Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema, SansSouciFest.org

Sans Souci at CU Boulder: Dancing on the Edge of Cinema
Irey Theatre in Theatre & Dance Building

CU Screening

Frame from Scenarios

Scenarios, 2021, United States, 12 min

This live, multimedia performance created by SSF's Artistic Co-Director Ana Baer Carrillo is an interdisciplinary exploration of human connections set to specific environments. A kinesthetic visual and aural study on freedom, restraint, resistance, flexibility, adaptability and despair.

The Bait, 2020, China, 6 min

Directed by Chenglong Tang
Produced by Chenglong Tang, Huang Jun, Siyang Fu, Anna Alexandre
Choreography by Chenglong Tang
Dancing by Shifei Chen, Zibo Geng, Théo Pendle
Music Composed by Xiaogang Zeng
Cinematography by Siyang Fu, Huang Jun
Edited by Xiaoxiu Guo, Shifei Chen
Sound Design by Qian Lei, Xiaogang Zeng
Color Correction by A Xing
Three characters are carried away in a frantic race. They will fight to win... But for what? What if all this was just a decoy? This dance film transposes into our contemporary world the ancestral fable of Jiang Gong, humble fisherman and great strategist of the Zhou dynasty, whose catches were caught without bait. A universal story about the loss of identity, the abandonment of oneself and the renunciation of free will.

Entre Puerto Rico y Richmond: Women in Resistance Shall Not Be Moved, 2020, United States, 17 min

Directed by Alicia Diaz
Produced by David Riley
Choreography by Alicia Díaz, co-created with Christine Wyatt and Christina Leoni-Osion
Dancing by Christine Leoni-Osion, Christine Wyatt
Written by Patricia Herrera
This dance film combines biography, poetry, and ritual with the energy of live performance to bridge stories of resistance and liberation between Puerto Rico and Richmond, VA, honoring Black women tobacco workers in Richmond and Puerto Rican tobacco factory readers and activists Dominga de La Cruz Becerril (1909-1981) and Luisa Capetillo (1879-1922).
Frame from Bad Hombre

Bad Hombre, 2020, United States, 3 min

Produced and Directed by Martin Lombard, Facundo Lombard
Choreography and Dancing by Martin Lombard, Facundo Lombard
Featuring Lombard Twins
Music by Antonio Sanchez
Cinematography by Andy Cao
Camera Operation by Andy Cao, Anai Garcia Medina
Artists / performers Martin and Facundo Lombard and five-time Grammy-winning drummer / composer Antonio Sánchez, tell, through the language of music and dance, the story of a man who struggles to make his voice heard and what this can cause.

Dastak: Fire, 2020, United States, 7 min

Directed by Darren Johnson
Choreography by Ananya Chatterjea
Featuring Ananya Dance Theatre
Filmed amidst ruins of the Minneapolis Uprising following the murder of George Floyd, "Dastak: Fire" - part 3 of a series created with Guggenheim Award winning choreographer Ananya Chatterjea and her company of fierce, BIPOC Women & Femmes - is a soul-stirring dance meditation tracing the knockings of disruption and injustice on our hearts and communities.
Frame from Losing Touch

Losing Touch, 2021, Greece, 1 min

Directed by Mavra Peponis
Choreography by Mavra Peponis
Music Composed by Nicoleta Chatzopoulou
A cat in spring quarantine.

Like Water, 2020, United Kingdom, 9 min

Directed by Mthuthuzeli November
Produced by Richard Bolton
Choreography by Mthuthuzeli November
Dancing by José Alves, Isabela Coracy, Alexander Fadayiro, Marie Astrid Mence, Ebony Thomas
Music Composed by Georgina Lloyd-Owen
Cinematography by Nauris Buksevics
Artistic Direction by Cassa Pancho MBE
Written by Asisipho Malunga
"Like Water" acknowledges the resilience of our ancestors, passed down from generation to generation. A world unkind to our people, yet somehow we survive. A world that that has conditioned us to not see the beauty of our skin, hair, culture and our people. But like water we flow, like water we change shape. We remain resilient.

Los Perros del Barrio Colosal , 2021, United States, 12 min

Directed by Omar Román De Jesús
Choreography by Omar Román De Jesús
Dancing by Rafael Cañals, Carlos Falú Sanchez, Rachel Seacrest, Ian Spring, Christian Warner, Spencer Weidie
Filmmaker: Drew L. Brown
Costumes by Omar Román De Jesús
Through the exaggerated mannerisms of daytime television, the six characters of "Los Perros del Barrio Colosal" take us on a wild romp through the challenges of creative decision making. Diving dramatically into the adventure of an imagination yet to be physicalized, they ask us to consider the far side of the moments when our ideas threaten, with disjointed urgency, to swallow us whole.
Frame from Ozhigaabawi (One Stands Ready)

Ozhigaabawi (One Stands Ready), 2021, United States, 7 min

Directed by Jamie Kalama Wood
Produced by Scott Cook, Jamie Kalama Wood
Featuring BYU Living Legends
Jingle Choreography by Tyra Tsosie, Mari Tsosie
Fancy Choreography by Naakaii Tsosie, Patrick Willie, Naataanii Tsosie
Female Jingle Dancers and Male Fancy Dancers offer a combined piece in honor and recognition of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (specifically amongst Native American and Alaskan Native women). "Ozhigaabawi" means "One Stands Ready." As a group of indigenous dancers, we feel it is important that we not only represent the beauty of our communities, but also the realities of our people. It was important to me to create a work that empowers both our female and male dancers to show that they stand ready to make a change for the better. Traditionally, Jingle is a dance of healing and strength. Men's Fancy is a dance of agility and strength. Our hope is that by putting them together, we offer strength and healing to those who have been harmed by sexual and physical violence--not just the individuals but also the families and communities at large.
Frame from Listening Tree

