expression. Qi could be interpreted as breath, force, air, or an opaque, fluid system of knowledge and communication. The work captures qi and its ubiquitous and cryptic quality by attending to prelinguistic and nonverbal communications in sound, movement, and image.
Responding to Audrey Chen and Doron Sadja’s sound piece AB cut 7, which is performed with a synthesizer and extended vocal techniques, the choreographic movements evoke gestural, skeletal, and muscular tensions around the torso, belly, and throat. With contractions and expansions in breathing, the dancer negotiates the interior and the exteriority, embodiment and transcendence, remembrance and forgetting through structured improvisation. The specificity of 16mm film marks movements as cyclical, analogous to the replenishment and exhaustion of breath, the waxing and waning of energy. The film beckons to an eclipsed time/space that is nearly imperceptible.
Informed by research into the phenomena and practice of Chinese Qigong, the Studies dance cycle reenacts a historical photograph from 1980s Beijing through choreography. The film beckons to an eclipsed time/space that is nearly imperceptible.
Through the history of modern body discipline, Studies envisions a different kind of physical existence vis-à-vis the temporality, ambiguity, and fluidity of the political event. Since its inception in 2016, Studies has been performed, lectured, workshopped, and shown in various forms and capacity in the U.S. and China. This latest iteration revives elements of its first performance—urban hacking and structured solo improvisation—to keep the work in its raw, singular spirit.
CREDITS:
Conceived, choreographed and directed: Tingying Ma | Performed: Marie Lloyd Paspe | Cinematography: Anto Astudillo | Sound: Audrey Chen and Doron Sadja
ROCIO CHACON [UK/VIETNAM] | ‘LAND WATER HEAVEN: CROSS ENCOUNTERS, JOINING THREADS‘
The film follows a group of female creatives as they collaborate to create a braided rope as an offering to the Mother Goddess; honouring the skies and water, and the universal values of creation and ancient protection of the natural realm. This is a journey to meet a fantasy made reality.
The film captures the beauty, and the physicality of creating this rope; it being a symbol of female collaboration and the joining of hands across cultures. It is a celebration of the divine feminine and the power of women to co-create and to connect.
Credits:
A project by Wax Atelier and Kilomet 109
Led by Lola Lely Studio and Thao Vu
Film Director: Rocio Chacon | Art Direction: Yesenia Thibault-Picazo | Movement Direction: Rocio Chacon |Producer: Wax Atelier
With the participation of the Blue H’mong Women Artisans in Pà Cò:Mùa Y Đía, Sùng Y Khô, Sùng Y Vang, Sùng Y Thanh, Sùng Y Sống, Giàng Y Hoa, Sùng Y Nông, Sùng Y Lan, Sùng Y Dua, Giàng Y Día, Sùng Thị Mìa, Tếnh Y Va
Singing: Giàng Y Día & Tếnh Y Vang , Sùng Y Vang | Construction of the structure: Sùng A Dương | Camera: Rocio Chacon | Assistant: Phàng A Trưởng | Sound Design: Yesenia Thibault-Picazo | Editing: Rocio Chacon
Special thanks to-A Páo Homestay and family, Phàng A Páo & SÙng Y Gánh, Bàn Thị Nguyệt ,APD Centre, Ha Noi
Funded by
British Council , UK/Vietnam Season 2023
Supported by
Centre 151 and Camira Fabrics
Part of the program:
London Design Festival @l_d_f_official
Vietnam Design Week @vietnamdesignweek
Shoreditch Design Triangle @shoreditchdt
ESEA Heritage Month @besea.n
KOSTA KARAKASHYAN [BULGARIA] | ‘A REAL BOY‘
A real boy is a dance film exploring the construction of identity and the yearning to reach one’s true, authentic self. The film explores a circular narrative, where often the path of tearing off one layer to find freedom and show our true self leads to a whole new journey of self-discovery. In trying to deconstruct ourselves to a clean slate, other things take form and we can find ourselves constricted by new circumstances, seemingly more glamorous, but just as oppressive.
