Location: SFU Woodwards - Djavad Mowafaghian Theatre, 3rd floor + Digital Library
Available with:
All Access Pass (In-Person - November 26 at 7PM PST)
+
Digital Screenings Pass (released on our Digital Library November 27th at 8AM PST)
F-O-R-M’s Commissioning Fund Program is at the heart of the festival. It is a catalyst for youth and emerging artists to explore and play at the intersection of movement and film. Every year, we witness processes fueled by imagination and personal exploration, resulting in innovative films that take us beyond the screen and into the intimate worlds imagined by these emerging creatives.
Our 2022 Commissioned Artists are based cross “Canada”, as well as internationally: Treaty 6 Territory (Edmonton), Coast Salish Territory, including xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, also known as Vancouver, and, Goa, India. The artists each explore their own unique approaches to merging movement with film, utilizing the medium as a way to connect to their individual identities and experiences. Approached with vulnerability, care, and authenticity, their journeys overlap and unearth a larger sense of community and invite audiences to connect beyond the screen.
From June to October, the artists have been working on their projects independently as well as collectively. Throughout these months, they participated in creative workshops led by Nancy Lee, Sasha Langford and Siam Obregón to explore topics such as collaborative care, editing, and sound for film. They also led peer-to-peer feedback sessions in support of each other’s processes. We encourage you to check out their FORMing Conversations Series which offers more insights to each of their processes!
We're thrilled to be able to support these artists in manifesting these powerful works that move us in more ways than one, and are excited to premiere them at the festival again on the big screen for all to witness and experience.
Mentorship is an integral part of the Commissioning Fund program, and we're delighted to have the support of the following incredible artist mentors to support this year's commissions: Lee Su-Feh, Kelly McInnes, Tara Cheyenne, Ben Brown and Nimmy Raphel.
We want to extend a huge thank you to our Co-Commissioning Partners Tara Cheyenne Performance and Wild Mint Arts for joining us in supporting the next generation of artists, and for helping to shape the future of movement-on-screen. These works were made possible through our Commissioning Fund Production Partners, who supported these works through memberships, equipment rentals and facility spaces: Cineworks, VIVO Media Arts Centre, Charles Street Video, and Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers.
Join us after the screening for a Live Artist Talkback facilitated by Tamar Tabori
CUT THE CAKE OR TAKE THE CUT CAKE - Lauren Brady, Thomas Kassian
SÓNG XÔ (BREAKING WAVES) - Solara Thanh-Binh Dang
PROWL - Ankita Alemona, Raam Kumar
A CONVERSATION IN RHYTHM - Kevin Jin Kwan Kim, Jullianna Oke, Seth Kitamura
THE MEETING PLACE - Juan Imperial
CUT THE CAKE OR TAKE THE CUT CAKE
Lauren Brady, Thomas Kassian | CANADA | YOUTH | WORLD PREMIERE
Strobe Warning
What will Sue do when she is overcome with anxiety as she meets the ultimate dilemma at the office birthday party? Will she just cut the cake? Or take the cut cake and RUN.
Director & Editor - Thomas Kassian
Choreographer & Writer - Lauren Brady
Sue: Lauren Brady
Office Workers: Candice Holloway, Hamna Tahir, Roxie Malone, Brynn Kassian, Douglas Macdonald, Gavin Wilkes
Production Assistant: Zachary Strom
Colourist: Cameron McCutcheon
Special thanks to: Vertical City and Creative Cottage
SÓNG XÔ (BREAKING WAVES)
Solara Thanh-Binh Dang | CANADA | YOUTH | WORLD PREMIERE
Strobe Warning
Duration: 5:30
At the border of land and water, the ghost of a young Vietnamese woman moves through the echoes of her country’s trauma, seeking solace in the ocean's caress.
Sóng Xô is a collaboration between mother and daughter, a healing dialogue between generations.
Writer, Director, Performer: Solara Thanh-Binh Dang
Co-Director: Ella Nguyen
Choreographer: Solara Thanh-Binh Dang and Kim-Nhung Harris
Producer: Nic Altobelli
Director of Photography: Belen Garcia
Vocalist: Tanya Thanh Dang
Composer: Jay Shun
Editor: Lawrence Le Lam & Solara Thanh-Binh Dang
Gaffer: Austin Kwok
Grip: Dylan Prendergast
1st AD: Lesha Vescio
1st AC: Kelly Chow
2nd AC/Swing: Siska
Production Sound Mixer: Alex Shamku
Key Hair & Makeup: Julia Ho
Stills Photography: Chris Carvajal
Sound Designer: TBD
Colourist: TBD
Thank you to my mother for collaborating on this project with me with an open mind and heart. Thank you to all my collaborators, friends, family, and the local businesses who helped make this project happen!
