Cinedans FEST – 2018 Award Winners

Several prestigious awards founded to support dance film as film genre and art form were awarded during Cinedans – Dance on Screen Festival. On the last day of the festival, Cinedans announced the winners of the Cinedans Award for best dance film (€ 5.000,-), the Encouragement Award (€ 1.000,-) and the Audience Awards for best dance film and best documentary. The winners and the runner-ups will be included in the international Cinedans Tour programme.

Overall Jury Statement:

“There is great integrity and dedication to the two works we have chosen for the first and second prize; they are works that mesh the cinematic and choreographic elements to take you to a specific space for the duration. Both winning films stand out for their skill and craft across the aspects of filmmaking and choreography, and feature performances beyond the theatrical, which communicate powerfully with the audience.”

VECINAS wins CINEDANS AWARD for Best Dance Film 2018

BE | 2015 | 11’
Director/Choreographer NATALIA SARDI

Synopsis: Two lonely women are brought together by laws of magnetic attraction. A disturbing film shot on 16mm.

Jury statement:

“Vecinas is a carefully considered work which leaves space for the spectator to fill in the narrative. There is a concreteness in the image and an elusiveness in its readability.  The film offers a clear choreographic proposition, created for the camera delivered with lightness and a wry sense of humour. The sound design brings us into the characters’ world and experience – we can feel and hear the texture of the space. The lighting is an integral part of the image, sculpting space, body, sound and light to create a palpable physicality. The editing creates a deliberate yet organic pace.

“As a jury we particularly valued that Vecinas deals in a non-commercial aesthetic, avoiding the language of advertising and video clips and instead connects to art movements and art house cinema. It stretches the boundaries of the form to create an addition to the canon of dance film.”

BHAIRAVA wins CINEDANS ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD 2018

IN | 2017 | 14’
Director MARLENE MILLAR, PHILIP SZPORER
Choreographer SHANTALA SHIVALINGAPPA

Synopsis: Set against the mystical ruins of Hampi, the renown Indian dancer Shantala Shivalingappa brings Hindu god Bhairava to life by way of graceful movements and facial expressions.

Jury statement:

“A film of great elegance, centred on an exceptional performer: Shantala Shivalingappa. She is not dancing, she is danced – she has the skill to become the dance. Her musicality is sublime and she is able to compete inside the image and within this majestic landscape, and makes the landscape move with her. The cinematography is beautiful but never intrudes into the experience; the sound connects the dancer with the ground she dances on; the film skilfully weaves together its elements to create a beautiful portrait of a dancer.”

NOTHING MATTERS WHEN WE’RE DANCING wins AUDIENCE AWARD for Best Documentary

DK | 2017 | 23’
Director MAIA ELISABETH SØRENSEN

TIMECODE winsAUDIENCE AWARD for Best Dance Film

ES | 2016 | 15’
Director JUANJO GIMÉNEZ
Choregrapher LALI AYGUADÉ

Honourable mention:
CARGO

DE | 2017 | 4’
Director/choreographer JASMINE ELLIS