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2016 Film Selections

We are pleased to announce programming for our 7th fall festival, October 20 to 23 at the Brava Theater Center in San Francisco. Seventy films from around the globe, including many U.S. premieres, will offer audiences a kaleidoscopic look at dance in its varied forms, both old and new.

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2016 Films San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Abismo, Director: Pablo Diconca, Choreographer: Catherine GaudetAbismo

(Canada, 2016) 8:12
Director: Pablo Diconca
Choreographer: Catherine Gaudet
View Film | Schedule

A man and a woman, drifting on a raft, dance with their instincts by choosing the only possible escape…

2016 Films San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Armstrong Infused, Hayley Bowman, Daniel QuinonesArmstrong Infused

(USA, 2016) 2:15
Director: Hayley Bowman, Daniel Quinones
Choreographer: Hayley Bowman
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A meditation on the vastness of nature and the profound therapy that it offers.

2016 Films San Francisco Dance Film FestivalBe Fabulous, First Stop: Sexitude

(USA, 2015) 5:09
Director: Meghan Ryan
Choreographer: D’Arcy Drollinger
More Info | Schedule

Outfitted in neon spandex, fishnet stockings, and gold booty shorts, Sexitude dancers of all shapes, sizes, genders, sexual orientations, and fitness levels come to werk it.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016Being and Nothingness

(Canada, 2016) 8:29
Director: Alejandro Alvarez Cadilla
Choreographer: Guillaume Côté
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A reflection in dance of a key theme in Jean-Paul Sartre’s existential philosophy. Featuring National Ballet of Canada Prima Ballerina Greta Hodgkinson.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016Black Ballerina

(USA, 2015) 60:00
Director: Frances McElroy
View Trailer | Schedule Buy DVD

Set in the overwhelmingly white world of classical dance, Black Ballerina tells the stories of several black women from different generations who fell in love with ballet. A story of passion, opportunity, and heartbreak that reaches beyond the ethereal world of ballet to engage viewers in larger issues of exclusion, equal opportunity and change.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Body Language ZoneBody Language Zone

(Finland, 2015) 10:13
Director: Kim Saarinen
Choreographer: Johanna Keinänen
View Trailer | Schedule 

In four episodes a humorous consultant gives expert advice on body language for the office environment.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Burning As It RunsBurning As It Runs

(USA, 2015) 15:31
Director: Lucy Kerr
Choreographer: Lucy Kerr and Chris Carlone
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Burning As It Runs is an exposition of the vibrancy and the failure of the human imagination. A woman in the desert dances in tension with her memories and dreams in a longing to be what she is not.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival, ClaveClave

(USA, 2015) 14:50
Director: Carmen Corral
Choreographer: Luis Ernesto Lopez Nuñez, Carlos Cordoba, Christopher Rojas, Carmen Corral
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An undocumented worker dances in a local salsa competition to be noticed by the girl of his dreams.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016Click Clack Click

(New Zealand, 2015) 6:01
Director: James Wilkinson
Choreographer: Gina Stevens
Schedule

A young waitress ponders on her place in society through dance. While making her way home that evening she fantasizes on what could be.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, CodaCODA

(Canada, 2015) 11:00
Director: Denis Poulin, Martine Époque
Choreographer: Martine Époque, Frédérick Gravel
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In this technically and formally innovative film, luminous bodies—created using motion capture techniques—transform and evolve to the rhythms of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Coire RuadhCoire Ruadh

(UK, 2015) 10:10
Director: Simon Fildes and Katrina McPherson
Choreographer: Robbie Synge, Ruth Janssen, Frank McConnell
View Film | Schedule

Coire Ruadh in the Scottish Highlands. A line is drawn on a map. the border of wild or not wild. Three dance artists’ responses at the same location at different times of year.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, ConnectivityConnectivity

(USA, 2015) 6:07
Director: RJ Muna
Choreographer: Jodi Lomask
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Connectivity makes physical the psychological experience of intimacy. The support which allows a person to explore an openness that is impossible alone, can also frustrate in its tethering.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Crack the CypherCrack the Cypher

