Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, SansSouciFest.org

Sans Souci at Peak Academy of Dance 2023

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Frame from Samskara

Samskara, 2020, United States, 7 min

Directed by Angela Rosales Challis
Produced by Chelsea Alley, Heather Francis
Dancing by Joseph Run Through, Delfine Uwimbabazi, Jyothsna Sainath, Jamaika, Sebastian Forbes, Akiko Kaneshiro, Joshua Perkins, Presley Fewkes, Sheyenne Utai
Written by Angela Rosales Challis, Conor Long
Cinematography by Walter Mirkss
An abstracted film to contribute to the fight against racism. As an immigrant, I have experienced it first hand. This film showcases the beauty and richness of humanity. Nine cultures unite to make art. The dancers will tell you what brings humanity together. We must come together. This project was funded by the Utah Film Commission, Utah Division of Arts and Museums, and BYU Arts Partnership.
photo by Hanna Korhonen
photo by Hanna Korhonen

Animalz, 2006, UK, 3 min

Directed by Sergio Cruz
Produced by Ed Cooper
Choreography by JP Omari
Featuring B3 Brighton BBoys
Dancing by B3 Brighton BBoys
Music composed by Sergio Cruz, Filipe Galante, Christos Fanaras
Cinematography by Martin Gajewski
Sergio Cruz's film "Animalz" takes the urban B-Boy Skills of Brighton and Hove's B3 Boys into the city's surrounding natural landscapes. Co-choreographed by BBC Strictly Dance Fever's JP Omari, the sixteen 8-14 year-old dancers were encouraged to bring out the animal in themsleves. Shot on location in Brighton at Stanmer Park, Devil's Dyke and Telscombe Beach.
Frame from Off Ground

Off Ground, 2013, The Netherlands, 12 min

Directed by Boudewijn Koole
Produced by Iris Lammertsma
Choreography by Jakop Ahlbom
Featuring Jakop Ahlbom
Dancing by Louise Lecavalier, Antoine Masson
Music composed by Alex Simu
Cinematography by Melle van Essen
Edited by Boudewijn Koole
Woman and boy, table and chair, wall and water - a simple, powerful duet.
Frame from Elon + Emmanuelle

Elon + Emmanuelle, 2012, USA, 7 min

Directed by Natalie Galazka
Produced by Natalie Galazka & Melissa C. O'Brien
Choreography and dancing by Elon Höglund & Emmanuelle Lê Phan
Music by Garth Stevenson
Cinematography by Melissa C. O'Brien
Edited by Ross Baldisserotto
Charmed dancers observe their own duet in a magical street art fantasy.

HOME ALONE, 2013, Israel, 2 min

Directed by Adi Halfin
Produced by Tamir Eting, Noam Eidelman, Adi Halfin
Featuring Batsheva Dance Company Ensemble
Dancing by Tamir Eting, Noam Eidelman, Rani Lebzelter, Shane Scopatz, Mario Bermudez Gil, Eduard Turull, Keren Lurie-Pardes, Shani Licht, Ayelet Nadav, Mariko Kakizaki, Oz Shoshan, Gil Shachar, Or Schraiber, Maya Tamir, Shaked Leibzirers, Ron Matalon, Ori Kroll
Music composed by Locust
Cinematography by Roman Linetsky
Edited by Shahar Amarilio
Combining choreography with improvisation, a company of young dancers creates an atmosphere of "parental absence" in an abandoned building.
Frame from Moving Yerevan

Moving Yerevan, 2014, Armenia, 8 min

Directed by Jevan Chowdhury
Produced by Nare Aghababyan
Choreography by Jevan Chowdhury
Featuring National State Ensemble & independent artists
Music by Danny Odom
Filmmaker: Jevan Chowdhury
This short marries the people of Yerevan — the capital of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities — with the modern day metropolis. Created in public spaces in 3 days and 3 nights.
Frame from Groggy Grugg

Groggy Grugg, 2018, United States, 4 min

Produced and Directed by Conor C. Long
Choreography by Brianna Lopez
Featuring University of Utah Screendance
Dancing by Grugg
Music by William Cannon
Filmmaker: Conor C. Long
A claymation screendance short film about that terrible every day struggle to get out of bed for that first delicious cup of coffee.
Frame from Never Standing Still: Hong Kong Ballet's 40th Anniversary

Never Standing Still: Hong Kong Ballet's 40th Anniversary, 2019, United States, 2 min

