Celebrate Dance in Film: Dallas Dance Film Festival Season 6! Best of Fest | $500 Prize • DDFF Creative | $250 Prize CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SELECTED FILMS!  • MONDAY | CHINA - Andreas Guzman, Professional Filmmaker But even within the overbearing nature of Monday, the everyday working person can find their escape from the corporate work culture and discover their inner peace. Holder of a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Andreas is a director, actor, editor, screenwriter, and camera operator. His work includes short films in various genres—drama, comedy, musicals—as well as documentaries, music videos, commercials, and live video projections for ballet and contemporary dance shows. His work has been shown in various film and dance festivals such as the Cucalorus Film Festival, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Inspired Dance Film Festival, Mexico City VideoDance Festival, and he is the recipient of the Jury Prize Award from the Director’s Guild of America for his short film, “Rémy” (2013). Regarding documentary work, Andreas has made a series of short documentaries for Theater Basel celebrating the 15-year anniversary of its artistic director, Richard Wherlock, a short portrait of a principal dancer, Kayoko Everhart, from Compañía Nacional de Danza in Madrid, a short album electronic press kit for folk/americana musician, Jake Shane, and is currently developing a series of short dancer portraits for Hong Kong Ballet. Most recently, Andreas directed and a short documentary about American Ballet Theatre Studio Company's tour to Hong Kong in 2023. The film is currently on the festival circuit. With his international mindset, Andreas’ fascination lies with exploring the human condition. He constantly seeks to broaden his understanding of the film medium and how to combine it with dance. Currently based in Hong Kong, Andreas was born in France, speaks English, French, Spanish, German, and has family ties in Austria, Ecuador, Germany, and the U.S. Andreas has been the Creative Video & Media Director of the Hong Kong Ballet since 2022. • SINNER’S DELIGHT | USA - Ava Townsley, Emerging Artist Three girls (The Leader, The Flirt, and The Innocent) cause trouble, Thelma and Louise-style. Ava Townsley was born and raised in Arlington, Texas and began her dance training at the age of five at Stagedoor Dance Centre (SDC) a few miles down in Mansfield, Texas. There, she began competitively dancing from the ages of eight to eighteen, in diverse styles of ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical/contemporary, hip-hop, and musical theatre. After assisting the faculty at SDC for many years, she had the opportunity to choreograph and teach at the studio starting in the 2023 season. She is currently studying dance with a minor in English at the University of North Texas, where she has had a multitude of opportunities to perform in their productions of concerts. She was also recently accepted on Team Athena to join them for their eighth season. She hopes to pursue a career in dance performance, from Broadway to commercial to concert performance and spread her love and passion for dance with others while serving the community. • DAVID CASSIDY | USA - Lauren Shiells Edson, Professional Filmmaker Exploring the shifting dynamics between two friends and the outside forces that have them asking what’s real and what’s just in their imaginations?  Lauren Edson, originally from Boise, Idaho, is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of LED-a multimedia arts company based in Boise. She is a dancer, award-winning choreographer, producer and director. She received her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and The Juilliard School and was a celebrated dancer with Trey McIntyre Project for many years. Described as a “choreographer of the first rank,” by the Seattle Times, her films have been screened at San Francisco Dance Film Festival (CA), Dance Camera West (CA), FASS Forward, Dance Camera North, ADF's Movies by Movers, Fuselage Dance Film Festival, Portland Dance Film Festival, Idaho Screendance Festival (ID), Frame x Frame, NYBA Dance Film Fest, Utah Dance Film Festival, Filmfort and Jacksonville Dance Film Festival, to name a few. She received the 2022 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, is a 2021 Alexa Rose Fellow, a two-time recipient of the ICA Performing Arts Fellowship (2015, 2021), winner of the Pretty Creatives International Choreography Competition, a United States Artist Fellowship nominee and recipient of the 2019 Washington Award for Excellence in Choreography. In January 2015, she founded LED with her husband and composer, Andrew Stensaas and has continued to be at the forefront of artistic innovation, bringing Boise into a global arts conversation. Described by the Seattle Times as “ an important addition to the art’s scene in the northwest" the company has been recognized by Dance Magazine as “25 to Watch” for 2020 an honor given to break out artists and companies of the year. • CARRYING WOOD | IRELAND - Linda Schirmer, Emerging Artist On her walk she did not only collect heating material, but also movements inspired by the topography of the Western Way. Linda Schirmer is a choreographer and dance artist based in the West of Ireland. She studied at the University of Leipzig, Germany and University College, Cork and holds an M.A. in Theatre. Linda’s artistic practice is deeply embedded in the land surrounding her and she especially enjoys site – specific work as she is interested in people’s connection to land, folklore, and the environment.  