Opening Screening: Where We Dwell

Eunice Faye Dionisio (Calgary, AB) YOUTH
Vancouver Premiere
Duration: 2:35

In Ballroom, Vogue movement is a language. We communicate with each other through the intricacies of our hands and the techniques we learned from our teachers in Ballroom. Storytelling is a huge part of it all and is used to connect to your peers and competitors, creating a community that allows for intimacy and togetherness.

Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Mat Harvey
Producer: Eunice Faye Dionisio
Dancers: Eunice Faye Dionisio, Shandie Ta, Justin Larioza, Roubert Dilidili
Jewelry: Brat Beadz
Music: "I Wanna Dance" by Artem Uzunov

Gabrielle Tyrie (Toronto, ON) YOUTH
Vancouver Premiere
Duration: 7:03

Inspired by the etymology of the word “versus”, “Versus, Versus, Verses” is a two-channel video combining dance, film and poetry. From the metaphorical to the literal the whole universe is whirring and turning. Using the visual motif of a spiral, artist and filmmaker, Gabrielle Tyrie and dancer Abdulla Hassan, collect the ways in which you can dance and render a turning system. 

Director, Writer, Narrator: Gabrielle Tyrie
Performer: Abdulla Hassan
Music: Sierra Weston and Gabrielle Tyrie

Fareh Malik (Toronto, ON) EMERGING
Vancouver Premiere
Duration: 6:34
Content warning: Mentions of mental illness (depression), flashing lights

“Surviving Silence” is a short film exploring the link between silence and depression, and how dance can be not just an escape from that, but a beautiful way to persevere. The film showcases an array of dance styles housed under Fareh Malik's poetic narration.

Director and Editor: Ian Simon
Writer: Fareh Malik
Producer: Safa Ali Mudei
DOP: Jerome Riel
Cast: Josh Cezar, Nadia Ruffieux, Praveeni Rasiah, Tariq Chin

Niya Ahmed Abdullahi (Toronto, ON) YOUTH
Canadian Premiere
Duration: 7:45

Lost in a trance between conversations of the past, old worlds, and alternative realities. Marium is called for prayer during this journey home. Alas she tries, to find, her place.

Director, Writer, Producer: Niya Ahmed Abdullahi
Editor, Sound Design: Ella Saini
Director of Photography: Rividu Mendis
First AC: Isaac Tang
Colourist: Tarneem Allati
Starring: Marium Zakaria, Zeynab Neguse

Melissa Lam (Vancouver, BC) YOUTH
Duration: 1:36

“No Less Asian” explores the struggles and triumphs of being a 2nd Generation Asian-Canadian, portrayed through the medium of dance.

In honor of this year's AANHPI History Month in May, I wanted to showcase the rich diversity of the Asian-Canadian experience through the art of dance. As a Chinese-Canadian who grew up in Singapore and later moved to Vancouver, I faced my own challenges in navigating my cultural identity. Today, I feel more grounded and embrace my multicultural heritage. Dance provides a vibrant way to celebrate our unique stories, connect with our roots, and build a shared understanding with others.

Director, Editor, Mix Media Artist: Melissa Lam
Producer: Ann Dinh
DP, Cam Op: Stefan Feldmann
Post Supervisor: Bronwyn Davies
Sound Designer: Adam Johnson
Colorist: Tyson Rider
Designer: Andy Burdin

Roya DelSol (Toronto, ON) EMERGING
World Premiere
Duration: 5:31
Content warning: Strobe lighting

“You Feel Me?” is a dance film that explores themes of isolation, longing and touch through the expression of Black femme sensuality. Drawing upon the experience of dancing alone in one’s room — a rare instance of a “safe space” in Black life — “You Feel Me?” asks, “How do you move in solitude?” 

Dancers circumnavigate brutalist architecture, columns, glitches, and frames, bridging these separations through intuitive movement. Through these motions, “You Feel Me?” attempts to embody the haunting that can result from our desire for closeness, love and understanding.

“You Feel Me?” both celebrates queer femme sensuality, as well as the ways that Black queer femmes see, reach out to, and care for each other. (Against all odds—even when nobody else does—we got us.)

Director: Roya DelSol
Choreographer, Creative Director: Jessica Karuhanga
Cinematographer: Morgana McKenzie
Producer: Fonna Seidu
Dancers: Jessica Karuhanga, Kim Ninkuru, Jennille Seedial, Chason Yeboah
Costume Design: Shaya Ishaq 
Music Composition: Jessica Karuhanga & Emilio Portal

Virginia Duivenvoorden (Vancouver, BC) EMERGING
Vancouver Premiere
Duration: 6:03
Content warning: Thunder and lighting

This piece was developed by Virginia as an interdisciplinary piece. The dance was choreographed in collaboration with the performer. The film is directed by Jerry Trieus. The performance centers around a character who has a mission to experience flight through kiting. The journey is filled with challenges leading to a transformation from the kite as the object of flight to the human body as the dancer achieves a sense of flight through movement.

The piece included audience engagement through workshops to create art for the film. The art projects are windsocks created by the community. The art offers a more multi- sensory experience to the dances and also serves as additional access points to the choreography. The use of tulle is repeated from Virginia’s previous works investigating the fabric and a prop reminiscent of a cloud.

