20 shorts presented in national premiere competed for the BIDFF 2016 Awards: Best Film (amounting to EUR 1,000 and offered by the Romanian Cultural Institute) and Best Choreography (amounting to EUR 500).
The jury was made up of American artist Claudia Hart, choreographer Chris Haring and director T. M. Rives.
“The awards were granted to those films that may be the beginning of a post-genre and that bring innovations related to the dialogue between cinematography and dance. Both as
regards the films and the installations, we granted awards to those works that constitute premises for creating a new current, a new direction able to give an answer to the question
Why are we dancing?” the jury motivated their decision.
The short
Women’s Christmas Night signed by Oonagh Kearney, the choreography being made by Megan and Jessica Kennedy, was granted the Grand BIDFF Prize. An intense visual response for the Irish-language poem
Oíche Nollaig namBan by Seán O'Riordáin. The jury deemed that “the film connects to an universal story, having an impeccably made technically and compositionally, mixing folklore and the narrative structure with cinematographic poetry and developing an innovative movement language functioning only through and with the aid of a video camera.”
Clemence Poesy won the jury through the choreography in the short
For a Moment, winner for Best Choreography. Poesy's film is a detailed analysis on students of the Ballet School of the Paris Opera. The perspective is obtained through close-ups focusing on the face and not on the bodies training every day. “Choosing to grant the Best Choreography award to a film where dance is absent, leaving room for viewers' imagination, is a statement by the Festival's second edition, in its attempt to find something that adds value to dance cinematography (…) The story behind dancing tells more about the body than dancing in itself. In this film, the camera becomes a third eye, subtly introducing the artificial into the reality.”
The jury granted two special mentions to
Helena (directed and choreographed by Nadav Heyman), as well as to
Werewolf Heart directed by Christian Weber, choreographed by Dalel Bacre) for “making a production where all elements are fluidly brought together pushing the genre's barriers beyond the conventional.
Two special mentions were awarded to works encouraging communities to work inter-disciplinary:
o.T., made by M. Kardinal, and
Crystal Forming Robots on Overhead, signed by Christian Faubel.
The award ceremony was preceded by the screening of the documentary
Rare Birds, signed by T. M. Rives, member of the BIDFF 2016 Jury.
The second edition of Bucharest International Dance Film Festival took place between 9 – 13 November, 2016.
Details at:
www.bidff.ro //
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