REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN FILMS
REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN FILMS
FILM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Opening of REELING at 8 PM (doors at 7:30 PM)
Thursday, July 20
Intros, land acknowledgement, thank you’s
MORE ABOUT THE FILMS SCREENING DAY 1
Honouring the Children, Sandra Lamouche (3:51)
A short dance and spoken word film that honours those who survived residential schools, remember those who didn’t, and build hope for the future. The jingle dress is a healing dance and is said to originate during the Spanish flu pandemic.
Sandra Lamouche is a member of the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. She is a champion hoop dancer, an award-winning Indigenous education leader, TEDx Speaker, author, a multidisciplinary storyteller and artist. She completed her master’s thesis on Indigenous Dance and wholistic well-being. The hoop dance and its teachings of unity, balance, equality and interconnectedness of creation influence her creations. This often includes land based practices, environmental and climate related topics as well as, social justice issues include advocacy for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Residential School Survivors and their descendants, both which have impacted her and her family.
Film Collaborators
Jingle dress song by Brock Stonefish (Delaware) a musician that has performed internationally and is based out of Ontario. Filmed and edited by Rick Gaudio (Metis), he is an educator, writer and filmmaker based in Alberta. Jingle Dress made by Sandra Lamouche, dance, choreography and spoken word, also by Sandra Lamouche.
xīn nī 廖芯妮, Jasmine Liaw (7:26)
An intimate auto-ethnographical, experimental visual poem and moving-portrait, xīn nī 廖芯妮 (understanding you) explores an embodiment of ancestral and dance-technological meaning. As a listening exchange of familial storytelling, I’m navigating my contemporary cultural views within my Hakka diaspora by tracing the relationships within my given Chinese name; investigating migration, heritage, and diasporic identity.
Jasmine Liaw is a queer emerging Chinese Hakka Canadian interdisciplinary artist in dance performance, new media art, and experimental film. Bicoastal, she is based in so-called Toronto and Vancouver. Her practice explores the complexities of her contemporary views of Hakka diaspora, queerness, and environmental anxiety. She is the Artistic Associate of Chimerik 似不像, working in interdisciplinary research and creation. She is the current artist-in-residence with F-O-R-M Recorded Movement Society’s Technology and Interaction Program. Some of her recent collaborations and presentations include The Asian Artist Culture and Trust/Holt Renfrew, Vector Festival, MPCAS/Grunt Gallery, RT Collective Commission Film Program in partnership with Toronto Dance Theatre, in conjunction with Chimerik’s project “Ritual Spective,” and adelheid dance projects.
Film credits:
Directed & Written by: Jasmine Liaw
Choreography & Performance by: Jasmine Liaw
Executive Creative Collaborator: William Liaw
Featuring the Voice of: William Liaw & Anne Leong
Commissioned by: RT Collective co-presented with Toronto Dance Theatre, in conjunction with Chimerik 似不像 Collective’s project, Ritual-Spective 迴融
DP and Cinematography by: Aysia Tse, Jasmine Liaw
Assistant Camera Operator: Dee Luu
Sound Design and Assistant Set Designer/Camera Operator: Dino Hajdarovac
Photogrammetry/3D Capture Assistants: Aysia Tse, Jenaya Liaw, William Liaw
Motion Capture Advisor: Immony Mèn (Public Visualization Lab and Dia:Stories)
Motion Capture Dance Artist: Jasmine Liaw
Archival Footage provided by: William Liaw
Editor: Jasmine Liaw
Dramaturgical and Technological Supervisor: Immony Mèn (OCAD University)
Creative Mentorship: Sammy Chien (Chimerik 似不像 Collective)
Illusion, Andres Felipe Moreno (3:40)
Land of Hope and Gloria, Yezenia Jiang (1:42)
Hunker down and peer from another angle, looking down from other horizons. We are the recorders of urban changes, using different sketches of light to carry the heavy ink and color. Whether in the countryside or in a corner, every color and expression is bound to be covered and submerged …….
The countryside as the easily abandoned homeland has long been covered by high-rise buildings, just like the rapid expansion and spread of subway lines, which represent the hope and vision of development on the one hand. we can always find that everyone on this land is growing upwards, even the construction of the renewal cannot throw this vitality away, all this is like the track of the four seasons of Shishu Lake is changing day by day, but the memories of those mothers are still there.
