PICKS 1
September 26th @ 7:30PM | Tomorrow Theater | Run Time: 91 mins**This evening contains nudity.** Nostalgia, longing, and reckoning, whether held lightly or earnestly, moves throughout the 8 films of Picks 1. We say hello and goodbye to our ways of life, our memories that orient us to who we think we are, and our thirst. Whether this thirst is for water or for the realization of the curves of peace, we can almost/decidedly feel the knowledge of it in our hands and feet as we answer the call of the music and surrender to the forever dance. Picks 1 shares films from France/Vietnam, Greece, India, USA, Canada, Austria, and The United Kingdom and runs ~1hr. 45min.
Genèse Urbaine (Urban Genesis)
France, Vietnam
Director: Fu Le
Dancers: DP1936, Khang Huu
Music: Tang Nhi
Supports: Villa Saigon – Institut Français du Vietnam, Dancenter
Phuong is released from prison and returns to her home province. She finds Khang, her childhood sweetheart, but no longer recognizes her village. The elders have left, the factories have closed, and Khang has to go to Saigon where he has found a new job.
In the past 5 years, all the brickyards in Dong Thap province have closed, and Saigon is conjured up bristling with countless skyscrapers. Urban Genesis questions the place left to love when time passes faster than the clouds.
Ruins Within Ruins
Greece
Director: Lefteris Parasyris @lefteris.parasyris
Choreography by Dimitra Daskalaki @daskalakidimitra
Dancers: Marina Christodoulaki @marina_christodoulaki , Dimitra Daskalaki, Sakis Dimopoulos @sakisdimos, Kostantinos Thodoris @konstantinostakirock, Nina Kranidioti @ninas.dance.school
Music by: Venus Volcanism & In Atlas @venusvolcanism @inatlas_yo
Dop: Yorgos Bobolakis @skufidis & Haris Doukakis
Producer: Lefteris Parasyris
Editor: Lefteris Parasyris
Colour Grading by Lyubomir Balabanov @lyubomir_balabanov
Costumes: Eva Pagalou @neko.eva
MUA: Mirto Alexaki @myrsitally
A group of dancers positions themselves between the ancient and modern ruins of the island of Crete, Greece. Drawing inspiration from its rich heritage, they craft a series of kinetic forms and patterns influenced by folk dances and Minoan frescoes. These installations, whether harmonising with or contrasting against the island’s culture, offer reflections on historical memory and the Cretan identity.
A State of Thirst
India
Writer/Director/Music Director: Ashavari Majumdar Vajrasara @apaar_official
Co-writer/Producer: Abhyuday Khaitan @auroapaar_dancefilms
Performer: Davin Teo Madhan
Cinematographer: Vijay VR @vj_nambiar
Editor: Kaushik Das @kaushikdas_gram
Sound Designer: Sabyasachi Pal and Soumya Chatterjee
Drone Operator and Additional Camera: Sumukha Bhardwaj @summi_bharadwaj
Additional Camera and Assistant: Archita Wadhwani @architaaa__
Director’s Assistant: Tanmayi Jarubula @tanmayi.13
Assistant and BTS: Ved Prakash Murarka @vedmurarka_
Photographer: Vijay VR
Poster Design: Abhyuday Khaitan
Many in the Global South are living in a state of perpetual thirst. Violent fights sparked by water shortages are no longer “news”.
The human body and its most basic need is the subject of this minimalist vision of a water-scarce future.
The action in a State of Thirst centers on the climbing of a wooden pole by an artist trained in ‘Mallakhamb’, a body conditioning exercise practiced by Indian martial artists.