Directed by Dean Alexander
Produced by Mikyung Kim
Choreography by Septime Webre
Featuring Design Army
Dancing by Hong Kong Ballet
Music composed by Squeak E Clean Studios
Creative/Art Director by Pum Lefebure
Executive Producer by Jake Lefebure
After successfully redefining Hong Kong Ballet’s brand last year, our goal this year — their 40th anniversary — was to establish Hong Kong Ballet as an institution of national prestige and reach new audiences with the Ballet’s vision. the people of Hong Kong needed to see themselves reflected in the Ballet. Our strategy led us to blend traditional and pop-culture colors, tutus and street clothes, Chinese opera-inspired and contemporary makeup, and a backdrop of iconic Hong Kong landmarks to celebrate the Ballet’s heritage and its spirit of innovation. Hong Kong Ballet, like the city itself, is “Never Standing Still.” The film went viral and earned more than 2 million views.
Frame from T.I.A. (THIS is Africa)

T.I.A. (THIS is Africa), 2015, France, 7 min

Produced and Directed by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi
Choreography and dancing by Aïpeur Foundou
Music composed by Jon Hopkins
Cinematography by Matthieu Maunier-Rossi
Aïpeur Foundou is a Congolese dancer and choreographer. Amidst some popular areas of Brazzaville, he shows us one possible way to freedom.
Frame from Erêkauã

Erêkauã, 2021, Brazil, 1 min

Directed by Paulo Accioly
Produced by Estranha Força
Choreography by Ernane Ferreira
Dancing by Kauã
OST by Igor Peixoto
Kauã dances in the hill, like a bird of prey.

Stopgap in Stop Motion, 2016, United Kingdom, 5 min

Produced and Directed by Stephen Featherstone
Choreography by Lucy Bennett
Featuring Stopgap Dance Company
Dancing by Amy Butler, Laura Jones, Nadenh Poan, Chris Pavia, Hannah Sampson, David Toole, David Willdridge, Tomos Young
Music by Dougie Evans
Filmmaker: Stephen Featherstone
Performers in disabled and non-disabled dance company "Stopgap" move in and out of photos and across tabletops until the whole company meet and perform in unison.
Frame from Amser / Time

Amser / Time, 2022, United Kingdom, 6 min

Directed by Deborah Light
Produced by Laura Drane
Choreography by Light Ladd Emberton
Moving through time along Bae Ceredigion/Cardigan Bay, we arrive at today's climate crisis. Sarn Gynfelyn is revealed every low tide and looks like a road into the sea. In fact, it is a glacial moraine laid down 20,000 years ago when ice sheets melted, and it marks the beginning of the global conditions that have enabled human expansion. At Borth, a 6,000 year old forest flourished for a few thousand years. Submerged by the sea, it has since been re-exposed in recent storms. Sarn Gynfelyn and Borth’s forest are both cited as supporting the Cantre'r Gwaelod legend of lost fertile lands in Cardigan Bay, but the geology tells a different story. Moving forwards, we arrive at Fairbourne, a seaside town built on saltmarsh and English industrial wealth. It is now set to become the first UK town to be decommissioned due to sea level rise. It will be demolished and returned to salt marsh and will have existed for less than 200 years. In the intertidal zone, between land and sea, three people move, with arresting visual imagery through these three remarkable sites.
Frame from Axis Mundi

Axis Mundi, 2020, France, 2 min

Directed by Patrick Foch
Choreography by Celine Garbay, Loriana Lorenzon
Featuring Céline Garbay, Loriana Lorenzon
Cinematography by Benjamin Ziegler
The "axis mundi" is a connection between heaven and earth, between the divine and the material. With this gravity-defying choreography, imagined and performed at the top of a mountain and on the verticality of a pole dance bar, I wanted to deliver my own vision of this "axis mundi." Two bodies merge and evolve precisely between earth and sky, in a quest for physical and spiritual elevation along this invisible thread.
Frame from COLD STORAGE

COLD STORAGE, 2016, Finland, 9 min

Directed by Thomas Freundlich
Produced by Lumikinos Production Oy
Choreography by Thomas Freundlich
Dancing by Valtteri Raekallio, Eero Vesterinen
Music by Kimmo Pohjonen
Cinematography by Thomas Freundlich
Edited by Jukka Nykänen
Cold Storage is a short dance film that pays homage to the virtuosic physical performances and melancholy comedy of the classic silent screen. On a desolate arctic shore, a lonely fisherman discovers his prehistoric counterpart frozen in the ice, and thaws him out as his newfound soul brother.