BIDFF #8 – (Un)safe Zones
Bucharest International Dance Film Festival returns with its 8th edition between September 8 – 11, 2022.
This year’s theme coagulates around the concept of (Un)safe Zones. Simona Deaconescu, artistic director of BIDFF, says that the theme addresses the pressing issues that affect our lives: “It is becoming increasingly apparent that we live in a state of maximum insecurity, a general state of distrust generated by disease, military conflict and economic crisis. Nationalist and discriminatory discourses have become more acidic, and society is divided into pro and con camps, forgetting to coexist. In this landscape, the collective emotional crisis can no longer be ignored. Reacting to this conflicting ecosystem, BIDFF brings to viewers powerful films, both features and short films, animation and VR, in which familiar issues are explored with intelligence and courage by artists from all continents.”
The festival program features 26 short films in competition, selected from over 330 submitted projects.
Hypothetical Zones
The Romanian Short Film Competition includes 5 cinematographic productions that seek to reflect on the question “How can the body restore a necessary balance in a society strewn with hypothetical and (un)safe zones?”.
Dancen (dir. Corina Andrian)
I had been sleepwalking when I saw all those colors (dir. Bogdan Balla)
You who never arrived (dir. Marius Olteanu)
PIETÀ (directed & choreography by Oana Maria Moczulski)
It’s a clown’s life (dir. Ioachim Stroe)
The International Competition is divided into thematic sections and comprises 21 films, “which capture the bodily presence and its appearances subsumed into a universe of (un)safe zones, where reality and the imaginary intertwine.”
Threshold Zones
Tehura (dir. Wei Li, choreographer Nahema Charles)
Isn’t It a Beautiful World (dir. Joseph Wilson)
SHE (dir. Emil Dam Seidel, choreographer Dorotea Saykaly)
PASSAGE (dir. Ann Oren)
La Nostra Terra (dir. Thomas Born, choreographer Dalton Jansen)
Danger Zones
Amani (dir. Alliah Fafin, choreographer Taïgue Ahmed)
Quiver (dir. Joanna Różniak, choreographer Benedykt Król)
Trumpets in the Sky (dir. Rakan Mayasi)
Techno, Mama (dir. Saulius Baradinskas, choreographer Kipras Chlebinskas)
RED CARD (directed & choreography by Ana Albornoz)
Ectopic Zones
The Wall (dir. Vladyslav Detiuchenko, choreographer Vladyslav Detiuchenko)
Fist (dir. Thomas Bos, choreographer Erik Bos)
Variedades (dir. Marlyn Attie, Mauro Colombo; choreographer Marlyn Attie)
Hanging On (dir. Alfie Barker)
Ag:Au (dir. Alex Cantouris)
Abyss (dir. Google’s Image Recognition AI and Jeppe Lange)
Hip Zones
Shells (dir. Marie Magdalena Kochová, choreographer Jarek Lambor)
Neon Phantom (dir. Leonardo Martinelli, choreographer Soraya Bastos)
Sauna (dir. Anna Lena Spring, Lara Perren)
Nicholas Brothers: Stormy Weather (dir. Michael Shevloff, Paul Crowder)
SOAP (directed & choreography by Ting-tong Chang, Hsuan-kang Tsai)
This year’s jury consists of Omari ‘Motion’ Carter (dance film creator and body percussionist, UK), Monica Stan (screenwriter and director, RO) and Katia Pascariu (actress, performer and cultural activist, RO).
VR experiences
The BIDFF VR ’22 exhibition invites the public to experience 7 immersive and internationally awarded cinematographic works: After the Fallout (dir. Sam Wolson, Dominic Nahr), Anandala (dir. Kevin Mack), Glimpse (dir. Benjamin Cleary, Michael O’Connor), Kusunda (dir. Felix Gaedtke, Gayatri Parameswaran), Red Tail Ep.1 (dir. Fish Wang), Reeducated (dir. Sam Wolson), Replacements (dir. Jonathan Hagard).
The exhibition is supported by Conceptual Lab by Theo Nissim. “Bucharest International Dance Film Festival succeeds every year in surprising the audience with spectacular productions where art perfectly blends with technology and film comes to life through virtual reality.” (Theo Nissim, founder of Conceptual Lab)
Challenging the genres, Producing a dance film
Another important event within BIDFF is the lecture held by Simona Deaconescu (artistic director of BIDFF, choreographer and director, and 2022 associate artist of CNDB – The National Centre for Dance in Bucharest) and Anda Ionescu (film producer). Starting from the last production they worked on together, the two propose a case study that will focus on a possible model for making a dance film in Romania.
For the full program and more details, visit the BIDFF website and follow their Facebook page.
Writer, photographer and videographer. For Films in Frame she writes news about the latest happenings in the film world and brings to the readers' attention the productions that can be seen at the cinema. When she's not writing articles, she's photographing people in a small studio or searching for new cake recipes.