(Canada, 2014) 7:28
Director: Marites Carino
Choreographer: Tentacle Tribe
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When a B-Boy stumbles upon a back alley battle, he gets ‘in the zone’ with a B-Girl. Here their spirits vibe in an out-of-body choreographic journey that soars up and beyond the cypher.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Dance of the NeuronsDance of the Neurons

(USA, 2015) 5:06
Director: Jody Oberfelder and Eric Siegel
Choreographer: Jody Oberfelder
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Twenty-four dancers echo the birth of neurons and synaptic connections.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Dancing DayDancing Day

(USA, 2016) 3:53
Director: Tytus Bergstrom
Choreographer: Tytus Bergstrom
Schedule

Fantasy about playing hooky from work and the surprise events that follow when leaving the house.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, DemiurgeThe Demiurge #1 (La Démiurge #1)

(Italy, 2015) 1:10
Director: Alain El Sakhawi
Choreographer: Alain El Sakhawi – collaborating: Valeria Zampardi, Fernando Roldan Ferrer
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A young mischievous girl plays with her victim.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Desert WidowDesert Widow

(USA, 2015) 10:54
Director: Jil Guyon
Choreographer: Jil Guyon
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Part performance documentation, part photographic cinematography, Desert Widow features an iconic, enigmatic woman traversing a vast, otherworldly landscape in an exploration of female identity, loss, and transcendence.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, DiscoDisco

(Germany, 2016) 2:09
Director: Boris Seewald
Choreographer: Simone Schmidt, Althea Corlett
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A handmade dance video of 1,250 paintings on paper.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, EvokeEvoke

(USA, 2015) 3:00
Director: Alexander Gabrielli
Choreographer: WHYTEBERG
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Two ageless figures awaken and move together for a brief but intimate moment in time.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, ExposeExpose

(The Netherlands, 2015) 11:58
Director: Moniek van der Kallen
Choreographer: Moniek van der Kallen
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Through transparent curtains and glass ornaments a girl appears, dancing around her room carefree. Lightheartedly she moves across the floor. Until she realizes she is not alone.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Exquisite CorpsExquisite Corps

(USA, 2016) 5:49
Director: Mitchell Rose
View Film | Schedule | More Info

Forty-two American contemporary choreographers link together on a chain love letter to dance.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, FlamencoFlamenco

(Canada, 2015) 12:00
Director: Gloria Ui Young Kim
Choreographer: Carmen Romero
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A story within a story about lust, loneliness, and obsession, Flamenco takes us into the mind of dancer Camilla as she spins out of control and into madness.

Fluidity

(USA, 2016) 3:34
Director: Syra McCarthy
Choreographer: Joseph Gapasin
Schedule

Nothing is ever static.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Girl in the Green DressThe Girl in the Green Dress

(USA, 2015) 15:00
Director: Johanna Goldstein
Choreographer: Justine Menter
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A surreal drama, set in the conservative world of America’s 1950s housewives, exploring themes of modern feminism and sexual liberation.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, GivenGiven

(USA, 2016) 2:55
Director: Peter Clark
Choreographer: Khala Brannigan
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A diptych film reflecting the energy we are given from our environment and how we return that energy with creative expression.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Graceful Girls Graceful Girls

(Australia, 2015) 95:00
Director: Olivia Peniston-Bird
Choreographer: Brianna Lee, Brooke Synnott, Diane Synnott, Enid Feltham
View Trailer | Schedule | Buy DVD

In the beautiful, physically demanding, and uniquely Australian dance sport of Calisthenics, there is only one solo prize that matters: “Most Graceful Girl.”

