Opening Program Installation Program 1   Program 2-3  Program 4-5 Program 6 Program 7 Program 8 Program 9   Program 10  Program 11 Program 12 Program 13 Program 14 Closing Ceremony

Program 12: All Time Favorites

"Fly" (4min, 2001, New Zealand)
Choreographer/Director: Shona McCullagh

photo by Shona McCullagh

Loosely based on the ancient story of Dedalus and Icarus, the boy who flew too close to the sun, the film describes through the language of movement, the final moments before separation.

Shona McCullagh, one of New Zealand's outstanding dancer/choreographers and a founder of The Human Garden Dance Company, is known in the dance film world for her short “Hurtle” (1998) that appeared in major festivals around the world. Shona has also choreographed for television productions such as Xena-Warrior Princess and for corporate companies (DFS Galleria), product launches (Roche) and fashion shows (Calvin Klein).

"Dom Svobode" (30 min, 2000, Slovenia)
Director: Saso Podgorsek
Choreographer: Iztok Kovac

photo by Saso Podgorsek

Dom Svobode is not only a code for the world that the eyes of our generation see when looking back - it is also a code for the spaces of freedom an artist tries to create, wanting to rise above the banality of everyday life, wishing to inflame his imagination and to untie his body. To make a body stand upright when hanging from the wall is a gesture that in its heresy resembles fluttering of a bird on top of a gigantic chimney: goodbye, Earth! But the bird is not alone anymore, it has its flock of black birdies, which in a fleeting, unfocused shot become one with black dots on a die and with black dots on a piece of white paper. - Stojan Pelko

Cobra and Phantom gave birth to Dom Svobode. The godfathers were Kurasawa and Bunuel. The town of Trbovlje is Galilean see. The walls are not vertical any more.- Saso Podgorsek

Iztok Kovac, solo dancer, choreographer and the founder of EN-KNAP, an international dance group, has one of those creative energies which has enabled him, starting from nothing, to bring Slovene modern dance onto the European and world stages.

Born in 1964, Saso Podgorsek graduated from the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Since then he has realized a number of programmes for Studio Ljubljana at TV Slovenia and collaborated with Arxel Tribe production house (computer animation), Iztok Kovac and his group En-knap, as well as of Mute Records, Ajax Studio, ZRC SAZU, Stop magazine and several advertising agencies.

"Rosa" (15min, 1992 (Belgium/UK)
Director: Peter Greenway
Choreographer: Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

Woman and a man, a grande mansion, elegance mixed with oppressive decor...

Peter Greenway is well-known to world audiences for his films The Draughtsman's Contact in 1982, A Zed & Two Noughts in 1985, The Belly of an Architect in 1987, Drowning by Numbers in 1988, his most successful (in the mainstream) film in 1989, The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, Prospero's Books in 1991, the controversial The Baby of Mâcon in 1993, The Pillow Book in 1996, and 8 1/2 Women in 1999.
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, one of the most prominent modern European choreographers studied at MUDRA in Brussels, the school linked to La Monnaie and to Maurice Béjart's Ballet of the XXth Century, and then at the Tisch School of the Arts in New York. On her return from the States, she founded her company Rosas and created Rosas danst Rosas – the creation that brought Rosas an international recognition. Together with Rosas and Brussels' Royal Opera De Munt/La Monnaie, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker has launched a new international school for contemporary dance, where sixty students coming from some 25 countries are trained, over a three-year period, by more than 50 teachers.

"Black Spring" (26min, 2002, France/Nigeria)
Director: Benoit Dervaux
Choreographer: Heddy Maalem

photo by Benoit Dervaux

Winner of the Best Choreography for the Camera Award at the New York Dance on Camera Festival 2003, this film questions our way of looking at African bodies in movement. How can we surpass the numerous clichés that arise from our purely Western perception of Africa? Taken out of their usual context and endowed with a certain abstraction, the dancers' movements are filmed in such a way as to reflect very singular experience. The choreography interspersed with scenes of contemporary life in Africa, highlights both the political and emotional sensitivities of modern African dance.

Born in 1966, Benoit Dervaux climbed the ranks from camera assistant to camera operator to become one of the leading cinematographers in Belgium cinema. Simultaneously, started a career of his own as a documentary film director with “Gigi and Monica” in 1994. In 1996, directed the highly praised “Gigi, Monica... & Bianca”, nominated for the Prix Europa in the non-fiction category in 1997. Also known for his collaboration as cinematographer with Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne on the acclaimed “La Promesse” and “Rosetta”, winner of the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999.

Heddy Maalem was born in Batna, Algeria. Before discovering dance, he had been an avid practitioner of aikido for many years. In 1990, he established “La Compagnie Ivoire”. Heddy Maalem treats the body the same way as the poet treats the language. His precise and refine choreographies evoke light and determination.

"Cost of Living" (40min, 2004, UK)
Director: Lloyd Newson and DV8

photo by Lloyd Newson

David and Eddie are street performers struggling to get by in a seaside town. The Cost of Living follows them as they work, argue, fail at romance and fall out with old friends. The Cost of Living is part dance film, part drama. The stories are told through a combination of stylized movement and dialogue.

The Cost of Living is the fourth film of the DV8 Physical Theatre (http://www.dv8.co.uk/). DV8's work is about taking risks, both physically and aesthetically, dealing with personal politics and, above all, communicating ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to be radical yet accessible, and to take its work to as wide an audience as possible.

As the Artistic Director of DV8 Physical Theatre since 1986, and DV8 Films since 1989, Lloyd Newson has had a dynamic impact on contemporary dance by challenging the traditional aesthetics and forms that pervade most modern and classical dance. Instead, Newson concentrates on connecting meaning to movement and addressing current social issues. Newson has created 14 works for stage, consistently receiving major British and international awards. After studying psychology, Newson won a full scholarship to London Contemporary Dance School. He went on to dance with many notable choreographers of the era before founding DV8. His work has included commissions from the Sydney 2000 Olympic Arts Festivals and Tate Modern, and films for the BBC and Channel 4.