DF2 2020 Films
November 28, 2020
Puso Ng Pinoy Bboy
A story of three Bboys (Breakdancers) from different backgrounds but with the same passion in life. The Philippines has amazing bboys (breakdancers) with many struggles & hardships. Unknown stories that must be known to the world. This is not just a dance, but a dance that gives hope in a place where hope is hard to find. Puso ng Pinoy Bboy...the heart of the Philippine Bboy.
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Runtime 57 minutes and 51 seconds
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Clifton Abuan - United States
Align
‘Align’ is a conceptual dance film that presents two radically different dance forms: ballet and pole dance. Starring Californian born professional ballet dancer Casey Nokomis Pereira and British actress and dancer Holly Weston, our black and white film is set in a North London studio and cuts back and forth between the two dancers whilst they rehearse their sequences. The juxtaposition between the two crafts is demonstrated throughout, but our cinematographic choices also allow the audience to see the parallels between the two crafts and between these two women who are united in numerous ways, including rhythm, gracefulness and athleticism.
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Runtime 7 minutes and 21 seconds
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R.E. Wolfe - United States
The Vahine
A surprising and unconventional danced sign language brings together a deaf boy and a Tahitian dancer through an unexpected path of encounter.
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Runtime 15 minutes
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Camille Mỹ Giang - France
CHEN
‘CHEN’ tells the story of Chinese Australian dancer Chengwu Guo. Who at the age of 10 was thrown into the strict and rigorous training world of the Beijing Dance Academy. Whilst enduring long periods of time away from his family and being subjected to harsh training methods, Chen was moulded into a highly talented and daring artist. After winning a prestigious competition he migrated to Australia at the age of 16, quickly rising through the ranks to become one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed principal dancers. Now after meeting his partner Ako (also principal dancer of the Australian Ballet) and riding a continual wave of success he must face one of his greatest challenges yet; A career threatening injury that could force him to quit performing forever. Will this injury stop Chen, one of Australia’s best dancers, from reaching his physical and artistic peak?
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Runtime 12 minutes
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Orit Novak - Australia
Traces
Two strangers share a room for hours in different shifts. Their loneliness is broken as
they both find each other’s objects. A relationship that inhabits between fantasy and
reality emerges.
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Runtime 9 minutes and 43 seconds
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Alex Murrull - Spain
Choreographic Legacy: Beginnings
DS Projects Lab presents the documentary film ,,Choreographic Legacy: Beginnings’’, dedicated to exploring the evolution of Romanian choreographic art in its beginnings. The documentary progressively follows the evolution of the scenic dance, from the beginning of this artistic form in Romania, in the 1900's, then during the two world wars, with savory accents about the romantic and tumultuous interwar period, but also at the moment of the establishment of communism, all integrated into the worldwide context. In video and audio interviews, important personalities of the Romanian dance, witnesses of an unique era, reveal the artistic approach of each choreographer who made history, respectively Anton Romanowski, Floria Capsali, Elena Penescu-Liciu and Mitiță Dumitrescu, thus highlighting various moments essential for the development of Romanian dance.
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Runtime 55 minutes and 57 seconds
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Daniela Zaharia - Romania
Interview with Filmmakers
November 29, 2020
2 in a Million
2 in a Million (Director’s Cut) is J.A. Moreno’s personal take on the official music video he directed for twice- Grammy-nominated DJ/Producer Steve Aoki, multi-award winning musician Sting, and platinum-selling trio SHAED.
The video follows two dancers in one long shot, as they relay the feeling of falling in love and being soulmates. Filmed in just thirty minutes at the end of the official shoot, Moreno’s cut focuses on the dancers, seen only as silhouettes in the official version, and highlights their outstanding technical skills and chemistry.
Using the original choreography as a basis, Moreno’s direction delivers a spontaneous, raw and emotionally engaging performance.
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Runtime 4 minutes and 2 seconds
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J. A. Moreno - United States
You Just Do. (Dancing with Chronic Illness)
"You Just Do." is a documentary that focuses on four different dancers who live with invisible chronic illnesses.
