London / UK. In celebration
of International Women's Month celebrating and highlighting
Women's global achievement. Dance On Film News takes
a look at some of the exciting women working in film.
We also release
the Dance Camera Action Trailer from Contsellation Change
08
Windows
Media Player Version HERE
Real
Playter Version HERE
You may be required to
download the latest Realplayer
plug-in to view these clips.
7:
15 pm on Monday 31st March 2008
|
Monday 31st March 08
7:15pm
Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, London SW2 1JG
Web Booking: www.picturehouses.co.uk
Tickets
£ 8.00 / £ 7.00 Conc.
In association with In
Celebration of Our Sisters
. |
"Been
Rich All My Life"
follows the unlikliest troupe of tap dancing divas. They
are the "Silver Belles," five former showgirls
now aged 84-96, performing to standing ovations, as sassy
as they ever were.
They met during Harlem's
1930's heyday, dancing in the chorus lines at the Apollo
Theater, the Cotton Club, Small's Paradise and Connie's
Inn, performing with legendary band leaders like Cab Calloway
and Duke Ellington. When the big band era ended, they
all went into other work -- but in 1985 they put their
shoes back on, and have been dancing together again ever
since. They may not kick as high, but they are hip-swaying
and show-biz savvy.
RUN TIME: 80, YEAR 2006
STARRING: Bertye Lou Wood, Cleo Hayes, Marion Coles, Fay
Ray
DIRECTOR: Heather Lyn MacDonald
PRODUCER(S): Heather Lyn MacDonald
Prod Co: Toots! Crackin!.
View TrailerQuicktime
View Trailer
Quicktime
Heather
Lyn MacDonald (Producer/director): The
founder of Toots Crackin Productions, is the maker
of the Sundance Award-winning documentary feature
BALLOT MEASURE 9. Other award winning documentaries
which Heather directed and edited include KIEV BLUE
and KITCHEN TALK USSR. Prior to filmmaking, Heather
was for many years an actor and is a long-standing
member of Actor's Equity, SAG and AFTRA. She is also
a screenwriter, and her photos have been exhibited
at galleries in New York City.
Susanne
Fosse: Did
you always want to become a documentary filmmaker?
Heather Lyn MacDonald: My
mother was a still photographer, and she taught me
skills, so I was always making photographs. But in
terms of ambition and career, I wanted to be an actor
from a very early age -- so that's what I studied,
and what I did for a living until my late 30's. Jobs
got harder to get, I pondered my future and went back
to school to study cinematography, took a documentary
production class the first semester, made a half-hour
doc there -- and I was hooked. It seemed to use all
of me.
Susanne
Fosse: You
had a lot of success with documentary film Ballot
Measure 9, which screened at Sundance. What drew you
to the story of the Silver Belles?
Heather Lyn MacDonald: Very simple: I read a small
article in the newspaper about them, rehearsing a
show they were about to do at the Cotton Club -- dancers
in their 80s and 90s, actually performing for a paying
audience! These were ladies I wanted to meet. Also,
I had tap danced with great fervour in my acting years
and was a great aficionado. I didn't hesitate a moment
before I was on the phone to meet them.
INTERVIEW
CONTINUED >>>
|
Tuesday 1st April 08
7:15pm
Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, London SW2 1JG
Web Booking: www.picturehouses.co.uk
Tickets
£ 8.00 / £ 7.00 Conc.
|
Capturing
the raw power of a grassroots hip-hop movement, INSIDE
THE CIRCLE tells the stories of strikingly talented
b-boys Josh and Omar, former best friends who become
rivals when they join competing dance crews. Immersed
in the b-boy culture of defiant creativity, Omar rises
to international renown, while Josh tangles with the
law. Both of them struggle to keep dance at the center
of their lives, and the “B-Boy City” competitive
events thrown by visionary street dancer Romeo Navarro
serve as emotional milestones in their journey to adulthood.
Facing off in intense dance battles that mirror the
larger events in their lives, Josh and Omar seek respect,
meaning and identity “inside the circle.”
Screening Followed by Q &A by Jonzi
D with Director Marcy Garriott and Omar Davila
RUN TIME: 101
STARRING: :Romeo Navarro, Josh Ayers, Omar Davila, and
TX Crews
DIRECTOR: Marcy Garriott
PRODUCER(S): Marcy Garriott
Prod Co: La Sonrisa Productions Inc.