Her own dance work, often in collaboration with other artists, has been shown nationally at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Galway Arts Centre, Clifden Arts Festival, the Druid Theatre, Nun’s Island Theatre and Dublin Dance Festival among others. • SYNERGY | UK - Emilie Bouet Conran + Honor West, Emerging Artists A gender-fluid person in their early twenties experiencing the mundanity of an urban, fast-paced environment. Emilie and Honor have collaborated on two dance films in 2023, the first a student project commercial for underwear brand Parade, and the second a fashion film entitled Burning, both directed by Honor and starring Emilie. Synergy is the first project they have co-directed. • IN | ISRAEL - Michal Bratt + Amnon Houri, Emerging Artists Depicting the struggle of coping with confinement, the protagonist embarks on a journey expressed with honesty, humor, and moments of madness, all in pursuit of inner peace and hope within the confines of a closed room. Will she find liberation?   • BEYOND THE PLAQUES | UK - Joeley Gibson, Catherine Sleeman, Hannah George, Amy Groves, Emerging Artists Inspired by the lives of four female Pioneers - sculptor Eleanor Coade, author Frances Burney, literalist Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and astronomer Annie Maunder, the film weaves together concepts of cultural ephemerality, societal expectations of women, and exploration amidst isolation. Catherine Sleeman is a choreographer and dancer, graduating from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2021. As a dancer she has worked on a range of dance and dance-theatre projects in the UK and Europe. Her choreography has featured at Brighton Fringe 2022 and 2023, and FUSE International Festival 2024. She is excited to share her first venture into film. Hannah George graduated from Trinity Laban Conservatoire in 2022 and is based in London. Hannah is freelancing as a rehearsal director, choreographer, teacher, and performer working in the UK and internationally. Highlights since graduating include, touring in Gandini Juggling’s work LIFE, joining NYB Beyond Ballet®, and developing her inclusive teaching practice and choreographic voice. Amy Groves graduated from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland after training at London Contemporary Dance School and White Lodge. She toured the UK in Rosie Kay's ‘5 Soldiers’, and performed with Ballet Cymru and BalletFolk. Commissions include NYB’s Sadler's Wells Gala, COP-26, NDCW Launch, NPAFE (USA) and ‘Cinderella’ for Origins Festival. She is currently working with inclusive dance communities across the UK. Joeley Anne is a graduate of Tring Park School, Rose Bruford Drama and Trinity Laban Conservatoire (DipHe 2021). Multidisciplinary, she moves between choreography, acting, teaching & writing. Recent projects have included Acting leads in award-winning Short Films, Arkadina in The Seagull (Bridge House Theatre) and Movement Directing for Second Person Narrative (Omnibus Theatre). Alongside dancing with E33, Alauda Dance, Dance East Residency, and Brighton and Wandsworth Fringe. Recognizing the need for more digital dance exposure, Dallas Dance Film Festival was created in 2018 to promote and support local and international emerging and professional dance filmmakers to provide an affordable platform for them to share their work. The festival also offers the community at large a new way to observe and experience dance. SPONSORED BY Dance Council of North Texas | Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts Turner House |  FILM SUBMISSIONS Submissions will be evaluated based on demonstrated use of the camera and/or mobile devices that highlight dance differently from live performance, such that the dance cannot be viewed in the same way outside of the film. Selected works will also demonstrate inventiveness and originality, cohesiveness and clarity of artistic intention, quality of choreography, performance, cinematography, and editing in relationship to the stated artistic intent. Artists are responsible for holding copyright permission for any elements used in the film that require permission such as music, text, images. The following resource may be of assistance for information on music copyright: opensourcemusic.com. Requirements Length: 5 - 10 minutes max Must incorporate Dance Must pay fee per submission 2 submissions per artist Categories + Submission Fees Early Bird Deadline: August 1, 2024 $20 emerging: description $20 professional filmmaker: description Later Gator Deadline: October 15, 2024 $25 emerging $35 professional filmmaker