Choreographer: Virginia Duivenvoorden
Director: Jerry Trieus
Performer and Assistant Choreographer: Brynne Harper
Composer: Sarah Blair
Supported by: The Dance Centre
In association with: PHT Creative Hub

Glo Romy (Toronto, ON) EMERGING
Vancouver Premiere
Duration: 3:41

Created by an all woman cast & crew, BOSSY is an energetic short film that celebrates the women in Toronto’s street dance community. The film highlights different generations with styles ranging from Hip Hop, Popping, Locking, Waacking, Breaking, and Krump. Glo Romy, the director of the film, is a Hip Hop dancer from Toronto who has battled across the city as well as having proudly repp’d abroad. The film is 4 minutes long and premiered in March 2024, in honour of Women’s History Month.

Director: Glo Romy
Production Company: Yute Studio
Executive Producer: Christina G. Cheng
Producers: Suha “Su” Mugni, Dorcas Ho
DP: Ashley Iris Gill
Choreographer: Amanda-May Wilson
Associate Choreographer: Marianne Kanaan, Christina de la Cruz
Casting: Amaia Creative
Editorial: Nimiopere
Editor: Leah Lalich
Colour: Darling Colour & VFX
Colourist: Kassi Bellamy
1st AD: Ashley Bodika
2nd AD: Alise Rosemin
Production Coordinator: Vanessa Okafo
Steadicam: Nigel Doucette
1st AC: Carine Zahner
2nd AC: Kiana Tagabing
Camera Trainee: Renata Mohamed
Gaffer: Sabrina Spilotro
Key Grip: Asmaa Rouhi
Dolly Grip: Ian Chan
Set Designer: Vanessa Cassar
Wardrobe: Glo Romy
Wardrobe Assists: Kaylah Wilson, Miki Diamond Perry
MUA: Kathy Nguyen
MUA Assists: Irene Brotto, Gabrielle Jovellanos
Hair Stylist: Lakia Sage
Nail Artist: Manis by Manu
Grillz: Grillz by Mazz
BTS: Christine Do, Puneet Boparai, Alicia Reid
PA's: Toni Ho, Olya Sovtus, Sierra Brown-Rodrigues
Cast: Glo Romy, Kayla-Renée Wilson, Petra Ayedzi, Jendayi Dyer, Malea Yarde, Shane Tubog, Jordanaé Marie, O'Shani "Ocean" Cardwell, Trisha Ng, Miambi Kassé, Marianne Kanaan, Celeste Delgado, Kosi Eze, Caroline ‘Lady C’ Fraser, Monica ‘Knives’ Fern, Judi Lopez, Jade Jager Clark, Karyin Qiu, Alexandra ‘Niyi’ Tauhid, Julia ‘Lock Julia’ Aldosh, Sandra ‘Iced Misto’ To, Madison ‘Mad C’ Cranston, Daniella Alfaro, Luna Lunatick Doan, Mandy ‘Doomgurl’ Sanchez Cruz, Abigail McEyeson, Abby ‘Crimson Gush’ Raj, Lexi Raj, Emma Cabrera Aragon, Patricia ‘Ponytail Patricia’ Gordon, Jessica ‘Pretzo’ Chiu, Ruhama Dechassa, Jamie-Lee Santos, Danica ‘Dizzy’ Dinero, Janine Joseph, Janelle Haye, Indica Cornish, Kathriel Rivera, Char Viorea, Geneva Lei, Manuela Villegas, Chawntay Barrett, Zayn Ojowo, King the Chihuahua

Shay Erlich (Toronto, ON) EMERGING
Canadian Premiere
Duration: 8:04

A creative reimagining of the movement potential of Downsview Park in Toronto, through Shay Erlich’s provocative and revelatory contemporary dance. Landscapes: Love Letters to Willow celebrates the disability joy of being visible as a non-binary wheelchair user in a world where disability itself is often rendered invisible.

Co-Director, Dancer: Shay Erlich
Co-Director: Simeon Taole
Executive Producer: Cecilia Garcia
Producer: Danielle Ungara
Dramaturg: Zita Nyarady
Sound Design & Composition: Charlie Petch

Kerr Holden (Vancouver, BC) EMERGING
Duration: 13:30
Content warning: Violence, images of bone related injuries, blood, strobing images.

When Vancouver based pro-wrestler Judas Icarus sustains a dramatic injury, he must go through the arduous process of recovery so he can continue his practice in staged combat. This small portrait of Judas Icarus is expressed not through a continuity of events, but through the human touch, forms of light, and repeated movements which surround his recovery. 

The body houses every experience we endure. With "Judas Icarus Twists His Wrist", I aimed to make an experimental action film which explores this concept through the sensorial experience projected light, flickering images, and moving pictures can deliver to a body.

Director, Producer, Editor: Kerr Holden
Starring: Judas Icarus, Sho Blunderfield, Travis Williams
Cinematographers: Suz Friesen, Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora, Kerr Holden
Camera Assistant: Sidney Gordon
Assistant Directors: Phoebe Parsons, Karan Sandhu
Sound Design and Re-recording Mix: Mark Dolmont

cát nguyên and Trâm Anh Nguyễn (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) YOUTH
Duration: 18:24
Content warning: Mention of violence, displacement

As queer trans and gender non-conforming children of the Vietnamese diaspora, society displaces us from not only a sense of belonging to our ancestral land, but also our own bodies.

Yet these bodies of ours are the vessels we sail to embark on a lifetime voyage of return to our original selves. It is our bodies that navigate the treacherous tides of normative systems that impose themselves on our very being. And it is our bodies that act as community lighthouses for collective liberation.

Ultimately, the landscape of our bodies is our blueprint to remembering, to healing, to blooming.

Director, Cinematographer, Producer, Voices Performer: Trâm Anh Nguyễn 
Writer, Lead Cast, Producer, Voices Performer: cát nguyên
Music Composer & Sound Designer: Trần Quốc Thịnh