CONSTRUCTED SIGHT DANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2023
WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THE ONLINE FESTIVAL?
By purchasing any of our tickets you automatically have access (beginning March 31) to 24 International dance films. You will receive an email with link and password to the Constructed Sight Dance Film Festival playlist via Vimeo. Browse at your leisure to view any of the films until April 10! Online Festival Pass tickets will also be sent a link to the live streamed Opening Night Event where you can join in and chat with us!
WHAT IS THE OPENING NIGHT EVENT?
Join us either in-person or online on Thursday, March 30, at 7:30pm(EST) for our Opening Night Event! Doors open at 6pm with live music from Else Collective, local band featuring PJ Roduta, David Bernabo, and Matt Aelmore. From their first album description, their music “…touches on jazz, minimalism, rock, funk, and avant-garde…” Full bar + theater snacks available for purchase. Then enjoy a curated program of 12 dance films from around the globe. This is incorporated with the SSD company members' films blending public works of art in Pittsburgh with dance and film. You will receive a confirmation email with event and festival details upon ticket purchase.
WHAT IS THE VOTER'S CHOICE?
We are seeking YOUR VOTES! Please cast your vote by "liking" the video (the little heart at the top right of the screen) OR posting a comment! You can vote for up to three films. Three artists will be awarded a cash prize based on ticket sales.
HOW ARE THE FILMS LISTED?
The films will be alphabetically listed with the Panelist Picks at the top of the playlist, followed by an alphabetical listing of the general festival artists, and the Student/Emerging Artist Category. In each video description we have listed: Region/Location of creator, Time of film, Description of film, Bio or Artist statement, Social media handles. Please like/follow your favorite artists and keep up to date with them!
By purchasing any of our tickets you automatically have access (beginning March 31) to 24 International dance films. You will receive an email with link and password to the Constructed Sight Dance Film Festival playlist via Vimeo. Browse at your leisure to view any of the films until April 10! Online Festival Pass tickets will also be sent a link to the live streamed Opening Night Event where you can join in and chat with us!
WHAT IS THE OPENING NIGHT EVENT?
Join us either in-person or online on Thursday, March 30, at 7:30pm(EST) for our Opening Night Event! Doors open at 6pm with live music from Else Collective, local band featuring PJ Roduta, David Bernabo, and Matt Aelmore. From their first album description, their music “…touches on jazz, minimalism, rock, funk, and avant-garde…” Full bar + theater snacks available for purchase. Then enjoy a curated program of 12 dance films from around the globe. This is incorporated with the SSD company members' films blending public works of art in Pittsburgh with dance and film. You will receive a confirmation email with event and festival details upon ticket purchase.
WHAT IS THE VOTER'S CHOICE?
We are seeking YOUR VOTES! Please cast your vote by "liking" the video (the little heart at the top right of the screen) OR posting a comment! You can vote for up to three films. Three artists will be awarded a cash prize based on ticket sales.
HOW ARE THE FILMS LISTED?
The films will be alphabetically listed with the Panelist Picks at the top of the playlist, followed by an alphabetical listing of the general festival artists, and the Student/Emerging Artist Category. In each video description we have listed: Region/Location of creator, Time of film, Description of film, Bio or Artist statement, Social media handles. Please like/follow your favorite artists and keep up to date with them!
ONLINE FILM DESCRIPTIONS:
(full program info: run time, artist bio, social media handles listed on the Vimeo Playlist description)
|
Constructed Sight: Joy of Life
Pittsburgh, PA Artist: Alx Golembiewski This piece is about community. Originally this was meant to be performed by five dancers, but just like a lot of our communities these days you are only shown two dancers. This represents the illusion of distance in our communities and hopefully will inspire more people to reach out and connect with the ever distancing world. |
|
Constructed Sight: Maxo Vanka
Pittsburgh, PA Artist: Brittany Nettles This film features the murals of Maxo Vanka, a Croatian immigrant artist who painted the church in 1937 and 1941. Vanka and his family fled to America to escape the growing threat to his Jewish wife. These murals tell many stories through a variety of lenses, featuring scenes of war, struggle, social justice and faith. In creating this film, I wanted to capture the scale, both physically and emotionally of Vanka's murals and explore how these massive themes of injustice live inside each of us. Rather than creating my own narrative, I wanted to build imagery that felt complimentary to the already beautiful work inside the church. |
|
Constructed Sight: Uptown Rhythm
Pittsburgh, PA Artist: Shana Simmons Two dancers transfer between two locations... one, a colorful mural reflecting the life and community it resides in. Two, an empty space, with empty chairs, and an empty stage. Inspired by James Simon's "Uptown Rhythm" on the campus of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, the dancers listen, respond, and start feeling the vibes the artwork radiates. |
|
Childhood/Adulthood
