Festival Premiere Installations
La Fée Électricité (The Goddess of Electricity) , 2026, United Kingdom, 8 min
Directed by Cottia Thorowgood
Produced by Charles Haswell
Choreography and Dancing by Viola Pantuso
Featuring The Royal Ballet
As daylight falls, La Fée Électricité (The Goddess of Electricity) awakens beneath Paris, charged to bring light to the streets above. As she begins to move, she galvanises her power and emerges onto the streets of Paris, illuminating the city with electricity. By dawn, having danced all night her electric powers are overwhelmed by the daylight. By morning, her powers are extinguished. This is a short dance film filmed on location in Paris, featuring Royal Ballet soloist, Viola Pantuso. The story is built on the concept of "La Fée Électricité" - the personification of electricity in France in the late 1800s, as a woman, or fairy, who brought light and power to the people and streets.
Frost and Flame, 2025, Macao, 3 min
Directed by Lampo Leong, Yanxiu Zhao, Dan Wang
Produced by Lampo Leong
Choreography by Dan Wang
Featuring University of Macau and Jianghan University
Dancing by Changle Wang
Music Composed by Jeffery Stolet, Yanxiu Zhao
Filmmaker: Haozheng Wu, Yanxiu Zhao
Digital Ink Video, Installation and Stage Design by Lampo Leong, Yanxiu Zhao
Photography by Lampo Leong, Haozheng Wu
According to scientists, global warming may bring severe consequences to the future of humankind, and addressing this environmental crisis requires the collective effort of people across all nations. The digital ink–generated video art installation and dance performance “Frost and Flame” employs the textures of ink painting techniques and a visual language of geometric abstraction, combined with a color transition from cold to warm and a stylistic shift from structured geometry reminiscent of frozen ice to gestural abstraction evocative of water and fire. Together, these elements metaphorically portray the transformation of glacial ice as it melts—from frost to flame—issuing an urgent warning to humanity. In the final sequence, the re freezing of the text credit symbolizes the hope that, through unified human action, restoration remains possible. The integration of ink painting with environmental consciousness not only brings this classical art form into contemporary discourse on global ecological issues, but also allows Chinese cultural aesthetics to manifest renewed vitality in the digital era. Meanwhile, the immersive installation and dance performance reflect the profound wisdom embedded in classical Chinese culture and underscore the responsibility borne by humanity today.
Loca, 2024, Canada, 5 min
Directed by Véronique Paquette
Produced by Christine Noel, Marc Bertrand
Choreography by Marika Landry
Dancing by Leïla Afriat, Francis Cloutier
Written by Véronique Paquette
A female silhouette, sketched with fine white lines, disintegrates. A few bars ring out from “Loca”—a classic tune from the golden age of Argentinean tango. The spellbinding music sweeps the woman into a dance. As she whirls, a duo forms, their bodies intertwined in black and white. Their complete abandonment to the music is expressed in abundant waves of ink, creating a mesmerizing visual spectacle.
Dance is a Language, Isn't It?, 2024, Switzerland, 11 min
Directed by Schneider Susanne, Jürg Koch, Steven Vit
Produced by Alexandra Heini, Cie BewegGrund
Choreography by Susanne Schneider & Jürg Koch
Featuring Cie BewegGrund
Dancing by Irene Andreetto, Ibado, Patrick, Ettore Serge Isnard, Karin Minger, Maira Lou Nett, Lukas Schwander, Dawit Seto Gobeze
Music Composed by Philipp Moll
Cinematography by Lukas Gut
Eight dancers meet in movement in a space filled with light and shadow, sound and silence. They come together to explore with each other and the audience the question of how we communicate through movement and what connections are created in the process. They find a dance language that knows no right or wrong. Commissioned by the Museum of Communication in Bern for the exhibition DANCE!, the film shows the beauty of movement and a touching language that is created through human encounters.
Dream's Descent , 2025, South Africa, 10 min
Directed by Sara Gouveia, Inka Kendzia, Gregory Maqoma
Produced by Sara Gouveia
Choreography by Gregory Maqoma
Dancing by Gregory Maqoma, Lihle Mfene, Zinhle Purity Mkhize
Music Composed by Mr Sakitumi
Music Performed by Odwa Bongo
Cinematography by Motheo Moeng
Edited by Sara Gouveia
Written by Sara Gouveia, Inka Kendzia
Costumes by Zinhle Purity Mkhize
"Dream’s Descent" is a hauntingly surreal dance film that traces the journey of a solitary dancer as he navigates a dreamlike landscape fractured by memory, identity and desire. Drawn into a shifting world where time dissolves and space contracts, he encounters fragmented versions of himself, each embodying a suppressed emotion, forgotten trauma or repressed aspiration. Through ritualistic choreography and symbolic confrontations, these encounters blur the line between self and shadow. As the dancer spirals deeper into the labyrinth of his subconscious, the movement becomes a language of reckoning. The film is not about conquering the self, but integrating it, emerging not whole, but awakened, transformed by the very fragmentation that once threatened to undo him and ready to face whatever comes next.
《Yellow Sand》, 2025, China, 3 min
Choreography by 黄潇
Featuring Hello Dance
Based on Wang Changling's frontier poem "From the Army," the film tells the story of war during the prosperous Tang Dynasty in China. Torches illuminate the depths of the cave, revealing ancient cave paintings that vividly depict the alternation of prosperity and war, recording the lives of early humans. When prosperity collides with war, countless small families are torn apart. At the end of the film, a white image symbolizes civilization, though it is cyclical, the club of life is reborn from destruction. So, what exactly has war brought to the world? It has prompted people to think.