La Gigue

Nanook of the North(en)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City(de)

A day in the city of Berlin, which experienced an industrial boom in the 1920s, and still provides an insight into the living and working conditions at that time. Germany had just recovered a little from the worst consequences of the First World War, the great economic crisis was still a few years away and Hitler was not yet an issue at the time.

Amazon Music Live with Anitta(en)

The Brazilian FunkStar, nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist, took the stage at the live show in Los Angeles and performed, during a 45-minute set, songs from her latest album "Versions of Me" (2022), and more.

The Hikers(xx)

Seven minutes in length, the film features two black male hikers — one ascending a mountain, another descending — who encounter each other as their paths cross. Their balletic movements are at once lithe and halting, athletic and awkward, challenging stereotypical notions of the forever rhythmic elegance of the black body in space.

Sleepover LA(en)

An innocent tourist travels to LA and unexpectedly conjures her sister's last night alive. Bold score, stylized dance and an eccentric cast, shot at The Standard Hotel, weave a dark and luminous film that revamps traditional narrative.

El circo(es)

Madrid, Spain, 1949. The Circo Americano arrives in the city. While the big top is pitched in a vacant lot, the troupe parades through the grand avenues: the band, a witty impersonator, the Balodys, acrobats, jugglers, acrobatic skaters, clowns and… Buffallo Bill.

Performing Animals; or, Skipping Dogs(en)

A short black-and-white silent documentary film featuring one dog jumping through hoops and another dancing in a costume, which was considered lost until footage from an 1896 Fairground Programme was identified as being from this film.

How the Telephone Talks(en)

"All sounds travel in waves much the same as ripples in water." Educational film produced by Bray Studios New York, which was the dominant animation studio based in the United States in the years surrounding World War I.

No Maps on My Taps(en)

The remarkable spirit of tap dancers and their history provides a joyous backdrop for intimate portraits of hoofers Sandman Sims, Chuck Green, and Bunny Briggs.

Wonder Man(en)

Boisterous nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew was the witness to a murder committed by gangster Ten Grand Jackson. One night, two of Jackson's thugs kill Buzzy and dump his body in the lake at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Buzzy comes back as a ghost and summons his bookworm twin, Edwin Dingle, to Prospect Park so that he can help the police nail Jackson.

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti(en)

This intimate ethnographic study of Voudoun dances and rituals was shot by Maya Deren during her years in Haiti (1947-1951); she never edited the footage, so this “finished” version was made by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito after Deren’s death.

Drums from the Past(fr)

"Tourou et Bitti", an eight minute documentary concerning a ritual in Niger, is yet another example of Rouch's excellence in creating documentaries which surpass the conventional documentary format. Just as frightening and fascinating as "Les maîtres fous", this one goes straight into the roots of ancient African cultures, in which music has an hypnotic effect, being at the same time an exorcism and a public show. Both the female and the male dancers are almost deities about to be unleashed... Spectral and humanitarian.

In The Spirit of Diaghilev(en)

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Ballets Russes, Sadler’s Wells commissioned four of today’s leading and acclaimed choreographers to create one work each honouring the legacy of impresario Sergei Diaghilev. IN THE SPIRIT OF DIAGHILEV features Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Faun, Russell Maliphant’s AfterLight (Part One), Wayne McGregor’s Dyad 1909 and the controversial Eternal Damnation to Sancho and Sanchez by Javier de Frutos. Specially filmed interview content offer viewers the unique opportunity to take a look behind the scenes at the works in rehearsal, as the collaborators share their thoughts on the enduring influence of Diaghilev and the remarkable collaborative spirit of the Ballets Russes. The performances involve collaborations with artists and filmmakers Jane and Louise Wilson, acclaimed composer Nitin Sawhney and costumes by leading fashion designer Hussein Chalayan.

Future Futures(en)

How do we bring our physical bodies with us into our inevitably digitally-bound futures? Collaboratively conceived by director Brian J. Johnson and Vancouver’s acclaimed Company 605, Future Futures is a collection of five short dance films that explore the digital destiny of humankind through a unique merging of camera and visual effects with a specific choreographic vision. Embracing the absurdity of centering dance inside a sci-fi narrative, the experimental series collapses time to portray human culture at an unprecedented moment: the emergence of a new, autonomous, and intelligent being—the digital reflection and culmination of ourselves. Through its otherworldly imagery, choreography, and driving electronic sound score, Future Futures evolves into a strange, highly visual exploration of what we are if we are no longer tied to our physical bodies, and how we will define humanity when faced with a fading IRL existence.

Breaking Brooklyn(en)

A 12 year old boy with a passion for dance and his brother are rescued from the streets by an old showman who takes them to live with his estranged former dancing partner/brother.

Motion Control(en)

Motion Control examines the synergy of camera and performer. Shot on 35mm, it explores from the camera's pov, the physical and emotional entrapment of the ageing and glamorous dancer in her private and personal spaces. The film is notable for hypersound foley overlaid with text and electro-opera composed by Billy Cowie and sung by soprano Naomi Itami.

La Coronela (1940). Punto de partida(es)

Grand Canyon Film Show(en)

In 1902, Emery and Ellsworth Kolb opened a studio in the Grand Canyon and began making photographs of mule parties, landscapes, river adventures, and nearly every other dramatic scene and incident that occurred in the area. They also successfully navigated the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1911, filming their journey. This film ran in the Kolb Studio in the Grand Canyon from 1915 until Emery's death in 1976.

Keep Dancing(en)

After celebrated careers , legendary dancers Marge Champion and Donald Saddler became friends while performing together in the Broadway Show Follies (2001) . When the show closed, they decided to rent a private studio together where they have been choreographing and rehearsing original dances ever since. They are both 90 years old. KEEP DANCING seamlessly blends 9 decades of archival film and photographs with present day footage to tell a story through dance of the passing of time and the process of aging.

Dance Till You're Dead(xx)

A silent film exploring the life and times of Groover Walz, and the ultimate tragedy of the very thing that brings him joy — dance.