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Escape
Humans are confined by patterns of repetition. This program illustrates how dance can highlight individuality and help us break free from the monotonous passage of time.
Return
Saraï Martens, Maira Renee | Belgium | 5:07 | SPARK Student Film
A peaceful bike ride through the countryside.
<Did you have breakfast>?
Gu Yang | China | 6:20 | SPARK Student Film
In today's chaotic and hectic life, a perfunctory breakfast seems to have become the norm for young people. The film, from the perspective of today's youth, constructs a spiritual dialogue between two generations through real and absurd physical portrayals, reflecting on the dilemma of cultural inheritance in the fast-paced world. Amidst the inseparable urban genes, it explores the possibility of continuation at their "fractures"。
Liminia
German Prieto | Canada | 4:19 | Dance Film
Light and shadows. The tangible and what remains illusory. "Limina" is an audiovisual meditation on how we sense and understand the world around us.
LOCA
Véronique Paquette | Canada | 5:00 | Dance Film
A female silhouette, sketched with fine white lines, disintegrates. A few bars ring out from “Loca”—a classic tune from the golden age of Argentinean tango.
The spellbinding music sweeps the woman into a dance. As she whirls, a duo forms, their bodies intertwined in black and white. Their complete abandonment to the music is expressed in abundant waves of ink, creating a mesmerizing visual spectacle.
Naval Ode (Ode Maritima)
Fu Le | Portugal | 6:00 | Dance Film
The poem Naval Ode - "Ode Maritima" - by Fernando Pessoa captures the movement of separation between the dock and the ship, and thus the distance – between the inside and the outside, between myself and the other. The text is embodied by a mysterious and suspended dance, imbued with nostalgic desire, which swells like a sail.
RE/FRAME
Sophia Stoller, Peter Amodeo Gould | United States | 7:27 | Dance Film
How do we perceive and protect our identities in midst of societal forces that try to shape us? Against conformity pressures, a young woman finds the courage to redefine her selfhood, and in turn,
unearths joy and liberation in the process.
KIELO
Janina Rajakangas, Sinem Kayacan | Finland | 4:00 | Dance Film
Kielo finds it hard to sit still in class. She takes a break venturing into the corridors of her imagination.
LUCID
This program explores the liminal space between dreams and reality using light, movement, and music. In each of these films, dance is used as a medium that blurs the boundaries of what is real and what exists within our imagination.
Isabelle
Annie Kloppenberg | United States | 4:15 | Dance Film
Three young women imagine the late artist Isabelle Johnson's ghostly presence in Tippet Rise, re-inhabiting the very land Johnson loved. The women's movements framed by Patrick Dougherty's fantastical installation, which interweaves local willows, create new spaces to house our collective imagination.
Who's Choreographing Us?
Buse Baski | United Kingdom | 3:13 | Dance Film
“Who’s Choreographing Us?” unfolds as an embodied response to mass compliance, hysteria, and the mechanics of influence. Structured as a loop, the work follows three shifting subjects, not as fixed individuals but as interchangeable functions within a larger system.
EN/ORDER
Grady Bowman, Ashley Lindsey | United States | 6:00 | Dance Film
EN/ORDER is a dance film by GXA Creative - Grady Bowman and Ashley Lindsey - built on a simple question: what holds us together, and what pulls us apart? Through dynamic ensemble choreography and cinematic movement, patterns emerge, fracture, and reform - tracing the volatile space between structure and the instinct to break free.
The Broken Cycle
Andreas Guzman | Hong Kong | 3:16 | Dance Film
An endless cycle. A dance of stagnation. A relationship's rhythm, caught in a relentless tide, is about to break.
SILO
Jenna Zavrel | United States | 4:25 | Dance Film
The embodiment of the grit, glory, and tenderness that occurs when women are siloed but refuse to be silenced.
No Exit: A Session
Denis Inghelbrecht | Belgium | 3:03 | Dance Film
A couples therapy session in the 1960s. A man. A woman. A therapist.
What unravels at first seems like a familiar dynamic: frustration, misunderstanding, imposed silence. The woman speaks. The man reacts. The tension builds. But nothing follows the expected therapeutic script.
Ghost Light
Avi Pryntz-Nadworny | United States | 3:29 | Dance Film
"Ghost Light" is a surreal short film that reminds us we all carry a light within us.
Before Waking
Brandon Li | United States | 6:12 | Dance Film
On the night of his wife's funeral, a man enters a dream world where he reunites with her one last time. As their farewell coming, he must learn to dance on his own before finding his way back to life.
Reel Dance Stories
From the streets of Paris to the ballet studios of Montreal, these five short documentaries illuminate the rich histories and legacies of dance communities around the globe.
Anchor Points
Victor Quijada, Samuel Greffe | Canada | 25:13 | Short Documentary
Anchor Points is a 25-minute documentary-style art film by RUBBERBAND that retraces the trajectory of Victor Quijada from street dancer to contemporary choreographer. Through archival footage and visual effects, the film blends documentary elements with experimental visuals to offer insight into Quijada’s creative journey and the development of his influential choreographic practice.
Underneath the Concrete
Gabriel Naghmouchi | France | 27:21 | Short Documentary
In the corridors of the biggest underground station of Paris, on the worn tiles of public squares, the weathered forecourt of a nightclub, and in the forgotten corners of shopping malls, gestures resurface. The voices of dancers speak of the history inscribed in these places. Bodies of today awaken those of the past, revealing the buried layers of a danced memory. Beneath the concrete, the footsteps that came before us still resonate through the corridors.
SHOX (Branch)
Shakhzoda Mirakova | Uzbekistan | 19:21 | Short Documentary
This documentary follows dance teacher Sharofat and her students as they navigate the complex realities of being women performers in contemporary Uzbekistan. Through their rehearsals, performances, and everyday lives, the film explores how traditional Uzbek dance functions not only as artistic expression, but also as a space where women negotiate identity, visibility, respectability, and belonging.
El Son de Cuba
Malak Alamari | Sweden | 9:29 | Short Documentary
"El Son de Cuba" is a short documentary about Jamie Sotolongo, a Cuban man living in Sweden, who preserves his identity through salsa parties and dance. The film explores his limbo, caught between two countries and cultures, and the joy and challenges of maintaining his Cuban roots.
When the Chair Fell into the Void
Julia Kushnarenko | Belgium, Hungary, Portugal | 24:30 | Short Documentary
"When the Chair Fell into the Void" is a hybrid film blending documentary and dance. Anonymous migrants, forced to flee their countries, express their feelings of disconnection and question notions of identity and belonging. Their untold stories emerge in an urban landscape, while the movements of masked dancers are guided by emotions and cathartic memories.
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