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, hold ( S T I L L )hold ( S T I L L )

(USA, 2016) 6:56
Director: Jenny Stulberg
Choreographer: Lauren Simpson & Jenny Stulberg
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First dance-film in the collection “Still Life Dances,” a series of movement studies based on still life paintings from the de Young Museum.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, I Loved YouI Loved You and I Loved You

(UK, 2015) 3:17
Director: Roswitha Chesher
Choreographer: Sally Marie
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A short film, inspired by a dance theatre work created by Sweetshop Revolution, about the life of composer Morfydd Owen, exploring both her music and the men she loved.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, In BetweenIn Between

(USA, 2016) 4:24
Director: Lillian Stamey & Blake Horn
Choreographer: Lillian Stamey
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Two lovers, whose relationship has been uprooted and unraveled, are gripped by their inability to listen, trust, and surrender.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, In InterludeIn Interlude

(USA, 2016) 3:26
Director: Jamie Lew
Choreographer: Neaz Kohani
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Dance and animation are combined to create a duet where the quiet inner experience of heartbreak and heart healing are shared with a roomful of strangers.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, In PassingIn Passing

(USA, 2015) 10:57
Director: Andrea Schermoly
Choreographer: Andrea Schermoly
Schedule

Starring four New York City Ballet dancers, In Passing explores one woman’s internal process during the breakdown of a relationship.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, In the Countenance of KingsIn the Countenance of Kings

(USA, 2016) 3:17
Director: Ezra Hurwitz
Choreographer: Justin Peck
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An original short-film adaptation of Justin Peck’s ballet, In the Countenance of Kings. Filmed on location in the old 16th Street Train Station in Oakland with music by Sufjan Stevens.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Indigo Grey: The PassageIndigo Grey: The Passage

(USA, 2015) 7:00
Director: Sean Robinson
Choreographer: Hammerstep
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A young boy’s discovery of a mysterious gas mask provides a glimpse into an alternate reality.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Inheriting a LegacyInheriting a Legacy (Herencia de un Pueblo)

(Peru, 2016) 12:02
Director: Carmen Roman
Choreographer: Carmen Roman
Schedule

Set in the vibrant Peruvian town of El Carmen, this film highlights the people, town, and dance legacy of African descendants in Peru.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, InterludeInterlude

(The Netherlands, 2015) 9:56
Director: Harrie Verbeek
Choreographer: Jelena Kostić
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In a lonely fight for her identity, a woman finds power and acceptance through a bold and vulnerable dance.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Itsy Bitsyitsy bitsy

(USA, 2015) 6:37
Director: Lisa Kusanagi & JuJu Kusanagi
Choreographer: Lisa Kusanagi & JuJu Kusanagi
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In order to think and create freely, sisters Lisa Kusanagi & JuJu Kusanagi question whether other forms of intelligence exist.

Just So

(USA, 2016) 8:00
Director: Ben Estabrook & Amy Seiwert
Choreographer: Amy Seiwert
Schedule

A morality play exploring anticipation and the ’70s.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Kick Ball ChangeKick Ball Change

(Russia/USA/Israel, 2016) 54:52
Director: Guy Sadot
Choreographer: Maxim Kozhevnikov
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A glimpse into the creative, crazy, and inspiring mind of Maxim Kozhevnikov, five-time professional world champion in ballroom dance.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Lift You UpLift You Up

(USA, 2016) 4:55
Director: Lauren Clifford & Amanda Beane
Choreographer: Laura Kirkeby & Algerion Bryant
Schedule

When a young Caucasian woman and African American man find themselves in an uncomfortable confrontation with each other and the police, they must examine their relationship with race and learn to acknowledge the Self in each other.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, MazeMaze

(UK, 2016) 6:02
Director: Eve McConnachie
Choreographer: Sophie Laplane
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Two young people discover each other as they explore a labyrinthine and derelict Glasgow swimming pool.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Mechanical BallettThe Mechanical Ballet (Le Ballet Mécanique)

(France, 2013) 22:00
Director: Lorraine Féline
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Shot inside a factory which makes pointe shoes for ballet dancers, the film reveals the different steps of the shoes’ creation, highlights the gestures of the workers, and explores their relationship with the machines and the sounds they create.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Message To...Message To..

