PICKS 3

OCTOBER 8TH, 12:01AM – OCTOBER 10TH, 11:59PM

Our final PDFF Picks shares a curation of 9 films hailing from the United Kingdom, Germany, United States (including one Oregon Artist), Poland, Taiwan, Belgium, and Zimbabwe. These films engage us in playfulness, variations on dependence, resilience and emergence, the intertwining of nature and man, sisterhood, community spaces, separation, being stuck inside, and masculinity.

Picks 3 will be available for your viewing pleasure and edification for 72 hours. Once you’ve purchased your ticket you’ll receive a link to screen the films. The films will be available to watch at 12:01 am Pacific Time on October 8th and viewing will close at 11:59 pm Pacific Time on October 10th

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TREMBLE

SCOTLAND, UK

Directors  Jessica Wright & Morgann Runacre-Temple
Director of Photography Matthias Pilz
Choreographers Jessica Wright & Morgann Runacre-Temple
Dancers  Scottish Ballet
Composer Anna Meredith
Producers Scottish Ballet & Hopscotch films
Edited By Arttu Salmi

An abstract dining room is the setting for Scottish Ballet’s largest film yet. Tremble stars 26 Scottish Ballet dancers and has been co-choreographed and directed by Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple, set to Anna Meredith’s brassy track ‘Nautilus’

Jess and Morgs’ work has been featured on Channel 4, BBC iPlayer, Canal+ TV, at TATE Liverpool and Sadlers Wells. Commissions include: Channel 4 – Random Acts, English NationalBallet,  and Scottish Ballet. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 they received the audience award at Barcelona’s Choreoscope film festival and their short film ‘TREMBLE’ won the short form award at the prestigious BBC Celtic MediaFestival, 2020.

Instagram: @jessandmorgsfilms

Bondiaries

GERMANY

Directed, Filmed, & Edited Torben Loth
Concept, Choreography & Performance Jill Bettendorff & Wilfried Ebongue
Composer Luke Atencio
1st AC Oliver Trebus
Photographer  Qazim Gashi


With this video we explore different constellations that can happen within a relationship, based on the three words: dependence, independence & interdependence. This is a conceptual performance that moves through those different stages. Starting with dependence, a space where one is guided by the other regardless of one person’s needs. Moving through independence where we move on our own without needing the support of the other to finally arrive in a space of interdependence where we give ourselves the freedom to be ourselves & equally support each other. Bio Torben: Torben is a Berlin based director, videographer and editor. After finishing his studies in Motion-Design he found his passion in finding and creating images for musicians and anybody who wants to bring stories to life on the screen.

Unfurling

UNITED STATES

Director, Choreographer, Dancer, & Composer Alexa Velez

“Unfurling” is a moving image intended to embody the resilience of nature – inspired by weeds growing in cracks on the pavement and a moth emerging from its cocoon. Combining elements of dance and contortion, “Unfurling” is the transformation of an earthbound creature into a being of the air.

Instagram: @jinx.lex

Toporzeł

POLAND

Director Iwona Pasińska
Director of Photography Marek Grabowski
Choreographer 
Iwona Pasińska
Dancers Polish Dance Theatre: Kacper Bożek, Jerzy Kaźmierczak, Zbigniew Kocięba, Dominik Kupka, Paweł Malicki, Michał Przybyła, Adrian Radwański
Composers Henryk Mikołaj Górecki
Location Selection Andrzej Grabowski

Beautiful mountain landscapes, from which the figures of dancers grow, rocks, bushes, the severity of nature and its strength, everything intertwines with each other, thus emphasizing the strong bonds between nature and man. This was the set of the latest film project of the Polish Dance Theatre entitled Toporzeł. The project was inspired by sculptures by Stanisław Szukalski. In the works of this artist, who causes strong emotions, the motif of the human body appears; one can see muscle tension, movement, gesture and expression. The sculpture is made of earth, of nature, of which man is a part – this was the interpretive code of the project. The Toporzeł project could not have been created anywhere else than in the Izerskie Mountains in the “Stanisław” quartz mine in Szklarska Poręba. The Karkonosze and Izerskie The Toporzeł project could not have been created anywhere else than in the Izerskie Mountains in the “Stanisław” quartz mine in Szklarska Poręba. The Karkonosze and Izerskie Mountains hide secrets, they are a place where magic mixes with reality, where the history of the legendary Mountain Spirit is still alive. The film and the accompanying album are further elements building the story of the Polish Dance Theatre. We hope that apart from the beauty and aesthetics of the presented shots, you will see the Spirit of Dance Theatre in these materials.

Instagram: @PolishDanceTheatre

Waters into Wilderness

UNITED STATES

Director Lauren Edson, Quinn Wharton
Director of Photography Quinn Wharton
Choreographers 
Lauren Edson
Dancers Brett Perry, LED Dance

Composer Andrew Stensaas
Immanuel Lutheran, Frontrunner Films

A short dance film looking at the impact of community space when its not filled with the community. Featuring LED, choreographed by Lauren Edson, Danced by Brett Perry, and music by Andrew Stensaas

Instagram: @qwharton & @ledboise

Evergreen

UNITED STATES

Director, Choreographer, & Editor Holly Wilder
Directors of Photography  Duncan Wilder
Dancers Yoshie Fujimoto Kateada, Shelby Claire, Holly Wilder

Composer “Pretty Saro” by Robinson & Rohe. “This Little Light” from “Deeply Known” by Evan Premo – performed by Aizuri Quartet

A dance film that explores what it means to be a human animal and connect with our environment. With themes of sisterhood, memory, and nostalgia, it is a love poem to the parts of us that are evergreen.

Go to www.wilderprojectdance.com to check out Wilder Project’s other dance films and learn more about the filmmaking team.

Submerge V2

TAIWAN & UNITED STATES

Director Marianne Kim
Choreographer Cheng-Chieh Yu
Dancers Taipei Dance Circle

Sound Design  Viola X
Original Text Will Bond

A pair of peculiar migrants are separated from one another in an unfamiliar place in search of each other and the potential of escape. Their dancing is their shared foreign language, restated to reveal themselves to each other. Their reality is split between surviving in an unfamiliar place and dreaming of a reunion in their watery home. The split-screen allows us to see them together even while they are lost from one another and searching. The physical landscape and the imagined landscape co-exist as they make their way to the watery edge.

Instagram: @marianne.kim.75

Catherine

OREGON ARTIST

Film by Kailee McMurran
Composer Wolfgang A. Mozart

Catherine is stuck inside.

Making Men

BELGIUM & ZIMBABWE

Director Antoine Panier
Director of Photography Antoine Panier
Choreographer Harold George
Dancers Peter Lenso, Tinashe Jerry, Carlton Zhanelo, & Tatenda Chabarwa
Composers Glen Velez, Rhythms of the Chakras / Murcof, Camino / A. Vivaldi, Nisi Dominus

Making Men examines the question of masculinity. This dance film zooms in on 4 individuals in the process of becoming men. As is expected, they proceed unquestioningly into manhood through various stages of their lives, adopting the clearly coded characteristics allowed by society.
However, a feeling of unease, in the very depths of their being, oppresses them. They feel uncertainty but also something else, harder to define…
Shot in the breathtaking landscape of Zimbabwe, the film features strong and rhythmical choreography but also a special camera work that intensifies emotions inspired by the movement.

Instagram: @duniadancetheatre@antoinepanier

 

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