About the film contributors: The creative team this time are all students, we come from different universities and majors, gathered together by our interest and love, and finally created this work. The team members are: Photographer- Mao Li, writer- Qingshu Dai.
Wave Rider, Dustin Chok (8:28)
House dance and music culture have made an impression globally. Now, House communities all over the world seek guidance from teachers and innovators that created the dance form and music that they love. Wave Rider captures the process of sharing dance knowledge between generations of House dancers. This short documentary features “freestyle” compositions by Future (NYC) and Sekou Sonko Boisclair (YEG).
Artist Bios:
Director Dustin Chok – Dustin Chok is an Asian-Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Edmonton, Alberta. Dustin specializes in an ethnographic process that focusses on building strong connections with his subject matter. Dustin seeks projects that embolden the vibrant voices of prairie folk.
Lead Choreography – Future : Born and raised in the “Boogie Down” Bronx, New York City, Future began his pursuit of “The Elements of HIP HOP Culture”(1979-80) with the ORIGINAL true form of Hip Hop dance “BREAKIN”, but soon fell in love with the style of dance known as “Electric Boogie”(NY style POPPING) at the age of ten in his neighborhood and school gatherings. Having mastered the Hip-hop and House styles, he began to showcase his ability to freestyle in the most challenging forum known to the Street dancer – “The Circle”. Future is a CORE MEMBER of both “Full Circle Productions” (a NYC Hip Hop dance theater company), and world-renowned fashion, dance, and
performance family the “House of NINJA” NYC.
Choreography – Sekou Sonko Boisclair: Sekou is a renown Canadian House dancer based in
Edmonton, AB. Sekou champions House music and dance culture, hosting sessions and shows to
promote his artistry. Sekou is also a bourgeoning western Canadian DJ.
Cinematographer – Colin Waugh: Colin Waugh is an Alberta based commercial and film director,
editor, and producer working full-time at Sticks & Stones and teaching part-time at MacEwan
University.
—Intermission—
Pow Wow, Howie Summers (26:07)
This intimate look at the Big River Cree pow wow in northern Saskatchewan features behind-the-scenes visits with performers and Elders, as well as mesmerizing footage of many different types of dances, drumming and singing. Alvin Manitopyes explains the pow wow’s evolution from the age of the buffalo hunt and warrior societies to the more social event it is today. Thomas Christian discusses the discipline dancers must bring to the art form and the storytelling that goes along with it. Sheldon Laughing Horse Sutherland points out the subtle and countless ways performers express their personal style. Linda Standing, Cecile Nepoose and Charles Rabbitskin explain the spiritual significance of the exquisite handcrafted regalia. Intercut with the pow wow’s hypnotic whir of movement, colour and sound, these individuals and others share their personal reasons for taking part in this ancient tradition and its enormous impact on their identity.
Live Event entertainment to follow: Melody Cardinal Member of the Cree Nation, live dancer
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Day 2 REELING at 8 pm
Friday, July 21
Intros, land acknowledgement, thank you’s
MORE ABOUT THE FILMS SCREENING DAY 2
ČIŠƐT, Cameron Fraser-Monroe (3:18)
A volleyball court as an arena for territorial disputes.
Foujita Foujita, Mayumi Lashbrook (7:38)
Foujita Foujita is a playful look at the luxuries and hardships of Japanese French painter Léonard Foujita Tsuguharu. A man who straddled two countries, known for his absurd and iconic looks, Foujita and his vast portfolio is a treasured part of art history.
Choreographer Mayumi Lashbrook (she/her) embodies Foujita’s determination and shameless drive for notoriety. She pays homage to the painter’s heyday in Paris, France when he was living next to Modigliani and Soutine in Cité Falguière – the historic location where the film is shot. Foujita Foujita is a glimpse at a Japanese visionary building a legacy within Eurocentric standards during the interwar period of the Roaring Twenties.
