Saturday, SEPT 4th, 21:00 – 22:30
At FABRICA GRIVITA
The last competition section of BIDFF invites viewers to discover a fusion of cultures and styles in which the human redefines their identity in relation to the world they belong to. These stories are told in vibrant colors, with catchy music, and have protagonists that you won’t forget easily. They are the ones changing the world in the everyday life, deconstructing the traditional in a creative way, be it funny, cynical or ironic. From the Dancehall scene of Jamaica, to the rituals of Australia, to a kitchen in India where women use Bollywood to criticize the patriarchal society in an entertaining way, to the dance of some construction tools in a small workshop in Egypt and the emancipation of European dance subcultures, the films from Vibrant Worlds won’t let you rest.
ULRICHS 1867
9:42, 2021, DE
D: Sven Niemeyer
C: Sven Niemeyer
Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (1825-1895) was a lawyer, journalist, publisher, writer and pioneer of sexology and is known as the first openly gay man and LGBTQ-activist in Germany. At the German Juristentag in Munich in 1867, he publicly called for the impunity of same-sex sexual acts for the first time in a speech, which led to tumultuous scenes among the audience and his speech being broken off. Even if many things have changed since then, there is still a long way to go...
VOGUING WITH BEETHOVEN
4:37, 2020, NO
D: Emilie Norenberg
C: Emma Damskau
In connection to Beethoven’s 250th jubilee, high culture meets subculture in this short film about identity and belonging presented by the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
BELIA
9:51, 2021, EG
D: Eman Hussein
C: Eman Hussein
A young woman and her friends join a car repair shop as “Belia” (colloquial Egyptian for apprentices), to learn the craft from the “Ustas” (craft headmasters). They explore what this relationship creates as it merges labor with everyday life rhythms to open up a new space for movement.
THE CIRCADIAN CYCLE
16:11, 2019, AUS
D: Garry Stewart
C: Garry Stewart and the dancers of The Australian Dance Theatre
Filmed within the stunning South Australian landscape, The Circadian Cycle draws upon choreography from Australian Dance Theatre's award winning mainstage work The Beginning of Nature. Using the dancing body as a metaphor, The Circadian Cycle examines morphology, biological rhythm and animal behaviour. The film charts a day from sunrise to evening, moving through cycles of nature, from nascence and awakening to predation and death.
THE KITCHEN
10:26, 2021, IN
D: Vishwakiran Nambi
C: Vishwakiran Nambi
A short dance film that explores the traditional female role in a patriarchal society. The story, which is inspired by the life and memories of the director’s mother, takes place in traditional 80s-style cuisine.
SHELLY BELLY INNA REAL LIFE
23:52, 2020, FR/AR
D: Cecilia Bengolea
C: Cecilia Bengolea
The artist and choreographer Cecilia Bengolea’s performative video work was shot between 2015 and 2019 in Jamaica, where the Dancehall scenes of Kingston and Bog Walk constitute a subcultural prism for greater forces. Dance is the core of a community built on differences in Shelly Belly inna Real Life, where the lively character of both the dancers and the surroundings are expressed through movement. The rhythms form the contours of a language – a symbolic and deeply rooted understanding of community. From the hyper-realistic setting in a residential street, which looks like a film set, to two young women’s confident parade through the outskirts of the city, to a group of young dancers who are in an ecstatic pact with the Caribbean beats in the concrete shell of an abandoned building. Trance and transcendence: Bengolea’s own background as a dancer gives her a unique understanding of the hard, physical elements in the bodily manifestations, where the most difficult thing might be to make it all look so easy.