Poland Artist: Jagoda Turlik Bathed in colors, cheerful and carefree "Childhood", despite having fun, has its end. We "get out" of it in different ways. Its turning point is "Adulthood" which brings its inevitable change. Regardless of the "scenery" in which we live and the "costume" we wear as adults, "Childhood" is part of us and we can always refer to this land of joy. Together. |
|
Panelist Picks: Niebościan. Freedom lives in a head
Poland Artist: Jagoda Turlik "Niebościan..." is a short story about actual imprisonment and a mental sense of freedom. Daily routine and the courage to make the decision to escape from it. About the fact that the boundless sky lives in our head. You just have to allow yourself to see them. |
|
Panelist Picks: A Portrait
Finland Artist: Vilma Tihilä A Portrait dance film looks at an ensemble of identities within one person. The gathering identities encounter simultaneously, and different mind states move the character rapidly through shifting locations, seasons, colors, and emotions. A Portrait is the first dance film in a trilogy by Sorvari & Tihilä, where they aim to bring lightness, hope and joy to the experience of fragmented identities. |
|
ALEZAN
France Artist: Loïc Faquet A woman in a wedding dress finds herself in a stable. As her intimacy is being disturbed, she starts wondering about the possibility to choose her own destiny. |
|
Birds Eye View
United States/California Artist: Jennifer La Curan A whimsical view of simple progressive movements danced in a variety of locations. Depth and speed are explored through a "birds eye view." Come witness the world from above. |
|
Dreams of Love
Japan Artist: naoto iina Butoh dancer Yoshito Ohno manipulates a puppet of his father, Kazuo Ohno, who is one of the founders of Butoh. Or is the puppet manipulating him? Yoshito's gaze toward his puppet father's back is sometimes rigid, hateful, but also kind, admiring, and full of respect. 'Liebesträume' was filmed in Kazuo Ohno Dance Studio, the legendary and historical studio full of conflict between father and son through dance. The space is full of posters, props, costumes of the day, and a photo of Kazuo with Pina Bausch. 'Liebesträume' is based on the footage of Yoshito Ohno in the stage performance 'On Kazuo Ohno' by Takao Kawaguchi, edited as an alternative short film version. Original title "Liebesträume". Japanese title 愛の夢(Ai-no-yume). |
|
Heavenly Body
United States/Florida Artist: Megan Murphy "Heavenly Body" strives to explore what makes a space sacred. Is it the space itself- or the bodies and spirit within it? |
|
In Between
United States/New York City Artist: Anabella Lenzu "In Between", a short film by Anabella Lenzu, exposes the inner dialogue of a woman in her roles as mother and artist. Lenzu shows the struggles, the desires, and the internal contradictions that make visible the vulnerability of the performer. |
|
Student/Emerging Artist: Lessons In Exile
United States/New Jersey, Jamaica Artist: Azariah Jones In a fast-paced game of "Catch-me-if-you-can", the female figures in Lessons in Exile playfully queer the audience's expectations of autonomy, gaze, and time and its linearity. |
|
Panelist Picks: LUVOS Migration
Austria Artist: Editta Braun Vision of the future or images from a parallel universe? In breathtaking natural sceneries, automated industrial landscapes and deserted ruins, a journey through time and living spaces unfolds. Strange LUVOS beings from Editta Braun's body illusion theatre conquer the screen to Thierry Zaboitzeff's powerful and sensitive music. |
|
On a Wheelchair Ramp in the Middle of Nowhere
United States/Utah Artist: Petra Kuppers/Kym McDaniel On a giant wheelchair ramp in somewhere Utah, two disabled dancers meet for a brief improvisation encounter. This project was made possible by a grant from the Arts Initiative at the University of Michigan, for the Speculative Embodiment Working Group. |
|
Once Upon A Time
France Artist: Mélodie Gollé Once Upon a Time : A robot which evolves into a human being. A story between dehumanisation, hope, selflove, and desperation. Free your mind.. |
|
Panelist Picks: People In Cities
United States/Nevada Artist: Rosie Trump People in Cities is a short stop motion dance film which assembles over three thousand still images. Paired with implied environments, four dancers navigate internal and external pressures. Referencing visual artist Robert Longo’s Men in Cities series, People in Cities is the second dance film in which director/choreographer Rosie Trump manifests the implied movement in Longo’s images. |
|
Raven
France Artist: Julienne Doko The Nordic Raven symbol is an expression of land connectedness. It is part of a transcultural field of Raven kinship (totemism) which is today recovered as a call to renew modes of community that are less destructive to the world. In “Raven” I explore my own understanding of this symbol of kinship between humanity and nature through movement and by connecting to my own African cultural background. |
|
Panelist Picks: Silver Veiled
Germany Artist: Ginevra Panzetti/Enrico Ticconi In a series of unveilings, SILVER VEILED explores the symbolic power of the flag in its capacity to contain multiple values, evoking a contrasting feeling of belonging and separation. The drapes are presented in a silvery grey, cleaned of colours, emblems and coats of arms so as to expose their plastic essence – a blank canvas without connotations where anything can emerge, begin or disappear. A reiteration of phantasmatic figures materializes from under the drapes, recalling a close and ancient kinship between two textile objects: flag and shroud. Freed from the fabric, the coat of arms becomes a handle and a brand at the same time, reminiscent of the wax seal in ancient times. |
