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14th Annual Festival San Francisco Dance Film Festival

Arts and Entertainment

September 23, 2023

From: San Francisco Dance Film Festival

Sunday, October 1, 2023

7:00 PM - Flower

Flower is a short episodic film series starring world-renowned ballerina and trailblazer Misty Copeland that tells a powerful story through dance and movement.

Cost: $30

Venue: Brava Theater

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

7:30pm - Experimental

Experience the expansive power of imagination and remarkable creative drive in this collection of short experimental screendance works.

Experience the expansive power of imagination and remarkable creative drive in this collection of short experimental screendance works. Through unflinching engagement with inequity, authoritarian delusions, and the climate crisis, filmmakers discover paths to healing and liberation through artistic inspiration and embodied expression that push dance to a higher plane of possibility and meaning.

Running Time: 56 minutes

Venue: Catharine Clark Gallery

Cost: $25

October 5-8, 2023 at ODC Theater

Thursday, October 5, 2023

6:00pm - Narrative Shorts

Get lost in storytelling with this seamless fusion of dance, dialogue, acting and cinematography.
In this selection of six short narrative films, the universal language of dance colors a diverse array of scenes, atmospheres, and characters—each in under 15 minutes. Journey from a whimsical film set to a futuristic digital dystopia and delve deeply into contemporary issues of joy, loss, perseverance, and the abiding strength of the human spirit. With each dance move, each line of dialogue, and each meticulously framed shot, the Narrative Shorts program encapsulates the power of collaboration between dance artists, actors, choreographers, and filmmakers.

Cost: $15

Runtime: 64 minutes

7:30 PM - Dancing in A-Yard

"Dancing in A-Yard" is an intimate look into the lives of ten men in a rehabilitative dance program in Los Angeles County's California State Prison at Lancaster.
By dancing and telling their stories together, these men and their instructor challenge toxic masculinity, confront stigmas faced by incarcerated people, and break the taboo against dancing behind bars. Their shared desire for personal transformation and the creation of a new prison culture inspires hope for progressive reforms and the potential for dance to positively impact the lives of incarcerated people, their families, and communities.

Cost: $15

Friday, October 6, 2023

6:00pm - Screendance 1: 10 Under 10

Runtime: 60 minutes

Discover screendance with this selection of 10 works under 10 minutes
Drawn from artists working in seven countries and a rich variety of contemporary and traditional dance styles, this program features a broad selection of 10 screendance works all under 10 minutes. By layering choreography, cinematography, music, and visual art, these films draw inspiration from diverse urban and rural landscapes to beautifully express relatable themes of isolation, connection, cultural preservation, and powerful emotional transformation.

7:30pm - Doc Shorts

Five documentary shorts capture real-life stories in a compact form colored by the intimately personal language of movement.
These five documentary dance shorts capture real-life stories in a compact form colored by the intimately personal language of movement. Explore the creative process with dancers from Nigeria, Japan, Cuba, Paris, and the Crow Creek Native American Reservation as they navigate heartfelt triumphs and challenges. From seasoned contemporary and ballet dancers to a young dancing queen, these artists share a deep sense of focus and drive in their approaches to finding meaning and freedom in life through dance.

Runtime: 75 Minutes

Cost: $15

Saturday, October 7, 2023

1:30pm - Screendance 2: What's the Story?

Delve into unconventional storytelling in this selection of five experimental shorts with narrative threads.
From the surreal to the mundane, these films move through dream-like realms and real-life situations to give fresh insight into our shared world and imagined possibilities. Whether wrestling with the artistic process, struggling with mental health issues, or simply seeking moments of interconnected joy in life, these artists use dance to sketch evocative impressions of individuals and societies and push the boundaries of storytelling.

Cost: $15

Runtime: 62 minutes

3:30pm - Screendance 3: Screenscapes

Dive deeper into screendance with these four international works.
Experience four international dance works for camera that expertly merge multidimensional artistic media to shape abstract worlds and tell urgent stories. Themes of migration and displacement, mourning, and transformative self-discovery together emphasize the triumphant power of the individual spirit and supportive communal relationships.

Runtime: 64 minutes

Cost: $15

7:00pm - Call Me Dancer

A magical journey from the streets of Mumbai to the stages of New York, "Call Me Dancer" is the story of perseverance, rebellion, passion, family, culture, and an unlikely friendship .

Manish is an athletic street dancer from Mumbai who dreams of becoming a professional dancer against the wishes of his struggling parents. He meets a curmudgeonly Israeli ballet master, Yehuda Ma'or who inspires him to follow his dreams. But when he is pitted against another boy who's got the attention of the top school in the world, Manish realizes he must push himself to his physical limits if he has any chance to succeed. Though the odds are stacked against him, his perseverance through highs and lows reveals the power of dance to transform lives. "Call Me Dancer" is a "Billy Elliott" style story that will make you want to jump up from your seat and, Yes, dance!