All of Us
United States
Producer, Director, Choreographer, Editor: Charlotte Griffin @milkleafproductions
Producer, Editor: Johanna Witherby
Producer, Dramaturg: MiRi Park @seoulsonyk
Composer: Milica Paranosic @mparanosic
Mezzo-Soprano: Hai-Ting Chinn @ahaiting
Assistant Editor: Jonathan Mora
Sound Editor: Aerik Harbert
Foley Artist: Andrew Moreno
Color provided by: Nice Shoes
Color Grading: Oscar Oboza
Finishing Artist: Alex Hartley
Color Assists: Nicole Luttrelf and Glenn Weidlich
Color Producer: Tiffany Gale
Administrative Associates: Quincie Hydock and Minga Prather
Narrator Monologue and Performance: Gus Solomons jr
Monologue Arrangement: Charlotte Griffin and MiRi Park
Solo Improvisation and Performance: Corey Scott-Gilbert @coreyscottgilbert
Cinematography of Gus Solomons jr and Corey Scott-Gilbert: Dancing Camera @dancing.camera
Director of Photography: Nic Petry
Production Assistant: Andy Fidoten
Dancers and At-Home Recordings: Jessica Clay and Terri Clay, Ariel Freedman and Harvest Shira Shiloah, Benjamin Holliday Wardell and Charissa Brun, Abdiel Jacobsen @justabdiel and Kristine Bendul @kbendulny, Krystal Matsuyama-Tsai @matsuyamatsai and Waeli Wang @waeliwang, Nyama McCarthy-Brown @nyamamccarthybrown and Kasim McCarthy-Brown, Jorge Miguel Soriano and Meredith Webster @mereweb, Selene Aguirre and Mauricio Nava, MiRi Park and Grant Regalado, Harumi Paula López Gallardo and Cinthia Pérez Navarro, Hadassah Perry and Kira Fargas, Paul Sarvis and Gwyneth Jones, Luisa Trigo Mendoza, Aylar Roufa, Mila Roufa, Jesus Vidal, Chuck Wilt @una.productions and Kyle Filley
Made Possible by milkleaf donors, Paracademia, UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts 21C, Pentacle Administrative Support Program, Unique Projects, Inc., Certain Bird, The Cambrians, West LA College, Nice Shoes, Dance Films Association Production Grant Honorable Mention
Cyclical lyricism illuminates the collective experience of “alone, together” that occurred during prolonged COVID isolation in milkleaf’s newest experimental short, ALL OF US. Framed, disrupted, and propelled by improviser Corey Scott-Gilbert dancing with the powerful narration of the late and beloved Gus Solomons jr, this film features romantic partners, roommates, family members, and duets dancing “at home” amongst accumulating domestic objects. Highlighting movers across identities, ALL OF US offers a look into coexistence within a common screen space, transforming repetition into a parable of the human experience. The screendance was awarded an “Honorable Mention” for its promise by the Dance Films Association Production Grant.
Ce qui subsiste (What Remains)
Canada
Director: Vickie Grondin @vickie.gr
Director of photography: Carl Beauchemin @couarl
Choreographer and performer: Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep @sovannpromo
Composer: Guillaume Rémus
Music collaboration: Laurent Ta
Sound design and mix: Mathieu Grégoire
Costumes: Miss Dress Up Éco @missdressupeco
Costumes counsel: Dave St-Pierre
Editing: Vickie Grondin
VFX and color grading: Carl Beauchemin
Foley: Karla Baumgardner
Foley recording: Services audiovisuels Wolfstag @wolfstagav
Production assistants: Alphiya Joncas @alphiyajoncas , Nicolas Denicourt, Mathilde Lytwynuk
Script counselor: Catherine Duchesneau
Camera equipment: Royal Photo
During his daily picking, Bo has a moving encounter that reveals other existences to him.
A hybrid story between a narrative and dance short film questioning our relationship with the living.
Shake Stew - Lila
Austria
Director: Rupert Höller @rupert
Dancer, Choreographer: Tamara Mayr @soytam_
Color Grading: Manuel Portschy @manuport
Music: Shake Stew @shakestew
In a surreal dance video, a dancer is melting into a landscape of palm trees, rocks and ocean waves.
Baiyt (Home)
Canada, Israel
Director, Writer, Producer, Cast: Orian Michaeli
Director, Writer, Producer, Cast: Wiaam Khater @wiaam.khater
Cinematographer: Yaniv Linton @yanivlinton
Editor: Peter Dreimanis
Between the house and the street, Wiaam and Orian contemplate initiating a protest. They grapple with the decision of whether to leave or stay, questioning the significance of taking action versus remaining at home. Perhaps the real opposition lies in their own meeting, but can it truly exist at all?
Burn From The Inside
United Kingdom
Executive Producer: Cassa Pancho
Producer: Richard Bolton
Director: Mthuthuzeli November
Director of Photography: Nauris Buksevics
Lighting Design: David Plater
“Burn from the Inside” is not your typical narrative work. It delves into the exploration of music and its origins, examining why we have an innate desire to dance or move when we hear music, sound, or voices. It seeks to understand the essence of what triggers our movements and the emotional responses evoked by music.