PROWL
Ankita Alemona, Raam Kumar | CANADA/INDIA | EMERGING | WORLD PREMIERE
PROWL delves into the journey of two huntresses' determination, fragility and willingness to fight. With slow agile crawls and fast decisive attacks, they weave intricate webs to enchant their prey, revealing the immense power, readiness and emotional preparation needed to pursue the hunt. The immense uncertainty as to whether they themselves will become prey pushes them, again and again, to prove their ability to survive in a brutal world. This piece thus visually and somatically depicts the various realities of the burden of becoming and staying ‘The Huntress.’
Director & Choreographer: Raam Kumar
Concept by: Ankita Alemona
Dancers & Collaborators: Ankita Alemona, Johanna A. Rodrigues
Executive Producer: Nautanki Creations
Creative Producers: Kalaathmika Productions in collaboration with: The New Normal
Director of Photography and Editor: Priyanshi Vasani
Composer & Sound Designer: Padmanabhan J
Grips & Lights: D&A Productions (Goa)
Lightmen: Masoom Shaklen, Sandeep Kumar
Driver: Sunil Yadav
Filmed in: Goa, India
Special thank you to: CVN Kalari, Trivandrum, KalariGram Temple of Kalaripayattu & Ayurveda, Hindustan, Kalari Sangam, Adishakti Laboratory for Theatre Art Research, Aaloka Mehndiratta, Nimmy Raphael, K Sarveshan, Anasuya Sengupta
A CONVERSATION IN RHYTHM
Kevin Jin Kwan Kim, Jullianna Oke, Seth Kitamura | CANADA | YOUTH | WORLD PREMIERE
A CONVERSATION IN RHYTHM is an experimental movement film which centers around a tap dancer and a drummer in a jam session. The exchanges made between these artists in an improvised jam parallels qualities to a verbal conversation; the introduction, questioning, challenging, balancing, and most importantly, the trusting of one another. The film aims to display their unspoken dialogue as what it is, a conversation. Using traditional dialogue coverage, A CONVERSATION IN RHYTHM will accentuate the varying intensity of the artists’ movements and rhythm on film to express a scene of communication.
Director: Kevin Jin Kwan Kim
Tap Dancer: Jullianna Oke
Drummer: Seth Kitamura
Director of Photography: Isaac Sanchez
Gaffer/Grip: Jacob Haldane
Sound Mixer: Ayana Madi
1st AC: Apurv Swami
2nd AC: Vilma Ek
B Cam Op: Deniz Somuncuoglu
We'd love to thank our mentor Ben Brown for his guidance throughout the project as well as the F-O-R-M team for creating this opportunity!
THE MEETING PLACE
Juan Imperial | CANADA | YOUTH | WORLD PREMIERE
The meeting place is a spiritual celebration, gathering and ceremony honouring the QTBIPOC dance cultures of vogue and whacking. The meeting place offers the protest and medicine of these sacred dances to all audiences, and hopes to reflect the beauty of queerness to all queer and trans youth.
The Meeting Place is an archival recording of three work-in-progress solos reflecting Juan Imperial's awakening into their queer, femme identity. They weave connections between land, spirituality, and ancestry with queer identity and share their ideas through writing, dance, and ritual that has brought them home to the knowledge that queerness is divine.
Director & Performer: Juan Imperial
Dancer: Joanne Park
Director(s) of Photography: Jun PoChun Chen & Kenny Welsh, Luis Villarreal
Music: “Chrysalis Wrath” by X/O
Editor: Kaya Tsurumi
Makeup Artist: Xander Terrin Chen
Mentors: Nancy Lee, Simran Sachar, Sophia Gamboa
Special Thanks: Erin Lum, Keiichiro Hara, Joanne Park, Mariel Olaguer, White Lotus, Ralph Escamillan, Sophia Wolfe, & Vancouver’s Vogue and Waacking Scene