Breaking the Chains #2
Cinedans 2026: Breaking the Chains #2
In the Breaking the Chains series, Cinedans presents dance films with postcolonial themes, in which dance, song, and ritual take center stage as carriers of cultural identity and means of healing, reconciliation, and liberation.
Dance, song, and ritual are essential elements of cultural identity and play a crucial role in processes of healing, reconciliation, and liberation. In this series, we follow how filmmakers depict these processes through urgent and topical themes. They portray ancestral rituals, struggles for independence, spirituality, and the ongoing effects of slavery in the present day.
The edition of '24 offered insight into the deep wounds left by the colonial system. Anger and resistance, dance as a means of spiritual transformation, and the power of the ancestors formed the central themes. In Breaking the Chains #2, the perspective shifts to an unambiguous reality, in which recognition does not automatically lead to structural change. In this edition, artists question the still dominant Western gaze: who is looking, who is being looked at, and who is determining the point of view?
In this second part, we show films from Singapore, Brazil, French Guiana, Colombia, France, and the UK/Nigeria. In these works, the body acts as both memory and living archive, proud and vulnerable, where past and future intersect. Through dance and movement, they open up new spaces for imagination and autonomy. Through choreography, framing, and perspective, they slow down and shift preconceived narratives. Rooted and proud, they celebrate their cultural heritage and pass it on to a younger generation. New rituals emerge, old ones are revived, ecological injustices are questioned, and queer identity and the representation of black women, then and now, take centre stage.
Programme
Latex Labyrinth (Dir: Wey Yinn Teo | Chor: Austin Goh | MY, SG | 2025 | 13' | Dutch Premiere)
An old man slips into the colonial past, carried by an old folk song and the endless rhythm of rubber tapping.
Flores del otro Patio (Dir: Jorge Cadena | CH, CO | 2023 | 16')
In northern Colombia, a group of queer activists use extravagant performative actions to denounce the disastrous exploitation of the country's largest coal mine.
Pavilhão (Dir: Victoria Fiore | Chor: Karol Jurga | BR | 2025 | 13')
Aleksia wanders on a journey through time, unveiling the origins of samba and its emergence from the resilience and joy of her Afro-Brazilian community.
Moune Ô (Dir: Maxime Jean-Baptiste | BE, GF, FR | 2022 | 17’)
An examination of footage from a film premiere leads to the investigation of colonial continuities and family histories.
Specialised Technique (Dir: Onyeka Igwe | UK | 2018 | 7’)
Based on archival footage from the colonial era, Specialized Technique liberates black dance from spectacle to transform visual trauma into new meanings.
Fragments for Venus (Dir: Alice Diop | FR, IT | 2025 | 21’)
Drawing on museum objects and street scenes, Fragments of Venus explores different perspectives on the black female body, as a gesture of self-celebration. (Courtesy Miu Miu)
This is part of
Details
Length
100 min.
Event language
English
Part of
Cinedans 2026
Cinedans FEST returns to Eye with a rich and international film programme that brings together the beauty of dance and the power of film!
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