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THE EXPERIENCE

Festival Picks brings together eleven films from nine countries that show just how many ways dance can tell a story and where dance film is now. What ties these films together isn’t a single style or theme, it’s the exploration that movement can express something words can’t. Each filmmaker has a different voice, and that’s what makes watching them together so rewarding.

This year’s collection travels from Colombia, Norway, South Korea, France, Canada, Switzerland, Czechia, Argentina, and the USA, inviting us into eleven distinct worlds, all connected through the universal language of dance.

ON SCREEN: Festival Picks 

Más Glow | Directed by Laura Steiner & Choreography by Arci, Lucy Cobaleda, Valentina Ávila, and Valentina Hadad | 3:37 | Colombia – Acrylic nails, pink everything, and the faint sound of a bolero. Más Glow speaks to preconceived notions of beauty, the rules imposed on the female body, and the power in taking up space. As gestures unravel inside a nail salon and dance shifts toward monstrous movement, four women break the rules of how they should behave.

VEKK | Directed by Thea Bay and Simon M. Valentine & Choreography by Thea Bay | 6:10 | Norway – A dance film about miscommunication and living in different realities.

CE QI NOUS LIE | Directed by Damien Bourletsis | 4:55 | France – What if, within the breath of one body, the echo of another was already resonating? In a vital surge where every movement becomes a cry, nine dancers unveil their inner struggle across shifting landscapes: sea, cliff, city, dance studio, ancient theatre. Nine singular territories. Each surrenders to raw improvisation — a moment of questioning rooted in their intimate space — where movement becomes the language of urgency: to be, to resist, to exist. Bodies answer, intertwine, and merge in an organic continuity, weaving bridges between their solitary battles. Living echoes of an invisible geometry, uniting bodies beyond forms and boundaries. What if what seemed isolated was already part of a vaster, elusive movement?

CYPHER | Directed by Ruby Gleber | 4:20 | Argentina – Trapped in an unknown facility, a breakdancer attempts to escape the Figures that hunt him. As he tries to satisfy them, he is met with indifference and violence. CYPHER is a surreal psychological exploration of performance as compulsion and art as confinement.

What Is the Dark For? | Directed by Derrick Belcham and Daisy Jacobson & Choreography by Daisy Jacobson | 12:00 | United States – In a minimalist dreamscape, a woman navigates a complex tug of war with a tuxedoed apparition, drawing ever closer to a fated confrontation and a question of her own identity.

where is my god | Directed by Hyun soo Gavriel Yun | 3:50 | South Korea – At some point, the body disappears. No weight. No boundary. In that state, I search for God. God never appears. Even at the height of it only silence returns. Does the God within me love me?

Boys a Bug | Directed by Laurie Lynch & Choreography by Fraser Roach | 6:16 | Czechia Inspired by Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Boys a Bug explores through ballet the grotesque transformation of a man into an insect, tracing his struggle with fear and confusion as he gradually loses his sense of self. Conceived as a true dance film, it places narrative and cinematography at its center, using movement to express the character’s psychological descent.

WAIL | Cinematography, Editing, and Color by Juan Pablo Salazar & Screenplay by Clara Thierry | 7:10 | Switzerland – WAIL is a poetic exploration of grief and release. The film merges music, dance, and imagery to embody the act of lamentation. Through an expressive visual and sonic language, WAIL invites the viewer into a sensory space where sorrow transforms into motion, and silence becomes sound.

your love: ‘sitting’ beside me | Directed and Choreographed by Ali Kenner Brodsky | 4:49 | United States – your love: ‘sitting’ beside me is the second section of a triptych of short dance films capturing the life cycle of love. “Sitting” is a movement story that explores the nuances and awkwardness of a budding relationship.

LIMBES | Directed by Karl Cannone | 5:32 | France – An expressionist dance film opening a window into the dreams and nightmares of a young man. Between paralysis and release, shadow and light, it reflects on collective fears and traumas, and the winding paths toward healing.

Vestiges | Directed by Marcus Eriksson & Movement Direction by Medhi Walerski | 4:59 | Canada – Featuring eleven Ballet BC company artists, Vestiges introduces original choreography and movement direction by Medhi Walerski in close collaboration with the dancers, brought to life through Marcus Eriksson’s striking cinematic vision and original score. Shot in a vast, storied space in the Pacific Northwest, the project explores memory and connection through a series of cinematic chapters.

Note: We do not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, and films exhibited don’t necessarily reflect the views of PAM CUT, the Tomorrow Theater, or the Portland Art Museum. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on sites like Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com.