Permission to Dream?, Aly Turgeon (3:55)
Fragments of dream imagery collide to form a contorted narrative, one which seeks to make sense of dream spaces and the occurrences within them. “PERMISSIONTODREAM?” acts as a multi-layered lens into prophetic dreaming. Liminality, urgency, and a sense of displacement are framed and
investigated through contemporary dance, video editing, multimedia animation, text, and audio.
Undertones, Kat Castro (5:16)
Humans are like existential onions. There are many layers to uncover, hence the title name, Undertones. The project is an experimental movement film that focuses on the relationship between the underlying layers of architecture, music & sound, and the movement artists. It plays with themes of curiosity, tension, connection, and release. Through movement, it explores how personal experiences and emotions are not only affected by other individuals, but also by the elements in the environment that surrounds us. The relationship is cyclical in nature and as the cycle repeats, we gain more awareness within and outside ourselves.
Kat (she/they) is a 1st generation Filipina-American interdisciplinary artist, embodied healer, director, and producer currently based out of NJ/NYC (Territory of the Lenni-Lenape people). More importantly, she’s Human. Grounded in the theme of kapwa (shared-self)and rooted in ancestral healing, she focuses on creating belonging spaces to honour vulnerability and self-exploration through her work. She is inspired to hold creative spaces to encourage others to practice self-advocacy and explore the relation of their inner and external world.
Film Contributors
Doomgurl/Mandy Sanchez Cruz | Music Producer
Mandy aka Doomgurl is a prairie born Salvadorean-Canadian dancer, DJ and beatmaker based in Toronto, originally from Winnipeg. She spent her early years as a child learning traditional dances from her culture until she was 15. Her musical influences stem far back as long car rides as a child exposed to various latin genres.
Kosi Eze | Movement Artist
Music is the number one drive to be able to fully connect with myself and the things around me. With music, you can have an understanding of what environment you are in, whether it be the club, playing all types of music or the sound of birds chirping and trees blowing, immersing yourself in nature.
Frances Antoinette Honoridez | Movement Artist
Divergent, yet captivatingly unassuming; Frances Honoridez is a dance artist with infectious mystery. Her movement vocabulary emphasizes all that is creature-like, with self-inquiry at the centre. She shapeshifts; captivating her audiences by whimsical play with linear and abstract forms.
Jayson Collantes | Movement Artist
Jayson Collantes is a 25-year-old professional Breaker who currently resides in Toronto, Ontario. He started dancing at the age of 14 and has been competing internationally for 7 years. Some of the events that he has participated in are Rock harder (2022), You Be Ill-The Vaccine(2020), Battle Of The Year(2019), The Legits Blast Prague(2018), and several other competitions worldwide.
Jerick Collantes | Colorist
Jerick Collantes is a creator that focuses on photography, cinematography and dance as his main modes of artistry. Incorporating design theories, Jerick has a keen interest in capturing people in motion. His work revolves around the ability to create a flow for the audience to engage with an image, all while maintaining the integrity of the subject.
Yar (friend), Fran Menchon (4:19)
YAR, directed by Fran Menchon and produced by Farnaz Ohadi
Beyond the Off-Screen, Axel Robin (9:39)
A film crew prepares to film a scene in a colourful studio. As filming progresses, their gestures gradually slip into dancing, revealing the beauty of the choreography of film sets. A whimsical and original short film that you will thoroughly enjoy.
Axel Robin is a young filmmaker from Montreal searching for a balance between sincerity and absurdity, as well as between organicity and artificiality, experimenting through fiction and dance films. Finalist of the Cours écrire ton court competition in 2022, he’s now in postproduction for his first documentary project and in development for two fiction shorts. (sourced: La FiFA)
—–Intermission—–
Showing COMMISSION pieces:
In Petrichor Daze, Shannon Lin (6:29)
In Petrichor Daze tells the story of a pleasant encounter with an unmet acquaintance, an unfolding duality that explores the existence of the other only through the idea of them.
Shannon Lin’s film, In Petrichor Daze, was commissioned for REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN.
The Acrylic Dancer, Audrey Boccara (04:23)
The Acrylic Dancer is an captivating dance film that immerses viewers in a mesmerizing world where the realms of dance, circus art, and painting converge.
