Cinedans – Dance on Screen is a unique film festival, both in the Netherlands and further afield. This year, around 90 dance films, or dance productions on film will be shown, and the focus is on choreographies that have been made with the film camera in mind and on unique film adaptations of existing dance shows. Submissions to the dance festival come both from domestic and international filmmakers.
Experts from around the world are expected to make an appearance at the festival and some will even share their knowledge with audiences by means of lectures. There is also an installation section at the festival, where dance art and audiences interact. Furthermore, visitors are treated to documentaries about the life and work of important dance artists both from the Netherlands and abroad.
According to the organisers, this dance film festival is the largest in the world, but there is no word on the number of visitors expected. Reviews of previous editions of the festival have emphasized that the quality of the content is high, so you cannot really go wrong visiting this festival if you like both dance and film.
Film makers searching for innovative ways of telling a story could of course do a lot worse than resorting to dancers, but the interesting thing really is that the dance film genre itself is also undergoing changes in its narration; new media and modern technology have entered the world of dance, frequently turning the genre on its head.
“It is no longer only movement which is being eternalised on screen. More and more, the focus is on autonomous art works such as (interactive) installations, video clips and other forms of representation”, the Cinedance – Dance on Screen organisers write on their website. It is influences like these that are visible in the four-day festival output this year, we are promised.
Special guest at the Cinedans 2014 edition is Boris Pavel Conen, an up-and-coming filmmaker from the Netherlands whose television film Exit, about the harsh reality that belies the Dutch deportation policy, shocked Dutch TV viewers when it was aired last year. A selection of Conen’s dance-oriented films are shown at the festival, including Between Entrance and Exit, which features dance by choreographer Jiří Kylián and music by composer Han Otten.
As well as that, guest curator Peter Delpeut, a Dutch filmmaker, is showing his ‘found’ footage. He crowd-sourced original film footage highlighting interesting dance elements in films for this production. Delpeut will also premier his own film One Hand Clapping.
The festival takes place at EYE, the film museum in Amsterdam, which is really easy to get to from most accommodations rented out by Amsterdam Apartments. Just get to the Central Station and head towards the water at the back of the station. All you need to do is cross this river. There is a free ferry service to EYE, which runs 24 hrs, seven days a week. Take the ferry that says ‘Buiksloterweg’ (less than 3 mins), usually the center two departure points. When you have crossed the water, turn left and on foot you will be at EYE (the building shaped like a security camera) in less than 3 minutes.
Festival dates: March 12th-16th.