OFFICIAL MOVIE WEBSITE:http://www.insidethecircle.com/
Director - Marcy Garriot
Marcy Garriott is an independent documentary filmmaker
(producer/director) based in Austin, Texas. Her
first feature length documentary film was SPLIT DECISION,
which screened at over 15 festivals worldwide, won two
festival awards, was broadcast on public television, and
is currently distributed on DVD by First Run Features.
The film was also selected for a new PBS series that aired
last fall (“Voces”). Her latest Film INSIDE
THE CIRCLE tells the story of two strikingly talented
b-boys, Josh and Omar, former best friends who become
dance floor. .
Marcy will hold post screening Q&A with Jonzi
D on Tues 1st April 08 at Ritzy Picturehouse(Brixton)
Dance On Film News: How did you
get involved in filmmaking, and what interested you especially
in documentary film?
Marcy Garriott: I
was interested in still photography from a young age,
but I didn’t turn to filmmaking till I was in my
mid-30’s. By then I was ready for a change from
my corporate career. I was strongly drawn to documentary
filmmaking because it combined so many of my interests:
visual imagery, editing, story-telling, social activism,
and even technology. Making a documentary film also leads
to extraordinary life experiences; it provides deep and
meaningful access to people and places and events that
you might never otherwise experience. And at the end of
that experience, you have a film, something that lasts,
something you created, something you can share with the
world.
.
Dance On Film News:
Your first film was the documentary Split Decision,
about the talented boxer Jesus Chavez, who is deported
to Mexico for a crime committed as a teen. That project
has also won numerous awards. How did that project come
about?/
MARCY
GARRIOTT INTERVIEW CONTINUED
>>>>
Carol
Straker,
Carol Is Festival director of the annual Constellation
Change Screen Dance Festival in London. The Festival has
received over 1,500 film entries since 2001 and UK premiered
over a dozen theatrically released films including Rent
(Sony Pictures) , Ballet Russes (Revolver Entertainment)
and Honey (Universal Pictures).
As a well known dancer and choreographer,
Carol trained at Le Gat School of Russian Ballet then
went on to Urdang Academy. She continued her education
with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Martha Graham
School of Contemporary Dance in New York She also toured
with the Alvin Ailey dance company. Carol was featured
in the BBC documentary "Breaking The Mold",
the Award winning documentary "Constellation Change."
and was chosen as one of the leading dancers to appear
in the 25th anniversary edition of the legendary Pirelli
Calendar, which can be viewed in the Pirelli Room at the
Tate Gallery. Carol has three times been short listed
for Cosmopolitan Magazine’s Woman of the Year award.
.
Watch
BBC
feature on Last Years film Festival 07
Bat-Sheva
Guez - Is a director, dancer, and editor with
an eye for experimental storytelling. Her films have been
screened in festivals around the country In April she
will UK Premiere two short dance films "Morning"
(2nd April) and "3F" (4th April) at this years
Constellation Change Film Festival.
Her recent work includes a television pilot
entitled "Making It" which was screened at the
New York Television Festival last fall and an experimental
film entitled "The Winter Quilt" which received
the "AUFFicial Selection" award at the Atlanta
Underground Film Festival. A graduate from the Vassar
College film department, Bat-Sheva has also studied film
at the University of Technology in Sydney and Emerson
College in Boston. She currently studies dance at Dance
New Amsterdam in New York.
Interview
with Bat Sheva Guez Here
INTERVIEW
Director
- Gwendolen Cates
Gwendolen Cates, an award-winning photographer
and author, made her filmmaking debut with WATER FLOWING
TOGETHER. The film has received three awards to date.
Her book Indian Country (Grove Press, 2001) was reviewed
as one of the top ten illustrated books of the year by
USA Today, and received other critical accolades including
being featured on Oprah. Over the course of Cates’s
20-year career her photographs have been published as
covers and features in major publications such as Parade,
Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, GQ, Sports
Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Time and People. She
has photographed innumerable celebrities and public figures,
including George Clooney, Oprah, Sheryl Crow, Halle Berry,
Bruce Willis, Robin Williams, Bill Murray and Colin Powell.
Her next film is Mourning in the Garden of Eden, about
the cultural destruction of Iraq during this war. A native
New Yorker who attended the University of Chicago, she
resides in Manhattan.