The story follows a talented dancer captivated by a mysterious art gallery that beckons her to explore its secrets. Intrigued by an enigmatic painting, the dancer’s curiosity gets the better of her, and she can’t resist reaching out to touch it. In a breathtaking twist of fate, the paint’s magic envelopes her, drawing her into a captivating dance of transformation. As she gracefully moves, the boundaries between artist and canvas blur, making her an integral part of the artwork itself.
The Acrylic Dancer is an ode to the transformative power of art and the indomitable spirit that resides within every artist. As the film unfolds, viewers witness a visual symphony of expression where the dancer transitions between the ground and the air, symbolizing the delicate balance between stability and freedom in embracing change.
Audrey Boccara’s film, The Acrylic Dancer, was commissioned for REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN.
Talk back with commissioned artists (10:00)
Live Event entertainment to follow: DJ Giovanni
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Day 3, Closing Day of REELING at 8 PM
Commissions co-sponsored by FAVA, with support from the Edmonton Arts Council “Connections and Exchanges” Program
Saturday, July 22
Intros, land acknowledgement, thank you’s
Oracle, Tavia Christina (6:06)
A seer foretells the end of the world.
Oracle asks how we might approach the end times. Drawing inspiration from the Anishinaabe Seven Fire prophecy, as well as the Judeo-Christian account of Revelations, choreographer Tavia Christina and the dancers researched what it would be like for them to bear the weight of this knowledge within the Eight Fire, finding community, love, and celebration at the core of their collective response.
Tavia Christina is a multi-hyphenate artist based in Tkarón:to (Toronto, ON), residing on
treaty 13 territory. Tavia embraces their ethereal nature as a driving force in both their
artistic expression and research.
Collaborators:
Dancers:
Audrianna Martin del Campo – (she/they) is a Mexican-Canadian freelance dance artist and
photographer currently based in Toronto.
Lukas Malkowski – is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adult), performance maker and Aquarius based in
Berlin. He has performed in John Wick 4, CTM Festival(Berlin), Babylon Berlin, the Rodeo
Festival(Munich), Festival Trans Amérique(Montreal), and the Schrittmacher Festival(Holland).
Bri Clarke- Bri is a performer, choreographer, teacher, and producer, based in Tkarón:to. Her
creative practice centres around how physical, textual, and musical narratives shape characters
onstage.
Judy Luo – A child of the east and west, Judy was born in Fujian, China and immigrated to
Toronto, Canada, with her family at a young age. Whether in the studio, skipping in a grass field
whilst listening to podcasts, or dribbling a ball on the court, she enjoys the intersectionality
between the kinesthetic and cognitive worlds.
Sebastian “Bash” Hirtenstein- undeniable versatility, unshakeable fearlessness and
captivating qualities in performance have allowed him to work with a wide spectrum of
choreographers & companies.
Choreography: Tavia Christina
Directors: Tavia Christina & Daniel Stewart is a Mexican-Canadian artist residing in Toronto.
The media through which he expresses himself are music, poetry, and film—Oracle marking his
first foray into direction.
Original Score: Brayden Krueger –
Brayden Krueger is a Montreal based percussionist and composer. Brayden currently holds the
position of principal percussion with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and is acting principal
percussion of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Director of Photography: Nicholas Maiorano
Victor, Tony Olivares (6:23)
Letting, go is another way to say, I love you so.
Tony Olivares was born in Managua, Nicaragua, in 1969 and decided to entered in a national youth dance competition with prices and the opportunity to be on tv. He has performed in various festivals, stages and with many artists. Tony has also adjudicated dance in festivals, and is presently filming his work and creating a monthly improvisation dance night.
Someone Else’s Dream, Mark Bath (5:00)
A conversation between a dancing self-portrait in the form of an animated film and a moving body in the form of a dance solo, Someone Else’s Dream uses digital rotoscoping and editing techniques to animate doppelgängers of the artist. Bringing to life multiple “shadow selves” by tracing dance footage frame by frame is a time consuming and meditative process that complements and collides with the joyful abandon and instantaneity captured in the original video clips from which the animation is created.