Hatch – Filmmaker: Jeff Schick
Synopsis: HATCH is a short film that features experimental dance as a metaphor to the awakening of the self. The film is a creative partnership with the Alan Watts Organization, featuring the spoken word of the late British-American philosopher. With its sci-fi undertones, the film features Italian-American movement artist Lavinia Vago as she explores her newly hatched, human body upon emerging from her chrysalis. Set to a symbolic backdrop of a womb, HATCH showcases visuals of a human’s transformation from birth to becoming a fully-functioning, fully-aware organism.

Bio: Jeff Schick is a Seattle-based writer, director and filmmaker whose work explores the intersectionality of technology and its utilization by humanity.

With two decades of experience working alongside The Fortune 100, Schick served in branding, digital, social and content production capacities for Apple, adidas, AT&T, T-Mobile and others. Schick began producing and directing films in 2012, ultimately creating film production company, Audio Video Room, where he currently serves as a creative director. His recent work includes HALO, SWIPE and HATCH is Schick’s dance-directorial debut.


BOAT – Director: Stephanie Nugent (Artistic Direction/Choreography), Charles Borowicz (Cinematography/Editing/Sound Design)
Synopsis: BOAT (screen-dance), Directed by Stephanie Nugent, with Cinematography, Sound Design and Editing by Charles Borowicz, and collaborating performance by Nugent and Savannah Cox, explores a mother’s timely and timeless relationship with her tween daughter, kinesthetically drawing viewers in to experience an unique bond charged by love, burden, support, empathy, and a shared passion for independence.
Bio: Stephanie Nugent, lives in Indianapolis, IN, USA where she creates dance theater, teaches, improvises, and generally does her best at becoming a good human. She holds a BFA in Modern Dance from North Carolina School of the Arts and an MFA in Choreography and Performance from California State University, Long Beach. Ms. Nugent has had the good fortune to collaborate, perform, and tour internationally with esteemed dance artists such as Victoria Marks, Keith Johnson, Kim Epifano, Della Davidson, The Ririe Woodbury Dance Company, Malashock Dance and Company, and Nugent Dance, presenting works in theaters, black-boxes, museums, sidewalks, a pier, a tent, a creek, and an old military base. In her most recent project BOAT, a screen-dance exploring a mother’s timely and timeless relationship with her tween daughter, Nugent and Savannah Cox offer a kinesthetic and metaphoric vision into their unique bond, charged by love, burden, support, empathy, and a shared passion for independence.

With more than 25 years working in the field of dance, Stephanie has received critical acclaim in publications including The Los Angeles Times, NY Times, exploredance.com and Dance Magazine, for whom she was also recently interviewed in Get Into Contact: Demystifying the basics of contact improvisation. Nugent’s academic/teaching posts have included earning the rank of Tenured Associate Professor at University of California Santa Barbara, Full-Time Faculty in the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts, Visiting Full-Time Faculty at The Ohio State University, Director of Dance at the North Carolina Governors School, Director of the Indiana University High School Summer Dance Intensive, Teaching Team Coordinator for the Great Lakes Area Contact Improv Enthusiasts Retreat, and workshops/residencies throughout the US and in Italy.

Etch – Filmmaker: Abby Warrilow & Lewis Gourlay

Synopsis: A girl hikes across remote moorland. On a hill in the distance, stands a lone building, which she discovers is a long abandoned school hall. A little sun penetrates the dirty glass. An upright piano sits in the far corner.

She takes off her muddy boots and with confidence in her gait, strides across to the piano and pulls it by one corner. The rusted wheels are jammed and it pivots, creating an arc. A line is carved in layers of compacted dust and the ancient wooden floor splinters with the weight of the instrument.

In the centre of the room, hinged on one foot, she extends her leg and rotates swiftly and with graceful power. Her feet trace, etch and carve in circular movements, creating marks in the layers of dirt. Her body contorts. She throws herself in controlled but frenetic choreography. The movements increase in size and vigour as a pattern emerges. Finally she stands back to witness the impression her dance has etched on the floor.
Bio: Abby Warrilow and Lewis Gourlay have been an international co-directing team ‘ Cagoule’ since 2001, making screen dance, cinematic TV commercials, edgy music videos and exclusive online content. Their combined skills merge live action, movement and motion graphics to create fresh, quirky and imaginative films.

Title: Laws of Motion Filmmaker: Jeppe Lange City, Country of Residence: Copenhagen, Denmark

Synopsis: Two girls have created a world beyond time and space, dancing through the eery halls of an abandoned monastery.

Bio: Jeppe Lange is a filmmaker studying at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.His work covers the field between documentary and experimental film; reality seen through a conceptual lens.
During the last four years he’s had several films on festivals in Denmark, USA, Germany, Italy, Croatia etc. Jeppe Lange was born 1987. He lives and works in Copenhagen.


Title: 9241 Filmmaker: Marta Romero Coll City, Country of Residence: Barcelona, Spain

Synopsis: The figure of the indigenous and the conqueror are reunited in an island of the future to change history through the recognition of the other and the value of joint creation.

Bio: Barcelona hold a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. It is linked to the image and its surroundings with projects related to the processes.
She has always liked the documentary genre and video dance, and he feels comfortable working in both genres.

Title: Digital Afterlives Filmmakers: Richard James Allen + Karen Pearlman, The Physical TV Company City, Country of Residence: Sydney, Australia

Synopsis: A man in white-winged angel shoes awakes in infinite black to the strains of Liszt’s “Dance of the Dead”.

Bio: Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman are the directors of the critically acclaimed Physical TV Company (www.physicaltv.com.au), based in Sydney, Australia, where they create award-winning dancefilms, dramas,
and documentaries. Their work has screened at hundreds of film festivals around the world, including most of the leading dance film festivals, been broadcast on television and collected by major international film archives.

SPONSORED BY

Dance Council of North Texas + The Dallas Public Library