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In the frame of the Beirut International Platform of Dance, Metropolis Cinema is glad to host two screening sessions of dance video projects. The first session will take place on April 16 and the second session will be on April 23 at 20:00.

First session: CINEDANS SHORTS SELECTION TOUR 2012 ( 60’)

Cinedans – Dance on Screen Festival is unique – in the Netherlands and in the world. The central focus of the festival is on dance film. Cinedans sees the ideal dance film as a true synthesis between the two media of dance and cinematography. At Cinedans the emphasis lies on choreographies created specifically for the camera and on special film adaptations of existing dance performances. The festival also features a selection of special documentaries and retrospectives. Approximately 60 films from all over the world will be screened at this year’s festival. In addition to the film programme, Cinedans festival organises readings, debates and workshops for professionals and other interested parties.
In the ever-changing media landscape, creators are increasingly seeking different ways to tell their stories. New media and modern technology have entered the scene bringing new possibilities and insights. Dance film is no longer ‘movement on the black screen’, with new forms being developed such as installations, video clips, interactive projects and more. Contemporary dance films are often autonomous art works with a language of their own and an expressiveness that cannot be pigeonholed. Cinedans closely follows these movements. In addition to the film programme, the festival focuses on various forms of crossover projects and media installations that involve movement.

VRRTI
DIRECTOR ANA CEMBRERO COCA, JORGE PIQUER RODRIGUEZ | BE | 2011 | 4’ | SHORT
Action, conduct, way of being, condition or state of mind. Turn around, twist, roll up.

Sliced
DIRECTOR CONSTANTIN GEORGESCU | DE | 2011 | 1’ | SHORT
‘Sliced’ is a study of movement in relation with time and our perception of time. The director tried to capture in the same frame different moments in time of the same movement, giving the possibility to witness bits of the future, traces of the past simultaneously with the choreography unravelling in a continuous present.

Contact
DIRECTOR DOMINIQUE PALOMBO | US/FR | 2010 | 2’ | SHORT
A phantom camera explores the contact improvisation dance form. Shot in 3D using two phantoms and presented here in the 2D version, we see how dancers can create a compelling fashion film using fascinating abstract movements, slow motion and time remapping.

Magma
DIRECTOR MARIANNA MØRKØRE, RANNVÁ KÁRADÓTTIR | CHOREOGRAPHER RANNVÁ KÁRADÓTTIR
| FO | 2010 | 5’ | SHORT
Shot in the wild landscapes of the Faroes, a remote group of islands high in the North Atlantic, these fragmented stories unravel in the open, empty spaces – intensified by the extreme and uncontrollable weather conditions. With no dialogue or narrative, the repetitive patterns of movements, costumes, music and landscapes generate a mysterious atmosphere that transports the viewer to a surreal and hauntingly beautiful universe. This is the first film in ‘The Cycle’, a series of eight experimental short films on movement.

Falling
DIRECTOR ADRIANO CIRULLI | CHOREOGRAPHERS MILENA ZULLO, ALICE CAPITANI, MAURIZIO AMATO | UK/IT | 2011 | 3’ | SHORT
A man and a woman drift through an empty void, their bodies twisting and contorting as if subject to powerful forces beyond their control. Their motions become more harmonious when their paths intersect, only to reignite into restless struggle as their bodies split apart once again. Connection is thwarted, and the cycle seems doomed to repeat itself.

Ellipse
DIRECTOR THABI MOOI, TOM FASSAERT | CHOREOGRAPHERS VINCENT MORELLE, LUCIA MENDOZA | NL | 2011 | 5’ | SHORT
In a world beyond time and space, overwhelming desire drives two people to become one. Unconsciously, they make attempts to get closer, until the moment they awaken and realize they will always remain divided.

Deep End Dance
DIRECTOR CONOR HORGAN | IE | 2010 | 6’ | SHORT
A fully dressed man is pushed into a swimming pool by his mother. He brushes himself off and starts dancing underwater, always aware that she’s watching. After a while she joins him, and they play out the story of their relationship through the underwater dance.

