It has been a while since we last updated our activities, and it's certainly been a busy year!
The most recent news is that we were awarded a Bravo!FACT grant for our upcoming production of "Dafeena", featuring the choreography of Natasha Bakht. We are very excited to get started!
We recently wrapped our 3D dance film "Lost Action: Trace" with Crystal Pite at the National Film Board of Canada. Look for the current issue of The Dance Current, on newsstands now, and check out our article on the creation of the short film (also the cover image of the magazine). Stay tuned for information about upcoming screenings!
Check out this 6-minute FORA.tv video by Jacob's Pillow Dance for an introductory primer. Hosted by Scholar-in-Residence Maura Keefe, we share our artistic approach and production process using visual examples from the collaboration with choreographer Crystal Pite and the National Film Board of Canada. We describe how a 3D camera works, show 3D story boards, take you inside the green screen studio with the dancers, and discuss why we are interested in the challenge of creating a stereoscopic experimental dance film incorporating animation. FORA.TV - Dance3D Dance Filmmaking with Mouvement Perpetuel.
We're thrilled that "Quarantaine" has been nominated for Best Original Score (Documentary) at the Prix Gemeaux. Congratulations to the mega talented Dino Giancola, Charmaine LeBlanc, and the entire cast and crew!
"The Greater the Weight" is still going strong. The short dance film, with dancer-choreographer Dana Michel, was selected to screen at the Opening Ceremony of the Seoul International NewMedia Festival, August 4, 2011.
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It also showed at the West Fest in New York City (April 28- May 1 2011), The San Francisco Dance Film Festival (Mar 25-27 2011), and the Big Screen Project, as part of the Dance on Camera Festival. |
"The Greater the Weight" and "40" were featured at the Loikka Dance Film Festival in Finland in March. Marlene had the pleasure to be in attendance and gave a lecture called "Seeing Dance on Film", discussing different approaches to dance-filmmaking and our larger oeuvre.
Marlene was interviewed by the Finnish cultural magazine Illuusio, in an article titled "Valot, Kamera, Tanssi", by Henna Raatikainen. The piece also features some great shots of dancer/choreographer Dana Michel.
For its 2011 edition, as long time supporters of our work, FIFA Festival International du Film sur l'Art, selected our newest short "Falling", featuring dancer-choreographer Jeff Hall. Since our last update "Falling" has as also enjoyed screenings at EDITFest 2010 in Budapest (10/10) and the XII Festival VideoDanzaBA in Argentina (09/10), as well as touring various other dance-film festivals throughout Latin and South America.
After its premiere at FIFA 2010, our feature length documentary "Quarantaine" has been shown at: XII Festival VideoDanzaBA in Argentina, (09/10), Yorkton Film Fest in Saskatchewan (05/10), and the Seoul International NewMedia Fest in Korea, (08/10).
Two of our older films are still pleasing audiences nationally and internationally. "The Hunt", created in 2005 was selected as part of the West Fest in New York this past April, and "a soft place to fall" (2006) was screened at Dança em Foco Festival Internacional de Vídeo & Dança in Brazil, at The San Francisco Dance FILM FEST (Mar 2010), at Reeling Fest in Edmonton, Alberta (Feb 2010) and at The EDIT International Dance Film Festival in Budapest (Oct 2010).
Dance writer and filmmaker Philip Szporer has been awarded the 2010 Jacqueline Lemieux Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts. The prize is in addition to a grant Szporer received from the council to research and write the film Moments in Motion, Part Deux. “Mr. Szporer has made an outstanding contribution to dance in Canada through his sustained and active engagement in advancing the dance discourse both nationally and internationally. We note the dedication and generosity demonstrated by this respected dance scholar and filmmaker who has influenced and supported a new generation of dance artists and whose works have reached wide audiences at home and abroad,” stated a selection committee of his peers.
Read more at canadacouncil.ca
a retrospective of 10 years of dance filmmaking by Mouvement Perpétuel with 8 films screening at the NFB CinéRobothéque in Montreal September 15 - 17, 2010
Films: http://quartiersdanses.com/category/films
Exhibition: http://quartiersdanses.com/expositions
Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer are currently collaborating with choreographer Crystal Pite, animator Theodore Ushev, and the National Film Board of Canada on a groundbreaking 3D dance film that also incorporates animation. The film is an adaptation of Pite's stage production Lost Action, with dancers Eric Beauchesne, Peter Chu, Yannick Matthon, Anne Plamondon, and Jermaine Spivey.