We were inspired by some of the first examples of moving image – when some of the earliest inventors of film discovered they could record a film and play it back, they naturally turned to dance and dance artists such as Loie Fuller, famous for her serpentine dance. We wanted to capture this ethereal quality of dance as a “study” of movement, evoking the sensation of our dancer exploring his body and learning to move as if for the first time. This nostalgic world also inspired the classic elements such as the Greek pillar, the blackbox stage and the fog machine.
To visually recreate the appearance of someone becoming themselves for the first time, our inspiration was Pinnochio. We collaborated with our incredible makeup artist Alina Manova, who not only created the look that subtly changes as the film progresses and our character becomes more real, but also designed and made the crystal mask that encapsulates the new layers of discovery that our protagonist has yet to break through.
Performing the choreography is Simeon Atanasov, a promising young soloist at the Sofia Opera Ballet. The film was originally conceived for the straight 8 contest, so we challenged ourselves to shoot everything chronologically and do all of the editing in-camera. All of the transitions in the film were planned out and the choreography was only performed once, in order to stay true to the notion of our dancer discovering movement for the first time and embodying a constant process of becoming.
Credits:
Director: Kosta Karakashyan | Production: Studio Karakashyan | Executive Producer: Kosta Karakashyan | Producer: Todor Barganov | Director of Photography: Ivan Tsutsumanov | 1st AC: Kosara Ivanova | Production Designer: Ilina Grozeva | Crystal Mask Design: Alina Manova | Makeup & Hair: Alina Manova | Choreographer: Kosta Karakashyan | Dancer: Simeon Atanasov | Composer: Martina Stefanova / OnTheTree | Graphics: Lokum Creative
Location: Municipal Cultural Institute House of Culture Krasno Selo
Special Thanks: Straight 8 Competition, Ivelina Kyutchoukova, Daniela Ivanova, Vasil Germanov
The film is realized with the financial support of the Creative Grants program of the National Culture Fund of Bulgaria.
This a re-edited version of a film originally made for the straight 8 competition.
KOSTA KARAKASHYAN [BULGARIA] | ‘WAITING FOR COLOUR‘
“Documentary Dance Film Raises Awareness about LGBTQ+ Torture in Chechnya”
August 27, 2018
NEW YORK – WAITING FOR COLOR is a documentary dance film revealing the harsh reality of LGBTQ+ persecution in the Chechen region of Russia. The contents of the film were inspired by testimonials of the arrests, torture, and blackmail that gay Chechens were subjected to throughout 2017. Through the accounts of 33 brave individuals who shared their stories, the film explores the themes of paranoia, trauma, and hope.
The film chooses dance as the primary medium in order to evoke three distinct emotions that showcase the intensity that Chechens faced: surveillance, brutality, and hopelessness. The physically-charged, abstract movement is choreographed to enhance the resonance of the spoken testimonies, offering a physical interpretation to the psychological torture that the individuals experienced.
The film is a direct response to the government anti-gay purge in Chechnya that made international news in April 2017 about the abduction, torture and extrajudicial killings of over 100 gay men in the Chechen Republic, a part of the Russian Federation. As news spread, activists tried to evacuate survivors and push the local government for accountability, admittance, and persecution of those involved in these terrible crimes against humanity. The Russian government has been stalling its investigation, refusing to come forward with anything conclusive even after reports and public testimonials of individuals who had successfully escaped were shared in the press.
The film was independently produced by Kosta Karakashyan and Studio Karakashyan and is being released in collaboration with Single Step Foundation, a Bulgarian non-profit organization that aims to help LGBTI youth recognize, come out and affirm their sexual orientation and gender identity. The goal of the film is to maintain international attention on the situation and to highlight the important work that the Russian LGBT Network is doing in uncovering these brutal stories and protecting the individuals that came forward to share them.