Listening Tree, 2020, United States, 1 min

Directed by Darren Johnson
Choreography and Dancing by Ananya Chatterjea
Cinematography by Darren Johnson
A tree on the banks of the Mississippi: What stories does it hold? Multiple branches embedded in our environment, Listening Tree affirms our relationality with life-forces of our world.
Frame from Tide

Tide, 2020, Ireland, 6 min

Directed by Laura Murphy
Choreography by Laura Murphy
Dancing by Marion Cronin, Sarah Ryan, Kevin Coquelard
Music Composed by Melanie
Filmmaker: Luca Truffarelli
"Tide" contrasts the pace of industry with human movement, and the soft yielding nature of the body with the hard edges of manmade objects.
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.

Exhale, 2020, Netherlands, 6 min

Directed by Moniek Van der Kallen
Produced by Lazlo Tonk, Dylan Tonk
Choreography by Moniek van der Kallen, Alicia Verdú Macián
Dancing by Alicia Verdú Macián
Cinematography by Erwan Van Buuren
Edited by Danjel Van den Hoogen
"Exhale" starts in shock, when a traumatic event makes you aware of your vulnerability. Your reality has been affected. Can you trust your senses? "Exhale" evokes reflection, letting go of your anger and overcoming the feeling of powerlessness. And ultimately regaining confidence in your own instincts and body.
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.

CU Installation

Reverse, 2020, France, 22 min

Directed by Antoine Billet
Featuring BurnOut
Dancing by Mickael Alberi, Romain Boutet, Hugo De Vathaire, Geoffroy Durochat, Razy Essid
Music Composed by Christophe Zurfluh
Cinematography by Antoine Billet, Pascal Sentenac
Edited by Antoine Billet
Choreography, costumes and set design by Jann Gallois
Light design by Cyril Mulon
A veritable physical and technical performance, Jann Gallois upends the senses and solicits five B-boys to not take their head off the ground. How can one find meaning in a topsy-turvy world like the one today, where we seem to be walking more and more on our heads? Jann Gallois develops a choreographic language from different hip hop figures that she trained in, such as the Reverse, the Head Spin, and the Chair Freeze. From these figures, there is a whole range and variation of movements with the head constantly on the floor. Choreographed to the smallest detail, "Reverse" evokes the man-machine caught in the cogs of a complex and ordered system and evolves finally to leave space for a circular composition that softens the angles and progressively allows a collective osmosis to emerge.
Frame from Flatland

Flatland, 2017, Iran, 15 min

Directed by Alireza Keymanesh, Amir Pousti
Produced by 33 Projects
Choreography by Alireza Keymanesh
Music Composed by Peter Pir Hoseinlou
Cinematography by Peyman Kermani, Kasra Bordbar
Camera Operation by Amir Pousti
"Flatland" has been made based on a book of the same name written by Edwin Abbott in 1884, which describes a two-dimensional world occupied by geometric figures. The narrator is a square named A Square, a member of the caste of gentlemen and professionals, who guides the readers through some of the implications of life in two dimensions. On New Year's Eve he visited by a three-dimensional sphere named A Sphere, which he cannot comprehend until he sees Space land (a tridimensional world) for himself. This experimental short film has come out of a group exhibition under the collective title "Flatland," curated by Ms. Golbarg Barzin. The exhibition comprised works by seven other artists in various fields of art, such as sculpture, painting and visual art.

Liminality, 2020, United States, 8 min

Directed by Jennifer Akalina Petuch, Annali Rose
Choreography and Dancing by Annali Rose
Music Composed by Lincoln Sandham
Filmmaker: Jennifer Akalina Petuch
Costume Design by Annali Rose
"Liminality" is inspired by reimagining what Odette may have experienced upon plunging to her death in the lake from the classical ballet "Swan Lake." It is a moment of suspended reality and a story of disenchantment, self-discovery and transformation. In our modern world we know that “happily ever after” is a journey and we have the ability to exercise our own agency to create our experience. In our story, the heroine is exploring the space in between life and death. She is coming to terms with the end of her world as she knew it and finding the strength and courage to move into a new existence.
Frame from The Window Kind of Opens by Itself

The Window Kind of Opens by Itself, 2019, United States, 11 min

Directed by Anya Cloud, Rebecca Salzer
Choreography by Anya Cloud
Dancing by Ishmael Houston-Jones, Sara Shelton Mann, taisha paggett, Kristianne Salcines
An impressionistic screendance poem constructed from 3 days of improvised duets, "The Window Kind of Opens by Itself" is an intergenerational dance film that centers the embodied intersection of four important experimental dance artists of this time. It explores radical expressions of self within duet form to reveal intimate and epic portals of connection, divergence, and aliveness. The work is a ritual and a reckoning, Through immediacy, touch, sweat, laughter, and exquisite composition this dance film ignites the imagination and activates spaces for transformation.
Frame from Outer Rim: Attending to the Edges

Outer Rim: Attending to the Edges, 2020, United States, 6 min

Directed by Madison Palffy
Choreography by Madison Palffy
Dancing by Molly McBride
Music Composed by Marc Candilore
"Outer Rim: Attending to the Edges" works improvisationally and ecologically, asking us to consider the margins and edges of our lives. How do I feel the edges of my body? Of my self? How do I locate myself in a location, a history?
Frame from Stamping Ground

Stamping Ground, 2021, United Kingdom, 1 min

Directed by Thomasin Gülgeç
Choreography and Dancing by Thomasin Gülgeç
Dry white and wintry black. Outlines of a movement practice.