This season features joy and terror, documentary and narrative, taking full advantage of the breadth of cinema (and dance) in order to tell its story. Featuring tap, ballet, broadway voguing, and whatever magic David Byrne is concocting.
The term “Dance like nobody’s watching” helps outline what these films all have in common: a throughline of passion, perseverance, without or in spite of fear or judgement, and the unique ways in which each film explores that idea.
A Ballerina’s Tale sees determination in the rise of a prodigious talent amidst heavy adversity, Stop Making Sense is the result of an incredible feat by sound technicians and editor Lisa Day in recording and cutting together three live performances, Climax takes the thrills and intensity of a dance troupe’s rehearsal and descends into pure horror, The Producers finds a unique form of dedication in the fervent creation of the worst musical ever made, and The Tales of Beatrix Potter was a literal passion project for producer Richard Goodwin.
There’s so much drive present in each of the films in this season, and that ties them together despite (and perhaps because of) the differences in genre, tone, dance style, and country of origin.
Curated by Swinburne students: Lewis Harvey, Estee Ho, Michael Hollis, Noah Kanapathippillai, Edward Lee, Madeline Levi and George Kapaklis.