THE FIRST ANNUAL SAN FRANCISCO DANCE FILM FESTIVAL, presented by Motion Pictures and hosted by Ninth Street Independent Film Center, is taking place March 5-7, 2010. The weekend will involve, special guests and workshops, and feature local, national and international dance films.
Greta Schoenberg is the mastermind behind this festival. She has spent the past five years scoping festivals in New York, LA, London, Amsterdam and many others, studying dance films and premiering her own—concluding that it’s time San Francisco had one of its own. Twenty films will be shown between Friday and Saturday night, with distinctive programs offered each night. Schoenberg has focused the line-up on dance made for the camera, not archival footage of performances, ranging from Ballet to Dance Theater and more. Discussion with local film directors will follow the screenings each night, and everyone in attendance is invited out for an after party to keep the discussion going.
The weekend will kick off with a reception, followed by “Synchronous Objects for One Flat Thing, reproduced,” a media installation by William Forsythe, Maria Palazzi and Norah Zuniga Shaw (synchronousobjects.osu.edu/media/). Special Guest, Karina Epperlein, will screen her 2006 film Phoenix Dance. It has been screened at more than 100 festivals, was “short-listed” for the 2006 Oscar Nomination, and won a Golden Gate Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival. The only documentary in the festival, this film features dancer, Homer Avila, who lost a leg to cancer, and Alonzo King, who choreographed a duet with Avila and Andrea Flores. Also on the bill is special guest and local filmmaker, Mitchell Rose, with a screening of his Modern Daydreams. Rose’s comedic dance films were shown on the CBS Spectacular Vision in Times Square and won a “Wemmy” for Best Internet Series.
To round out the first year’s festival, Schoenberg and local video and editing artist, Ben Estabrook are hosting two days of dance for film workshops at the Ninth Street Independent Film Center.
This article appeared in the March 2010 issue of In Dance.