Cost: $20

Sunday, October 8, 2023

1:00pm - Raising Voices

San Francisco Dance Film Festival's 5th annual Raising Voices shorts program spotlights the work of traditionally under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of social justice and belonging.

San Francisco Dance Film Festival's 5th annual Raising Voices shorts program spotlights the work of traditionally under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of social justice and belonging. Experience provocative and moving stories told through movement, poetry, and music in seven short films from a range of artists who harness dance as cultural expression and artistic activism. From student filmmakers to seasoned professionals, this program features street dancers, disabled artists, and burlesque and circus performers who find empowerment in their identities, communities, and surroundings.

Runtime: 74 minutes

Cost: $15

3:00pm - Love, A State of Grace & futile/gestures

Filmed over four days in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, "Love, A State of Grace" is a multifaceted immersive meditation on vulnerability, courage, and loving attunement to our common humanity, told through the mesmerizing art of aerial dance.

Cost: $15

6:00pm - Bay Area Shorts–Part 1

San Francisco Dance Film Festival continues its annual tradition of supporting local artists with this closing night celebration of dance, film, and community.
Featuring six short dance films by Bay Area and Northern California artists, this shorts program showcase the rich diversity of expression in the local community. From street corners to seaside cliffs and San Francisco's highest hills, these artists push boundaries of form, style, and narrative in conversation with their incomparable Bay Area backdrop. Experience deeply personal emotional journeys, moving celebrations of culture and community, and abstractly evocative beauty in this collection of locally-rooted stories.

Featuring a live performance by Sean Dorsey Dance.

Runtime: 50 minutes

Cost: $20

7:30pm - Bay Area Shorts–Part 2

San Francisco Dance Film Festival continues its annual tradition of supporting local artists with this closing night celebration of dance, film, and community.
Featuring five short dance films by Bay Area and Northern California artists, this shorts program showcases the rich diversity of expression in the local community. From street corners to seaside cliffs and San Francisco's highest hills, these artists push boundaries of form, style, and narrative in conversation with their incomparable Bay Area backdrop. Experience deeply personal emotional journeys, moving celebrations of culture and community, and abstractly evocative beauty in this collection of locally-rooted stories.

Featuring a live performance by Moscelyne ParkeHarrison

Runtime: 50 minutes

Cost: $20


Streaming on ODC Connect, October 5, 2023 - October 15, 2023

Dancing the Archive – Streaming

What is an archive? This program explores the possibilities from the merging of multi-media documentation to the reframing of personal practice
Throughout history, dance has been archived with the use of the most advanced technologies available, be it through notation or recording technology. These records contain value beyond the utilitarian.

The International Journal of Screendance recently noted, "The hybrid nature of screendance may allow for new explorations in relation to archival footage to emerge" and the films in this program show the possibilities of these explorations, from the merging of multi-media documentation to the reframing of personal practice.

Runtime: 43 minutes

Cost: $8.99

Live Performance Captures – Captured Live

Each of these three films takes a distinct approach to capturing the ineffable vitality of live performance.
Experience dance in the unbounded wilds of Australia's southern coast, across the transatlantic communion between Portugal and Cuba, and in the cavernous nave of San Francisco's own Grace Cathedral. Whether soaring through the air or rooted into the earth, these artists tell universalizing stories as the moment-to-moment drama of live performance unfolds.

Runtime: 92 minutes

Cost: $8.99

Raising Voices – Streaming

San Francisco Dance Film Festival's 5th annual Raising Voices shorts program spotlights the work of traditionally under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of social justice and belonging.
SFDFF's 5th annual Raising Voices shorts program spotlights the work of traditionally under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of social justice and belonging. Experience provocative and moving stories told through movement, poetry, and music in seven short films from a range of artists who harness dance as cultural expression and artistic activism. From student filmmakers to seasoned professionals, this program features street dancers, disabled artists, and burlesque and circus performers who find empowerment in their identities, communities, and surroundings.

Runtime: 74 minutes

Cost: $8.99

Telephone

"Telephone" is an activist screendance documentary celebrating emotionally rich, poetic audio description for dance, which allows blind and visually impaired people to be included fully in the joy of artistic expression.

Just Short of Reality – Streaming

"Just Short of Reality" is a series of interlocking shorts that show the mundane serendipities of everyday life through the genres of surrealism, silent film, and dance.

Cost: $8.99

Date: September 22, October 1,4,5,6,7,8, 2023, Streaming - 5-15, 2023

Location: Various Towns In CA

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