890 BRODWAY/Marta Renzi/ USA. Photo: Organizers.
Tomorrow Poznań sees the launch of a competition for the best short film about dance, Dances with Camera. Twenty productions from all around the world are going to compete for the main prize. Dances with Camera?s debut as part of the Short Waves Festival comes as a result of the success of last year?s Forward Motion showcase of short films on dance, which prompted the organisers to go a step forward and turn it into a competition. Each of the productions shown in the finale is an independent story told in a different style and using different means of expression. What they all have in common is movement and emotions. They also show that dance helps people to overcome barriers and better express themselves. In line with the festival?s formula, each film lasts not more than 30 minutes; together they make up a unique film collage.
One of the productions, TurnAround Tango (Canada) starts with a series of passionate steps and gestures performed by a man and a woman moving back-to-back. As the tension gradually grows, their eyes finally meet ? Drawing on August Strindberg?s play of the same title, The Stronger is a story of two women grappling with love, betrayal, and shame. In 99° the director Rawad Al Zaquat uses dance to share his memories from the time he was a prisoner of the Syrian regime. Closed in narrow space, without hope and prospects for the future, tormented by the feeling of rebellion, he desperately longed for freedom. The situation in Syria is also discussed by Agnieszka Kobyłecka: in The Rite of Spring she juxtaposes the outbreak of the Arab Spring with Igor Stravinsky?s ballet, creating a tale of downfall, death and rebirth.
The twenty films have been divided into two sets to be screened in succession at Studio Słodownia +3 (Old Brewery/Stary Browar) and at Charlie Monroe Kino Malta. The winner of the main prize will be selected by a jury gathering dance and film experts, including Anna Głowińska, Anna Królica, and Darek Arest. One film will also receive an audience award.
The competition lasts until 5 April.
Find out more on Dances with Camera and the Short Waves Festival on www.shortwaves.pl.
Programme of Dances with Camera I (2 and 4 April)
Programme of Dances with Camera II (3 and 5 April)
