This selection of local short films exploring a broad variety of dance styles features a charming samba documentary made in Brazil, a dreamlike ballet film and a spectacular hip-hop dance drama.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2014
Shorts That Dance
This programme corrals three distinctive and distinctly different dance shorts that came our way this year. From samba instruction in Brazil to surreal ballet to dust-raising hip-hop dancing in the Hokianga, these films from New Zealand filmmakers explore a broad variety of dance – and film styles to match.
The Contract 2014
Rowena Baines’ charming short documentary The Contract takes us to Rio de Janeiro, where an unusual arrangement with her much younger samba teacher allows an elderly woman a new lease on life. It appears that in your golden years, you are only as old as the man you dance with.
Memory House 2013
Directed by Ryan Fielding and conceived and choreographed by Loughlan Prior, Memory House features Sir Jon Trimmer and artists from the Royal New Zealand Ballet in a dramatically framed and performed exploration of dance on camera.
Rising Dust 2014
In Rising Dust, director Jack Woon takes hip-hop dance out of the city streets in exhilarating fashion as a Māori teenager calls on the help of his ancestral spirits to stand up to his abusive father.