An excerpt from a moderated public discussion at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, recorded July 3, 2010, features Millar and Szporer talking about the process and preparation for this stereoscopic production, and is available for viewing on FORA.tv.
A one-minute short will be completed in March 2011, with production of the 30-minute film slated for fall 2011.
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Moments in Motion 2 will catch up with the artists featured in Moments in Motion seven years later. Currently in research and development as a multiplatform production. |
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Quarantaine will have its television premiere September 20th, at 10 pm, on ARTV |
Our latest production, Falling, with choreographer and dancer Jeff Hall, is a commissioned film that will be screened during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games in Vancouver as part of the ContainR Project.
Quarantaine, (not to be mistaken for our other short entitled 40!), is a 48 minute film featuring Marc Béland, Marc Daigle, Benoît Lachambre and Ken Roy and made in collaboration with Charmaine LeBlanc. We are very excited to premiere Quarantaine in competition at the 28th International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal this March. Watch the trailer.
The short film 40, with Ken Roy, which premiered in April at Moves (U.K.), has also recently been screened at VideoDanza (Buenos Aires) and, along with The Greater the Weight was shown at DansCamDanse (Belgium) and InShadow International Festival of Video, Performance and Technology (Portugal) in November in the added good company of Butte. 40 also travelled the globe as part of the Moves09 on Tour.
The Greater the Weight took home the jury prize for Best Female Performance at the In Shadow festival. Our congratulations to Dana Michel!
www.thedancecurrentnews.blogspot.com
www.inshadowfestival.blogspot.com
In other exciting news, our short film Butte featuring Byron Chief Moon will be screened in the Canadian Pavilion as part of the 2010 Shanghai Expo from May 1 to October 31, 2010
We are also very proud to have been selected to be part of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, British Columbia where The Greater the Weight and Butte will be presented on giant screens at celebration sites, as well as online as part of the CODE Motion Pictures project.
Quarantaine, the follow-up to 40,is now in post-production.
40, our latest dance film, had its world premiere at Moves, Manchester, in April, and was screened in May at Dance House, Glasgow, as part of the Moves world tour. 40 was also accepted to the following festivals: Live Art, Nova Scotia (April); Wallpaper, Italy (June); Dancing for the Camera – American Dance Festival (June); Dança em Foco, Brazil (July).
The Greater The Weight appeared at the Dança em Foco festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (July). The film has been recently screened at Dancing Through Cultures – Canada Dance Festival, Ottawa (June); Wallpaper, Italy (June); Dance Camera West, Los Angeles (June); Agite Y Sirva, Mexico (April); Festival international du film sur l’art, Montreal (March); German dance film institute Bremen (February).
The arts documentary Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider was screened at the SEEDS Festival and Dance Camera West, Los Angeles, this June.
a soft place to fall was accepted to Les journées du cinéma québécois en Italie, Milan, in March. It also appeared at the Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinéma Québécois in February.
The Hunt was screened as part of Agite Y Sirva, Mexico, also touring Oaxaca, Xalapa, Puebla, Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, in April and May. The film appeared at Ohio University’s Moving Images series in April, at the International Video Dance Festival du Breuil, France (May), and at Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinéma Québécois (February).
Moments in Motion/Au fil du mouvement appeared at Moving Images, Ohio University, Athens, in April.
TGTW will be screened on February 7th and 8th as part of the Dance and Media Japan International Video Dance Festival.
Butte and The Hunt have been accepted for the March program of the International Video Dance Festival of Le Breuil, France.
Butte and The Hunt will be screening at La Rotonde in Quebec City on Friday, December 12th as part of the Antitube project.
Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider is coming to a screen near you! The Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN) will be showing the documentary on Monday, December 29th at 2pm and 7pm, as well as Saturday, January 3rd at noon.
Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider wins Best Documentary Short at the American Indian Festival in San Francisco on November 16th. The film was also shown as part of the Native Spirit Festival in London, UK.
The Greater the Weight was selected for several international screenings this fall, including the International Film Festival of Performing Arts (FICAP) in Lisbon, Portugal; St. John’s Women’s Film Festival, Canada; Festival Internacional VideoDanza, Buenos Aires; Midoc Arte International Competition, Milan; and MADDance Festival, Toronto.
