Main Program

Featured Documentary (only available until April 5th)

Vision Portraits

USA | 2019 | 78:00
Writer and Director: Rodney Evans
Producers: Rodney Evans, Rob Wunder
Executive Producer: Joseph Lovett
Cinematographers: Kjerstin Rossi, Mark Tumas
Sound: Abigail Savage
Performers: Rodney Evans, John Dugdale, Kayla Hamilton, Ryan Knighton, Anton Federov

Vision Portraits is the personal story of filmmaker Rodney Evans (Brother To Brother, The Happy Sad) as he embarks on a scientific and artistic journey, questioning how his loss of vision might impact his creative future. Through illuminating portraits of three artists: a photographer, a dancer and a writer, the film looks at the ways each artist was affected by the loss of their vision and the ways in which their creative process has changed or adapted.

Shorts Programs 1 & 2

Stopgap in Stop Motion

UK | 2017 | 4:40
Director, Writer, and Producer: Stephen Featherstone
Choreographer: Lucy Bennett
Performers: Stopgap Dance Company: Amy Butler, Laura Jones, Nadenh Poan, Chris Pavia, Hannah Sampson, David Toole, David Willdridge, Tomos Young
Composer: Dougie Evans
Producer for Stopgap: Sho Shibata
Cut Out Technician: Stephen Featherstone and Nigel Reeve

Photographs of performers in a disabled and non-disabled dance company come to life. The individual artists dance out of the photos and across table tops until the whole company meet and perform in unison. Completed in 2016, this is a promotional film for Stopgap Dance Company.

Uath Logans

Scotland | 2015 | 7:14
Director and Camera: Katrina MacPherson
Producer: Peter Royston
Editor: Simon Fildes
Performer: Marc Brew
Access: Melanie Wilson
Music: David Lintern & James Weaver

A video dance by Katrina McPherson, Simon Fildes and Marc Brew. A solo dancer and a physical, sensory exploration of place; Uath Lochans ("Oo-a Lo-hin”) was filmed at the foothills of the Cairngorm Mountains in the Scottish Highlands.

Phoenix Dance

USA | 2005 | 22.21
Director and Producer: Karina Epperlein
Associate Producer: Gina Leibrecht
Cinematographer: Karina Epperlein and John Knoop
Choreographer: Alonzo King 
Performers: Homer Avila, Andrea Flores, Alonzo King
Audio Description: David Linton

A heroic journey of transformation and healing, Phoenix Dance challenges our expectations of what it means to be "disabled." In March, 2001, renowned dancer Homer Avila discovered that the pain in his hip was cancer. A month later, his right leg and most of his hip were amputated. Through interviews, studio rehearsals, and performances, Phoenix Dance follows the evolution of Pas, a pas de deux created for Avila by choreographer Alonzo King. In a deeply moving and intimate collaboration with dancer Andrea Flores, Avila creates a new unity -- a beautiful creature with three legs and four arms -- in which traditional roles are reversed: the man's vulnerability and the woman's strength sweetly complement each other, and their solo outbursts develop themes of interdependence, trust, and strength. When his cancer recurred, Homer told only a few friends that he was going to forego treatment in order to continue the life he loved -- dancing.

Flutter

USA | 2010 | 4:36
Director and Choreographer: Robin Dekkers
Producer: Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 
Writer: Glenn Kotche, Steve Reich 
Cinematographer: Benjamin Tarquin 
Sound: Steve Reich, Clapping Music 
Performers: AXIS Dance Company: DeMarco Sleeper, JanpiStar, Yuko Monden Juma
Audio Description: Alisa Rasera of Gravity Access Services

Flutter is a meditation on the relationship between masculinity and femininity, form and freedom, contraction and expansion. Robin Dekkers’ Flutter was originally created for Post:ballet in 2010. The complex musicality, spatial shifts, and physicality in this dance for camera showcases the AXIS dancers' strengths as individuals and as a collective.

Moods in Three Movements

USA | 2021 | 4:10
Production Company: Niche Visuals
Director and Producer: Ralph Klisiewicz 
Co-producers: Sydney Erlikh, Kris Lenzo
Performers: Kris Lenzo, Sydney Erlikh
Audio Description: David Linton

A man struggles to find inspiration for his work. After confronting his inner demon, his art finds a new spark.

Gimp Gait

USA | 2016 | 5:06
Director and Choreographer: Pioneer Winter 
DP: Tabatha Mudra
Sound: ABI-L-ITY, soundFORMovement, the performers
Performers: Marjorie Burnett and Pioneer Winter
Audio Description: David Linton

Gimp Gait is a solo for two - surrogates to one another. The title of this work discloses its origin: ‘gimp’, a slur meant to mark a weak or handicapped person and ‘gait’, the manner or style of a person’s walk. The subjects do not hide these from you - do you have a good view? Can you notice every part of their bodies - both the similarities and differences? This is Marjorie, and she wants you to witness her. This is Pioneer, and he is performing Marjorie’s power.

From Me

UK | 2021 | 4:30
Artistic Director: Alison Ferrao
Executive Director: Laura Graham
Facilitators: Amy Lovelock and Ella Fleetwood
Music: Simon Whiting and dancers
Performers: Dancer Development Course (2019-21) at Magpie Dance
Audio Description: David Linton

From Me… if you had to write a letter to your body, what would you say? From Me was created by the Dancer Development Course students (2019/21). Working closely with the facilitators, each student took on a different production/editing role, and joined forces with a professional musician to devise, compose and record the music. For one student, this included playing the French horn live! The piece explores how we perceive our own bodies and the world around us whilst confined to our homes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

One + One Make Three

USA | 2021 | 27:36
Director: Katherine Helen Fisher
Creative Director and Choreographer: Alice Sheppard
Producers: Shimmy Boyle, Safety Third Productions
Director of Photography: Devon Donis
ASL Cinematography: Joe Foley
Original Score Composition and Performance: Vanessa Gould
Performers: Jerron Herman, Laurel Lawson, Brandon Kazen-Maddox, Catherine Nelson, Alice Sheppard
Director of Access Design: Laurel Lawson

This experimental film, directed by Katherine Helen Fisher of Safety Third Productions, takes audiences behind the scenes, into the studio, and into the air with acclaimed disability arts ensemble Kinetic Light as they create Wired, an aerial dance work. In the film, dancers partner, spin, and soar as they reflect on art, dance, and disability as a creative force.