Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival Has Launched!

It’s here…

ScreenDance Diaries and Cultural Weekly’s first international Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival launches today!

Please read below:

Have you ever walked down a city street and happened upon random and seemingly unplanned movement that is, or looks like dance? It could be accidental, it might be intentional, but whatever it is, it has the look and feel of dance? Perhaps it’s a street corner preacher dragging one foot and pointing as he follows a potential recruit… Maybe it’s a group of choreographed performers – collection hat out – testing some moves… It could just be a joyful person dancing as if the star of her own private movie, or an old man simply dancing to the divine.

In any case random, intentional, or accidental,  ScreenDance Diaries and Cultural Weekly invite you to be there, create and/or capture it on camera, and submit it to our first international Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival.

Please carefully read the following rules & submission guidelines:

  • Each film must take place in a public space (e.g. street corner, parking lot, empty or abandoned public building, etc, not inside a studio, on a stage, or in a private building or house).
  • You must submit through this form on Submittable: submit
  • Submitted films must have been created in the past two years and may not have won awards at prior film festivals.
  • Each submission must not exceed 5 minutes in length. There is no minimum running time.
  • Submission/processing fee is $10 per film entry.
  • Each film must be posted on YouTube. The title line must include the hashtags: #DareToDance #ScreenDanceDiaries and #CulturalWeekly. You must also include the YouTube link to your film in your submission form.
  • By submitting your entry, you affirm that the work is entirely your own and that you have the agreement and/or permission of all involved, as well as permission to use it. This includes rights/permission for music usage. Please be aware that YouTube may take down copyrighted music that is used without permission.  
  • Cash prizes (TBA) at a minimum value of $50 will be awarded to the winners in each of five categories.
  • Deadline for final submission is 11:59 pm Pacific Time on January 22, 2016.

Film submissions will be reviewed and judged by festival judges in four categories: 1) Best Interface of Dance and Camera, 2) Best Original Choreography, and 3) Best Use of Location, 4) Best Overall Performance. The fifth award, the Audience Choice Award, will be determined by the number of YouTube LIKES your video receives.

Along with yours truly, Sarah Elgart, we are thrilled to welcome an outstanding panel of award-winning judges from the worlds of film and dance including:

Valerie Faris – Director, with Jonathan Dayton, of Little Miss Sunshine & Ruby Sparks; d. Sabela grimes – US Artists Rockefeller Fellow, Choreographer, Writer, Composer & Educator; Julie McDonald – Dance Agent & Co-Founder McDonald Selznick Associates; and Tony Testa – Choreographer for Janet Jackson, Kylie Minogue, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, and more.

Dance comes in all sizes, shapes, and forms. It can be exactingly technical or improvisational and intuitive. It can be street or formalized, indigenous or eclectic. It’s an instinct and life force we are born with. Dance is both in us and all around us in the pulse and sway of the city – from the lilt in a child’s step to the hand signals of a traffic cop.

So we invite you to go outside of your homes, outside of your studios, outside of the black box theaters, and out into the world – and discover or make dance in public spaces. The possibilities are endless!

Remember, you must submit through this form on Submittable!
submit

Although it is longer than this festival allows for, in the spirit of Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival, please check out one of my all time favorite shorts about dancing in public, The Winter of the Dance. This incredibly poignant film about two guys, both non-dancers, who spend a winter season dancing on street corners, explores the nature of inhibition and what place dance has in the perception of acceptable behavior amongst adults.

Remember, all the world’s a stage, SO….

We dare you to dance in public and we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

 

Top image: Photo from “Casi” by Casey Brooks

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