(France, 2016) 15:00
Director: Rami Hassoun
Choreographer: Rami Hassoun
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With reference to the Syrian conflict, this work reflects the exploitation of women—in other words, human beings—when economic greediness takes priority over political humanist engagement.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Molat MolatMolat & Molat

(USA, 2016) 5:34
Director: Kate Duhamel
Choreographer: Pascal Molat
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This is the story of Pascal Molat dancing, as told by Matisse Molat, age 5.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, My Best FriendMy “Best” Friend, According To Him

(USA, 2016) 3:45
Director: Josh Anderson and Logan Hall
Choreographer: Josh Anderson
Schedule

A man tries to remain zen when he is forced to carry his complaining co-worker around for the day.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Natalia & RobbyNatalia & Robby dance ‘Ori Tahiti

(French Polynesia, 2016) 2:36
Director: Marc E. Louvat
Choreographer: Natalia Louvat & Robby Ariiotima
Schedule

Natalia Louvat & Robby Ariiotima are two ‘Ori Tahiti dancers. They won Best Duet prize in the Tahiti Nui Competition 2015. In Tahiti, on the edge of the road, they perform their music and dance.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, NaveNAVE

(México, 2016) 4:51
Director: Tania Reza & Omar Linares
Choreographer: Tania Reza
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In this futuristic concept-film, a vessel lands on a lonely planet and inspires the rebirth of a hopeless world that has lost its spiritual and natural conscience.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, One OvertureOne Overture

(USA, 2013) 10:07
Director: Edward King
Choreographer: Jorma Elo
Schedule

Filmed over a three-day period, this documentary shows the collaboration between principal dancer Maria Kochetkova and choreographer Jorma Elo during the creation of a new dance piece.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Otis Walks into the WoodsOtis Walks Into The Woods

(USA, 2016) 9:22
Director: Derrick Belcham and Emily Terndrup
Choreographer: Emily Terndrup
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Set in the historic Philip Johnson Glass House, the film cross-examines the relationship between two dancers and the relationship between interior and exterior as it relates to the house, the mind, and the reflection of both.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Personal PronounsPersonal Pronouns

(Slovakia, 2016) 15:27
Director: Andrea Sudorova
Choreographer: Jan Sevcik
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A cinematic poem about the many faces of love.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Pharaohs of MemphisPharaohs of Memphis

(USA, 2015) 54:05
Director: Phoebe Driscoll
Schedule

Documentary about Jookin’, a form of dance that sprang up from the streets of Memphis in the 1980s, and the present-day tension between the pioneers and the stars of today’s world.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, PrimariaPrimaria

(USA, 2016) 83:27
Director: Mary Jane Doherty
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This documentary follows three young children growing up in Cuba’s world-famous ballet system. It is a portrait through time, as cinematic brush strokes reveal the quiet miracle of growing up.

San Francsico Dance Film Festival Films 2016, PromenadePromenade

(Argentina, 2015) 8:50
Director: Cirila Luz Ferron
Choreographer: Florencia Olivieri
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Promenade brings together dance, video, and architecture with the aim of finding new interpretations of space.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, RavagesRavages

(Canada, 2015) 13:58
Director: Alan Lake
Choreographer: Alan Lake
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Ravages tells a kind of abstract tale, inviting the viewer to dive into the raw and fragile world of a symbolic epic where the human confronts what is perishable or unchangeable.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Rebellion & JohannesburgRebellion & Johannesburg

(Germany, 2015) 4:47
Director: Leila El-Kayem
Choreographer: Jessica Nupen
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A provocative dance film, based on a production of the same name, telling a story of xenophobia, violence, and resilience against the backdrop of the 2012 Marikane mining massacre in Rustenburg, South Africa.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, RebornReborn

(UK, 2015) 4:35
Director: Andrew Margetson
Choreographer: Alastair Marriott
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A portrait of a star dancer coming back from injury.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, RelapseRelapse

(USA, 2016) 3:07
Director: Stéphane Glynn
Choreographer: Stéphane Glynn & Kelly Bruce
Schedule

A short experimental dance film featuring a dancer slowly falling into an all-encompassing darkness.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Rudolf Nureyev: Dance to FreedomRudolf Nureyev: Dance to Freedom

(UK, 2015) 90:00
Director: Richard Curson-Smith
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A close-focus dramatized documentary telling the extraordinary story of Soviet dancer Rudolf Nureyev’s defection to the West at the height of the Cold War. Narrated by those involved in the events, including first-time testimony from key participants, and with performance re-enactments from Bolshoi star Artem Ovcharenko

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016 RuinRuin

(Canada, 2016) 4:42
Director: Caroline Torti, Bree Wasylenko, James Arthurs, Cam Roden
Choreographer: Caroline Torti, Bree Wasylenko
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Follows the disintegration of a woman who loses pieces of herself with each new relationship, until she can barely recognize her own reflection.