Gwendolen will hold post screening
Q&A with Donald Hutera on Friday 4th April 2008 at
Everyman Cinema.
We invite you to come and celebrate
the 8th annual Constellation Change Screen Dance Festival
(CCSDF). London's Premiere
Screen Dance Festival
continues its proud tradition of dynamic dance/musical
films, intriguing talks, and evening soirees to add
to your March/April calendar. This year the CCSDF
has chosen another excellent selection of dance shorts
and documentary features from a total of 200 entries
from 24 countries.
The festival has developed such a strong following
in part because of the easy-going atmosphere and camaraderie
among filmmakers, audiences and guests alike.
Spanning five days, the festival will take place at
Curzon Soho, Ritzy Brixton and Everyman Cinema from
31st March - 4th April 2008
UK Premieres include
feature films Gwendolen Cates "Water Flowing
Together", Benson Lee's "Planet B-Boy",
Marcy Garriott's Inside The Circle, and Na Kamalei:
The Men of Hula. Shorts includes Quarantine, I Hate
Musicals and Pavillon Noir. All screenings take
place at Curzon Soho , Ritzy Picturehouse, Brixton
and Everyman Cinema.
http://www.constellation-change.co.uk/
31st
March - 4th April 08
London
: Interviews filmmakers screening at this years 8th
Constellation Change Screen Dance Festival 31st March
- 4th April 2008
Quarantine (Curaçao)-
Gabri Christa - director
Falling (CAN)- Ayelen Liberona & Naya Guzman - directors
My Own Private Belly Dancer (US)- Emmeline Yang- Producer
Out Of Beat (USA) - Andrea Lira - director
Morning (USA) - Bat-Sheva Guez - Choreographer/director
I Hate Musicals (US) Stewart Schill - director
In The Mood (UK) Jonathan R Hall – Producer
Library Manju (UK) Paul
Angunawela - director
| |
Quarantine |
Falling |
My Own Private Belly Dancer |
Out Of Beat |
| |
Morning
|
I Hate Musicals |
In The Mood |
Library Manju
|
Back Issues
Dance
On Film News - Issue 79 Hip Hop Dance Films
Dance
On Film News - Issue 80 Filmmaker Interviews
Wednesday
2nd April 2008
Time : 7:20pm
With compelling characters and vibrant dance sequences,
PLANET B-BOY is set in the International world of B-boying
— the urban dance more commonly known as “breakdancing.”
Weaving between the vivid backdrops of Osaka, Paris, Seoul
and Las Vegas, unforgettable images frame the intimate
stories of dancers who struggle for their dreams despite
being misunderstood by larger society and even their own
families.
An American dancer in Vegas looks for his
big break; a Korean son seeks his father’s approval;
a twelve-year-old boy in France confronts his family’s
racism — all the b-boys’ lives collide in
Germany where their skills are put to the ultimate test:
the “Battle of the Year” finals, with crews
from 18 nations vying for the title of World Champion.
PLANET B-BOY features electrifying dance performances
and astonishing displays of power and grace, showing how
a street dance
from New York has evolved into an inspiring art form for
a new generation around the world.
RUN TIME: 101
STARRING: Knucklehead Zoo,Phase-T, Ichigeki,Gamblerz
DIRECTOR: Benson Lee
PRODUCER(S): Amy Lo , Benson Lee
Prod Co: Planet B Boy LLC
OFFICIAL MOVIE WEBSITE: http://www.planetbboy.com/
|
Wednesday
2nd April 2008
Time : 7:20pm
Curzon Soho.
93-107 Shaftesbury Avenue,
Soho, London
W1D 5DY
All Tickets £9.00/Conc
£8.00
Box Office 0871 703
3988
Curzon
Online Booking
|
.
THE CORNER OF SUNSET AND MORNING GLORY
2 (TCOSAMG)
As part of this years current sweep across the UK and
Europe of Hip Hop influenced films “IN THE CIRCLE"
, “PLANET B BOY", “STEP UP 2" and
HOW SHE MOVE". Broadcaster Ellen Brandvold &
Dance Launch 8 will be supporting the direct costs of
production of a trio of 30-minute Hip Hop film projects
in 2008/2009. TCOSAMG is open to animation, music videos,
documentaries and shorts with an international focus,
in which storytellers bring their Hip Hop ideas, experiences
and cultures to new audiences.
See Brief -
The Corner Of Sunset and Morning Glory - Introduction.