This November, Butte showed at the Native Spirit Festival in London, UK, and the festival international de vídeo i arts digitals (VAD) in Girona, Spain, as well as in Regent Park, Toronto.
a soft place to fall was selected as part of the EDIT International Dance Film Festival’s “Best of Festivals 2004-2007” this past October in Budapest, Hungary.
The Greater the Weight had its world premiere at the Moves08 experimental short film and new media festival in Manchester, U.K on April 22, 2008 The Greater the Weight is nominated for Best Performing Arts & Entertainment at the Yorkton Short Film & Video Festival 2008 |
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a soft place to fall and The Hunt played the 4th International Dance Film Festival in Yokohama), Japan, February 2008
Butte has been selected for Miradas Cruzadas, a tour of Latin American countries promoting and giving visibility to indigenous cultures, linking Latin American and Canadian indigenous visions. Supported by UNESCO.
Butte was featured in the High Performance Rodeo Festival, Calgary, in January 2008
Rendez-vous du cinéma québecois featured a soft place to fall and Butte, February 2008
Butte played the Live Art Productions’ Dance on Screen festival, in Halifax, March 2008
Butte has been selected and will be a part of the official program of the “First Nations Cinema” event of the 3 Americas Film Festival (FC3A). The festival will be held in Quebec City from March 26th to 30th, 2008.
Watch for Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider on Bravo! and APTN. Our other documentaries Moments in Motion, and Fresh Voices: Raising the Bar are also playing on Bravo!
The Bravo!FACT shorts, The Hunt, a soft place to fall, Butte, and the greater the weight, are all currently playing on Bravo!
Actor, dancer, and choreographer, Byron Chief-Moon is founder of the Coyote Arts Percussive Performance Association, and member of the Blackfoot Confederacy, member of the Blood Band. Through his art and his life, Chief-Moon's story is one of cultural survival. Themes of his dance creations begin with his people's traditional stories, his attachment to the land and his community, as well as the inner conflict he faces in existing within the Aboriginal culture and the wider community. The documentary also explores his identity as a First Nations two-spirited gay man and a father of three adopted children. His art and his life cross boundaries. Challenging the cultural construct is never easy; but Chief-Moon does.
In addition to this production, Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer directed and produced Butte, a short dance film featuring Byron Chief-Moon and filmed on his ancestral land, the Blood reserve in Southern Alberta. Butte is a Bravo!FACT production currently airing on the Bravo! arts channel, and will also have its festival premiere at FIFA in March 2007.
Marlene Millar is a Montreal filmmaker and editor with a background in dance and design. Over the last several years she has produced, directed and edited documentary and experimental work in the U.S. and Canada. A freelance journalist, broadcaster, filmmaker and international lecturer based in Montreal, Philip Szporer has also worked as a dance critic for more than twenty years. Over the last few years he has worked on a number of dance/media projects. In 1996 Marlene and Philip embarked on the first sketch of what was later to become the video series Moments in Motion/Au fil du mouvement. Mouvement Perpétuel was formed in 2001, a company committed to promoting the arts and engaging new audiences through their blend of documentary and art filmmaking, with a focus on contemporary dance, in such productions as Raising the Bar: The Fresh Voices Project, The Hunt and a soft place to fall. The latter film made its debut in the Moving Pictures Festival in Toronto in 2006, and will also be seen during FIFA this March.
Moments in Motion/Au fil du mouvement has been critically acclaimed since its release in 2004, and has been presented at the Festival international des films sur l'art and other festivals around the world. Seven Canadian choreographers of a new generation are featured. By infiltrating their communities, studios and homes, the camera seizes the essence of their day-to-day worlds. The Hunt (2005), choreographed by Sharon Moore, wherein the intensity of an internal struggle manifests itself externally, as revealed through an intimate, fragmented view of dancer Peter Trosztmer, has won raves internationally. Notably it won a Jury Prize nomination in January 2006 at the celebrated Dance for Camera Festival in New York.
With Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider filmmakers Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer bring to the screen the unique life and times of this exceptional artist. A memorable meeting you won't want to miss!
Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider (2007) is a 48-minute documentary, produced in collaboration with the Canadian Television Fund, SODEC, Bravo! and APTN.
Films presented during FIFA:
Butte
Saturday March 10, Bibliothèque Nationale, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday March 17, Goethe-Institut, 7:00 p.m.
a soft place to fall
Sunday March 11, Cinémathèque québécoise, 7:00 p.m.
(Main Film programme)
Byron Chief-Moon: Grey Horse Rider
Friday March 16, ONF, 7:00 p.m.