|
Stav
Israel Artist: Amit Abend “The secret that our poets and philosophers have been trying to tell us for centuries, is that our longing is the great gateway to belonging.” ― Susan Cain, Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole “Stav” is an ode to imagination. It's the bitter-sweet feeling of longing. An intimate moment of subdued sorrow from which a surprising joy and softness can arise. |
|
Panelist Picks: The Swan 2.0
Sweden Artist: Jan Palmblad The famous ballet ”the Swan” performed by Anna Pavlova in 1905 is based on Lord Tennyson's poem "The Dying Swan”. The origin al concept of the piece is that the Swan has been wounded and is painfully fighting against death, but in the end, she loses her battle and dies. But the ballet is not about a swan, it is about death and the swan is simply a metaphor. According to legend, when Anna Pavlova was lying on her deathbed, her last words were, "Get my Swan costume ready. Our Swan however is not at all interested in dying. She is young, strong and dedicated to controlling her life and her future. At any cost. |
|
Panelist Picks: The Echo of the Splash
Greece Artist: Alexandros Nouskas Varelas Through everyday actions and his surrounding world, a human experiences the echo of his relationship with civilisation and nature. My process in filmmaking is through a physical approach. Drawing from movement's tools, I attempt to redefine the use and the tools of cinematic creation in general. Thus I prefer to use the term "physical cinema", in which movement can be applied in various ways. |
|
The Fall
Ireland Artist: Kathleen Doherty I can't yet describe how it feels. Here's how it feels. When do these feels end... Trapped in feels loop. |
|
The Greatest City in the World
United States/New York City Artist: Midnight Theatricals The Greatest City in the World interweaves between choreographic fantasy and harsh reality as it follows two dreamers who share a passion for dance; a passion neither of them is able to pursue due to the choices each has had to make to be able to survive in New York City. |
|
Panelist Picks: To Be Touched
Finland Artist: Tuulia Soininen To Be Touched an experimental dance short film. A young woman goes on a self-discovery journey on touch, consent and trauma. It is directed by Finnish dance film maker Tuulia Soinen and made in close collaboration with dance artists Tiia Laitinen and Sanni Laine." And if you'd like a longer piece of text: "To Be Touched is truly a labour of love and passion. It came to be from the extreme desire to share our point of view on touch and consent as young women. It references several iconic physical artists and pieces that deal with consent and bodily integrity, especially with women. In this film we add our own voices to the historical continuum. |
|
Panelist Picks: Tomba Brion
Italy Artist: Mark Freeman Italian choreographer/dancer Siro Guglielmi traces space and time in Carlo Scarpa's modernist masterpiece the tomb of Brion in San Vito d'Altivole, Italy. |
|
Panelist Picks: Vacuum
Israel Artist: Edya Stern Art can be positive and energizing, it can raise a smile, bring joy and excitement. It is an early and significant characteristic of any culture. But beyond that, It is a practice in which the spirit and values of our community can be shaped, molded and expressed. Art is born from personal and social conflicts, and introduces those conflicts to an audience, forcing the public to ask itself questions often ignored. Through art, our collective and personal subconscious raises to the surface, allowing us to examine it and better understand ourselves and our surroundings. Slowly, but steadily, art has brought about changes in world orders, among other things, by being a way to talk about things we could not talk about, until they were presented to us as they were viewed by artists. When performance art dropped to the bottom of government and national priorities, and even entirely shut down, Idecided to ask dance artists from around the world how it all affected their self image and self worth. I was overwhelmed and moved by the hundreds of dancers who asked to participate in the project. 17 of them received detailed instructions for improvisation and filming. The second part of the project included the editing. Myself and Assaf started out with compiling a multilayered soundtrack, through proofing and gathering all of the materials together, creating a complete harmonious piece. One that was aimed to be a metaphor of the dangers to society without art. This film deals with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic crisis on stage artists' mental state, as an image of the profound impact of the absence of stage art on society. |
|
Variaciones sobre color
Philadelphia, PA, USA Artist: Charly Santagado "Variaciones sobre color, para una o mas personas” or “Variations on Color, for one or more” plays with light and invites the performer(s) to interpret color into sound and/or movement with the guidance of a few suggestions and within certain parameters. The piece challenges the performing artists to reclaim their autonomy as interpreters and storytellers by requiring their participation in the process of composition. |
|
Student/Emerging Artist: Lessons In Exile
Jamaica, United States/New Jersey Artist: Azariah Jones In a fast-paced game of "Catch-me-if-you-can", the female figures in Lessons in Exile playfully queer the audience's expectations of autonomy, gaze, and time and its linearity. |