The Palindromist
DIRECTOR NICK ROUX | CHOREOGRAPHER KRISTY AYRE | AU | 2010 | 3’ | SHORT
Did I do, O God, did I as I said I’d do? Good! I did.

IRC Dance Movement
DIRECTOR SHUETI | NL | 2010 | 2’ | SHORT
Director Shueti makes a statement by starting his short film with a quote by Martha Graham: “Movement never lies. It is a barometer telling the state of the soul. Weather to all who can read it.” He represents the Dutch breakdance collective ‘Illusionary Rockaz’ in a poetic desolate landscape.

Manoeuvres
DIRECTOR DOMINIQUE PALOMBO | CHOREOGRAPHER VALENTINE NORTON |US | 2011 | 3’ | SHORT
At first set against a blank concrete wall, an imaginary retro sidewalk scene reveals men in hats, crisscrossing and jostling as if on their way to work. The intersecting and colliding bodies evolve to form shapes, patterns, organized chaos. The film highlights the hypnotic improvisational hip-hop based style of the Project Valentine group led by Valentine Norton. Their movements are consistently compelling and evocative.

Jeu de Société
DIRECTOR STÉPHANIE AUBIN & ARNAUD BAUMANN | CHOREOGRAPHER STÉPHANE AUBIN | FR | 2010 | 4’ | SHORT
In 2010, the choreographer Stéphanie Aubin and the photographer Arnaud Baumann asked one hundred Rémois entering the dance… Like a human chain, each takes the posture of the previous person to imagine the continuation of his/her momentum.

White Swan
DIRECTOR KONSTANTIN TELEPATOV | CHOREOGRAPHER OLGA DUKHOVNAYA | RU | 2010 | 1’ | SHORT
A concise dance film interpretation of a classic. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake converted into a one-minute-ballet.

In Dreams I run Wild
DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER RAMAA MOSLEY | US | 2009 | 3’ | SHORT
A short film inspired by the desire to reveal one person’s inner world to someone else in the most unlikely places.


Second session: POINT TAKEN 2 (60′)

Point Taken is an interdisciplinary dance film project initiated by the Dutch Cultural Media Fund and the Per- forming Arts Fund NL in collaboration with the Dutch national broadcaster NTR and Cinedans. Each of the four teams of Netherlands-based filmmakers and choreographers has created a dance film of eight minutes duration. The premiere of these four films took place during Cinedans Dance on Screen 2011.

EVOLUTIE VAN SOORTEN
DIRECTOR DAN GEESIN, ESTHER ROTS | CHOREOGRAPHER MELISSA ELLBERGER | PRODUCER FAMILY AFFAIR FILMS | NL | 2011| 8’ | SHORT
An aimless but curious group of youngsters slip through a gate that happens to have been left open, and they find themselves on a construction site for Amsterdam’s North-South metro line. A parcours starts that brings them to a crescendo of new perspectives on themselves and companions.

SPIEGELINGEN
DIRECTOR MARINUS GROOTHOF |CHOREOGRAPHER DUNJA JOCIC | PRODUCER LEV PICTURES | NL | 2011 | 8’ | SHORT
A man flees from the clamour of a nameless, hectic street. He sneaks into what appears to be an empty building, a deserted space where he is increasingly confronted with himself.

HYPNAGOGIA; THE BORDERLAND STATE
DIRECTOR FRANK SCHEFFER | CHOREOGRAPHER MUHANAD RASHEED | PRODUCER FAMILY AFFAIR FILMS | NL | 2011 | 8’ | SHORT
A dance film about that transitional state between wakefulness and sleep known as hypnagogia. A choreographer struggling with his latest creation discovers the key to his work in a dream.

ONE FALSE MOVE
DIRECTOR CLARA VAN GOOL | CHOREOGRAPHER RIA MARKS | PRODUCER KEYFILM | NL | 2011 | 8’ | SHORT
This film playfully explores our contemporary globalized society, which is putting pressure on the notion of ‘identity’. A not-so-young stewardess misses her flight and has to stay behind in a world unknown to her. A series of disturbing, amusing, intimidating and romantic situations leads to her ill-fated death.