Mark Bath is an artist based in Toronto. Originally from Newfoundland, Mark studied Dramatic Literature, Creative Writing and Performance and Communications Media at
Memorial University; and Illustration and Printmaking at OCAD University. In addition to his visual art practice, Mark is an active dancer. In 2018, Mark began research for his first dance solo by merging his visual art-making practices with contemporary dance.
The body of the war, Viktoria Khoroshylova (7:00)
The Body of the War is a documentary dance which appears in the gap between Victoria’s experience of the outside environment in peaceful Sweden and the inner world full of the war in Ukraine. Her body has become the body of the war. She is searching within herself to find where the war resides. Is it stocked in the cracks, wounds of the body, hair, skin pores, feet, bends and lengths of the body? The film is divided in three chapters and locations that are linked to specific places in Ukraine. The rock on a beach brings Victoria back to houses in ruins, a wheat field on a beautiful day reminds her of the burning fields in south of Ukraine and the safe landscape and statue of the Barsebäcks power plant is a stark contrast to the reality of the Zaporizhzhia NPP which is under constant military attack by the Russian army.
Director | Viktoriia Khoroshylova
Screen writer | Viktoriia Khoroshylova
Operator | Carl Johan Folkesson Karlidag
Producer | Mira Helenius Martinsson
Composer | Lance Conrad, Kadir Demir, Ben Winwood
Resurrection Under the Ocean, Serkan Aktas (2:57)
Resurrection under the Ocean is about the resurrection of a man who was helplessly sinking to the bottom of the ocean, after falling to the bottom of the ocean, with a symbolic narrative.
Serkan Aktaş is an award-winning independent film and video producer, director, writer, editor and educator. He has been making films as an Independent Filmmaker since 2015. His special interests are Fantasy and Science Fiction Cinema, Abstract Mathematics, Fractal, Physics, Cosmology, Metaphysics and Sufism. His native language is Turkish and his foreign language is English.
A Butterfly Is Knocking on the Window, Mohammad Hasani (7:47)
Injuries do not always manifest themselves as visible scars. Short experimental film, A Butterfly Is Knocking on the Window (Iran 2022) by Mohammad Hasani.
Mohammad Hasani is from Hamedan a Part of Iran in West, He can Speak Both Persian and Turkish, and also he can speak in English, too. He started His work from Tehran(Iran Capital) in Iranian Youth Cinema Society. After a year he has been accepted in Art university and studied in Cinema director course and participated in the workshops. 36th Fajr International film festival Talent Campus, Tehran international film festival, 11th Cinema verite. He directed his first professional film “Stencil” when he was 25 years old at the university which was accepted in several international and national Film festivals, And that was the beginning of his Career as a Filmmaker.
—Intermission—
Showing COMMISSION pieces:
Blushing Phantom, erψn temp3st (7:00)
Blushing Phantom explores ideas of disappearance, divinati0n and mimiciry within the context of an online world that expresses itself through a;_<333uniquely digital waysIt blends liv action video with 3D anim@tion;drawing bizarre links between the ?physical#virtual, and 1magined realms at whose intersections describe…and likely in eBlushing Phantom references the symbology of flowers as its own secret systenstead celebrates the mutable nature of a transparent and slippery embodiment
m of communication harkening from the days of you’re/ …and mimicry in the natural world. Its visual languag reference spsychedelia, divination, and mimicry in the natural world.
It is a a magiceye.gif hiding an image is in a state of perpetual reinvention.
Some bu++erf1ies have eyespots to confuse their predators. And some fl❁w❀✽s are encoded.
In many ways it is better online t
o disappear.
erψn temp3st’s film, Blushing Phantom, was commissioned for REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN.
Stepdown, Adam Bentley (5:15)
Stepdown urgently brings to life the parts of streets not flattened by snow and reimagines them as part of the struggle to bring back life-giving natural systems from planet-killing car dependency. We are radical tactical urbanism laying obviously bare how much space cities have surrendered to cars over the last century. We can move, dance, get fit, laugh, and love. We are snow and we are taking back space that was rightfully ours.
Adam Bentley’s film, Stepdown, was commissioned for REELING: DANCE ON SCREEN.
Talk back with commissioned artists (10:00)
Live Event entertainment to follow: DJ Gulzar and aoide.io