Cinedans FEST '24: programme announced

Cinedans exists 20 years! The anniversary edition Cinedans FEST '24 will take place from 20 to 24 March at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam and online from 20 to 31 March on Cinedans WEB.
For five days, Eye is dedicated to international dance film with special highlights and premieres, a special film programme with post-colonial themes Breaking the Chainsand, of course, the presentation of the international dance film awards.

Cinedans is the international platform that has focused entirely on dance film since 2003, convinced that the genre has contemporary expressiveness: physical, visual, dynamic and poetic at the same time. The dance film is characterised by a powerful visual language in which the body speaks, drawing the audience into a story without words.

Cinedans FEST '24 shows include the following programmes:

International shorts competition

Featuring the best international dance shorts from the past year and a half. Ranging in length from 1 to 25 minutes, the shorts are presented in one-hour programmes and conclude with a Q&A with the makers and audience. Cinedans received more than 300 submissions from 44 countries! With six programmes and 34 International short films, we will show the likes of Alexander Ekman, Jefta van Dinther, Tanin Torabi, Samatha Shay, Alain Lake, Dimitri Sterkens, Meg Stuart and Scottish Ballet.

An international jury awards the following prizes, the highest in the international dance film field:

• Cinedans Jury Award 2024 / €5,000 for Best Short Dance Film up to 25'
• Cinedans Incentive Award 2024 / € 2,000 for the most promising Dance Short D
• aar besides, we reach out to the audience awards out for best short dance film and best documentary.

New Dutch

The dance film is in vogue among Dutch makers and excelling! From 65 submissions, we are putting together three shorts programmes. Among others, we show shorts by Amos Ben Tal, Kevin Osepa, Miloushka Bokma, Imre van Opstal and Emma Evelein. And we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the National Ballet's Junior Company. A special Dutch premiere: Q5: THE QUINTESSENTIALS A Waacking Movie Seriesby Sarita Sarada. Q5 consists of 5 short films is inspired by the energy and expressiveness of Waacking: a dance form created as an expression of oppression in the Latino and African-American LGBTQI+ underground clubs of Los Angeles in the 1970s.

The central themes in this 20th International Edition are Resistance, Resilience & Freedom, Grief & Reconciling the Past and Rituals & Healing.

Special Breaking the Chains

In this special, we show films with postcolonial themes in which dance plays a prominent role. From different (historical) perspectives and countries, they paint a picture of ancestral rituals, independence struggles, spirituality and about how the effects of slavery continue into the present. Today, in the diaspora, dance and ritual still play a crucial role in the process of healing and reconciliation. Including the following films La Ultima Ascensión by Kevin Osepa that reinterprets postcolonialism and reimagines Afro-Caribbean identity, Kankantri - the silk cotton tree by Gabri Christa was inspired by Christa's research into her Surinamese father's ancestors and the country's various dances and rituals, Never Look at the Sun by Baloji, in which Baloji uses his signature assemblage of costumes and visual metaphors to explore skin bleaching in black communities Breaking the Chains is also a thematic line running through our programme, with documentaries such as Kite Zo A: Leave the Bones by Kaveh Nabatian (HT), Kumina Queen by Nyasha Laing (JM) and Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance by Khadifa Wong(US).

Special Ria Higler | SNDO

A documentary in honour of Ria Higler, one of the most influential teachers at the School for New Dance Development. From 1981, Ria began teaching at the SNDO with the adage: 'embrace the messiness'. To honour her and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SNDO, Cinedans, together with the AHK/SNDO, is organising a special film programme with film work by alumni of the SNDO and archive material.

Special ICELAND IN THE EYE

Guest curator Helena Jonsdottir, director of the Physical Cinema Festival in Reykjavik, brings Iceland in the Eye. A fascinating programme that takes us to the heart of Iceland. Prepare for breathtaking landscapes and humorous experiences.

Special The BEST of 20 years Cinedans FEST

Special film programme featuring the very best dance films from 20 years of Cinedans, compiled by (former) staff, partners and friends of Cinedans. The selection can also be visited for free throughout the festival as an installation in Eye's Arena.

Special Dutch Dance Film Archive Project

This second public programme as part of the Dutch Dance Film Archive Project focuses on the collaboration between filmmaker and choreographer. Makers at the centre of this programme are: Noud Heerkens, Janica Draisma, the duo Peter Leung & Bowie Verschuuren and Andrea Boll.

Master class Kaveh Nabatian: An Approach to Hallucinatory Dance Cinema

Kaveh Nabatian is an Iranian-Canadian director and musician whose evocative films bring to life stories from the margins of society and around the world. In this master class, Kaveh Nabatian presents his approach to filmmaking and how to create synergy between the camera and the dancer instead of just capturing movement - considering the camera as a dancer, not a spectator.

The programme is complemented by an extensive peripheral programme for professionals: Cinedans PRO, Masterclass by Kaveh Nabatian, a Pitch and a public presentation by the 14 Moving Media Lab artists in the downstream A LAB. In Eye Arena, freely accessible VR, Installations include. Civil Twilight - Choreography For 450nm and 600nm by Andrea Božić and Julia Willms | TILT (2023), State of flow By Anna Fríða Jónsdóttir and Circuit Bending By Meg Stuart.

Cinedans FEST brings together past, present and future of dance film and operates from four pillars: Cinedans FEST, Cinedans LAB, Cinedans TOUR and Cinedans WEB.

Cinedans FEST annually presents an exclusive dance film programme at Eye Filmmuseum Amsterdam. In the even year, Cinedans presents the five-day international edition of the festival; in the odd years, the three-day Practice & Potential edition with a focus on development, student programmes and the Dutch scene. Cinedans TOUR disseminates dance film in collaboration with numerous national and international partners and presents dance film programmes from Shanghai to Heerlen, from Amsterdam-Osdorp to Ankara and from Miami to Bucharest. From Cinedans LAB education and talent development activities take place, with the core values: learn, master and excel.The youngest branch of Cinedans is Cinedans WEB: the online platform for knowledge sharing, special programming and archive accessibility.