Festival

Cinedans 2023

24 — 26 March 2023

still from Physical Culture (director Anna Bogomolova, choreographer Connor Schumacher)

Dance film finds itself at the centre of the world, expressing various subjects in its own unique and distinctive way. Heritage & Legacies, Female Empowerment & Fluid Relationships are central in this 19th Practice & Potential edition!

From 24 to 26 March, Cinedans once again invites you to Eye with a full programme of the most beautiful, exciting and poetic dance films of the previous year.

still from Jorge Jácome (Super Natural, 2022)

still from Songs from the Compost: Mutating Bodies, Imploding Stars (Eglė Budvytytė, 2020)

The Programme

The Cinedans program includes a strong, diverse and exciting selection of films, and pays ample attention to young makers by bringing, among others, the International Student Competition and the state of the art of Dutch Dance Film with no less than two home-grown short programmes.

Dive into the themes of FEST ’23!

Heritage & Legacy, with programmes on the importance of heritage and archives for today's generation of artists and researchers, including the film Stages of a Theatre by choreographer Jiri Kylian with architect Rem Koolhaas, on the demolition and disappearance of Nederlands Dans Theater's iconic Lucent Dance Theatre. Films on Female Empowerment in which women break free from patterns of guilt and shame around body image and sexuality like in the International Student Competition: The Divine Flower, by director Tessa van der Riet & choreographer Thu Hang Pham, and films on Fluid Relationships in which boundaries between sexes and generations, between man and nature, between man and matter, are blurring. Among others, Super Natural by young Portuguese director Jorge Jácome, in which performers with and without disabilities merge with the flora and fauna of the island of Madeira, creating a transcendent viewing experience.

still from Super Natural (Jorge Jácome, 2022)

still from Calendar Girls (Maria Loohufvud, Love Martinsen, 2022)

Specials

This year, we'll also pay special attention to the legendary Pina Bausch and Tanztheater Wuppertal. With her innovative, theatrical and deeply human performances, Bausch revolutionised modern dance with Tanztheater Wuppertal, which she led from 1972 to 2002, and countless creators still find inspiration in her work. Like Samantha Shay, who follows in Bausch's footsteps with her film Romance and creates a fruitful intergenerational dialogue between past, present and future. In addition to the premiere of this film, Cinedans screens the documentary Pina Bausch: Dancing Dreams in which we see Pina Bausch herself at work!

In the special Archiving Dutch Legacies; Jellie Dekker and Cinedans launches in collaboration with podiumkunst.net, the Dutch Dansfilm Archiefproject. In this programme, we showcase films/fragments by renowned choreographers in the Netherlands and the very earliest dance recordings from 1935 to contemporary dance films!

Cinedans presents the special New Circus with surprising films about masterful juggling, acrobatics, mind tricks, illusionists and above all: unlimited circus! With a spectacular performance by Knot on Hands in the Arena of Eye!

In addition, we showcase the presentation by Karel Tuytschaever and his film EASY TIGER, Cinedans LAB Student Pitch* and the Canon Masterclass* (*by invitation only). Besides all of this, don’t miss out on lectures, free screenings, Q&A’s with the makers, installations, and the hybrid videogame performance At The Function (I Shake My Ass) by Connor Cook!

For more information check the programme.

Festival programme

Cinedans FEST ’23 will take place from March 24 through 26 in Eye Filmmuseum. You can buy a ticket per film, or buy a passe-partout for the whole festival.

Cinedans FEST '23 is a hybrid festival. You can watch dance films worldwide on cinedans.nl. The online festival programme will be available from 24 – 31 March.

Poster image: Super Natural by Jorge Jácome