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Runtime 28 minutes and 49 seconds
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Sophie Boisvert - United States
A Mother's Soliloquy
A recovering alcoholic must make a moral inventory in order to reconnect with her estranged son.
Born out of personal experiences, "A Mother's Soliloquy" combines visual poetry with an original score to explore my own tumultuous relationship with my mother.
Best played loud.
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Runtime 6 minutes
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Cameron Kostopoulos - United States
Dancing on the Shoulders of Giants
Dancing on the Shoulders of Giants. Two world premieres. Two storied ballet companies. One history changing event. This is the documentary that goes behind the scenes to show the artistic journey of these works, from concept through rehearsal and ultimately to the stage.
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Runtime 56 minutes and 46 seconds
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Kendrick Hopkins Jr - United States
A Tango To Remember
This is the music video for Chad Carrier´s and Big Mess Band´s new Song Stop What You´re Doing. The music video tells the story of a ballerina who tries to get her boyfriend´s attention. It features former American Ballet Theater Ballerina Elina Golde.
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Runtime 7 minutes
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Severine Reisp - United States
You bet I dance! - Und ob ich tanze!
In 2019, a dance workshop for children with cerebral palsy takes place for the first time in Germany, more precisely at the Staatsballett Berlin.
Leonie and Hannah, two girls with very different manifestations of this early childhood brain injury, embark on their first big dance adventure together with eight other children. But what is possible for children with physical and sometimes also cognitive restrictions? And then at one of the best dance theaters in the world - the Staatsballett Berlin? The children give an impressive answer. They dance. In their own special way.
Dancing means being happy. And that happiness makes the documentary "You bet I dance!" through the irrepressible zest for life of the children and the noticeable love of the parents formally tangible.
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Runtime 1 hour and 24 minutes
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Lars Pape - Germany
Interviews with Filmmakers
November 30, 2020
Genna
Flooding. Soft stone shedding. Hard water, merging veins.
Inside or outside. Bodies, connected. The earth, the stone, the air, the sea. Cold scream of burning lungs. Creating. Path bodies, planting bodies, growing bodies.
Connected. Inside or Outside.
Runtime 3 minutes and 23 seconds
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Thomas Delord, Maja Zimmerlin - Belgium
WHEN THE BASS DROPS
A 40 year old woman at rock bottom tries to OD, but instead has 2Pac appear in a dream telling her to pursue her passion. She decides to go for her childhood dream of being a hip hop dancer in NYC despite the obstacles.
Runtime 13 minutes
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Eddy Duran, Marlene Rhein - United States
Dance for it
"Dance for it" documentary tells the story of three dancing couples united by the common goal
to create a legacy of their performance: preserve the heritage of Kizomba dance, loving
relationships and something crucial within themselves. These human stories about love and helping each other against all odds show how this dance helps them to explore and resolve deep personal issues and crucial life questions. Taking the audience on a journey to Spain, Portugal, Angola and Panama, the fusion of their personal origin and the roots of Kizomba are illuminated.
Runtime 50 minutes
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Anna Vinokur - Russian Federation
Pas de Deux
A love story transcends time when two ballet dancers meet at a mysterious private estate.
Runtime 5 minutes and 45 seconds
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Jason O. Silva - United States
At the limit of feelings
Classical love triangle. An excruciating situation from which there seems to be no way out. Love. Jealousy. Revenge. What can happen if all these feelings are at the limit?
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Runtime 10 minutes
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Liudmila Komrakova - Russian Federation
Bad Feeling
A couple of young Polynesian dancers share a dance in Paris, maybe for the last time ...
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Runtime 3 minutes and 51 seconds
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Nyko PK16 - French Polynesia
Icon
ICON is about the creating of an image, an unattainable icon of perfection that is pursued in vain. Again and again we are confronted by this, as are the figures in this film. In the world that they created, they discover their imperfections and project this on the icon they designed themselves . They give her the shape they can not attain, a shape of this perfect image that can last only briefly. An endless practice in repetition, in increased expectations, in the self-imposed expectation of perfection that can never be fully achieved.
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Runtime 5 minutes and 59 seconds
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Guillaume Versteeg - Netherlands