San Francsico Dance Film Festival Dance Films 2016, SandSand

(Sweden, 2015) 11:00
Director: Linnea Bergman
Choreographer: Joakim Stephenson
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A portrait of two souls meeting for the first time in a landscape of sand. It’s a story of allowing yourself to trust, to be free and letting go.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, The Secret WomanThe Secret Woman

(USA, 2015) 6:40
Director: Melinda Darlington-Bach
Choreographer: Melinda Darlington-Bach
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Charles Dickens led a prolific and full life, but he had a secret…Her name was Ellen Lawless Ternan.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Separate SentencesSeparate Sentences

(USA, 2016) 15:00
Director: Austin Forbord, Amie Dowling
Choreographer: Amie Dowling, Natalie Greene
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Dance/theater film that addresses the cycle of incarceration in families by drawing upon individual experiences and physical memories of a cast of formerly incarcerated men and their sons.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Shadow StateShadow State

(Canada, 2015) 3:00
Director: David Cooper
Choreographer: Danielle Gardner
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It’s in darkness that we find our true light.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films2016, ShiftShift

(USA, 2015) 11:00
Director: Rachael Lincoln and Amelia Rudolph
Choreographer: Amelia Rudolph
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Bay Area vertical dance company BANDALOOP journeys across the Sierras using climbing technology to access back-country sites including a 2,900-foot dance wall. BANDALOOP challenges the boundaries of site-specific performance, re-imagining what dance can be and where it can take place.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Snags in PalladioSnags in Palladio

(Italy, 2015) 6:20
Director: Michele Manzini
Choreographer: Barbara Canal & Michele Manzini
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A series of moving tableaux that reflect the Platonic idea of supreme beauty, as well as its contradictory nature in the modern world.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, SparkSpark

(Germany, 2015) 2:58
Director: Boris Seewald
Choreographer: Simone Schmidt, Althea Corlett
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An encounter between classical dance, geometry, and electronic music.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, TailoredTailored

(Italy, 2014) 1:20
Director: Augenblick
Choreographer: Augenblick
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A tailor, his wife: a day like any other. Then she comes in. The rhythmic gestures of the craft become a dance now. A dancing ménage à trois in one minute.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Through the Eyes of My MealThrough the Eyes of My Meal

(USA, 2016) 6:29
Director: Jordan Taylor Fuller
Choreographer: Katherine Maxwell
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A contemporary dance film investigating vulnerability and betrayal.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Ward of StateWard of State by Claire Marshall

(Australia, 2014) 29:23
Director: Sarah Jane Woulahan
Choreographer: Claire Marshall
Schedule

Narrative dance film about a girl who was taken from her mother and stepfather and placed under the care of the state in an Australian convent in the 1940s.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Warehouse SambaWarehouse Samba

(USA, 2015) 2:54
Director: Gabriel Shalom
Choreographer: Gabriel Shalom, Mandy Cregan, Taylor Eggan, Rachael Lembo
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Video sampling and synchronized audiovisual counterpoint create a fusion of contact improvisation and musique concrete.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, We, DivineWe, Divine

(USA, 2016) 4:19
Director: Walter Yamazaki
Choreographer: Robert Dekkers
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Inspired by the idea of reincarnation, We, Divine is a film exploring the idea of eternity.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival Films 2016, Without a WordWithout A Word

(UK, 2016) 3:49
Director: Youness Benali
Choreographer: Benjamin Milan, Dominant, Gianna Gi, Kaner Scott, Malick Bright, Paleta
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As dancers freestyle in a concrete jungle, their movements express the raw feelings, emotions, and pain that words cannot.

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