Portland Dance Film Fest

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Portland Dance Film Fest Portland Dance Film Fest is an adjudicated film festival bringing dance films from around the world to the greater Portland, OR area.

Portland Dance Film Fest is about supporting and sharing what we think is the increasingly important work of dance for film. It is no secret that the current technology age has changed, and is continually changing, the way we go thru life. Who and what we are aware of and privy to is infinite and what this means for us a society and as a global people can feel like a rope slipping thru our fingers as we try and understand the implications and impact. Our shifting realities of self are mirrored back at us from the wormhole of the web, and in some ways is adding to our discontent and disconnection to ourselves and our communities. And, as with everything, there is a brilliant side. The beauty of technology is endless as well. We are dancers in Portland Dance Film Fest so naturally we are excited to uplift and bare witness to one of the most ancient and sacred art forms while utilizing the brilliance of technology by providing a screen and an audience for artists who are making dance for film. As Portland is a hub for creation and the spirit of Yes we are inspired by our local dancemakers, musicians, and filmmakers and keen on showcasing them alongside their peers from all over the globe. In the terms of technology’s progression, Film is not a new form so much, but we have watched dance for film have more and more of an audience over the last several years. When words feel limiting, we can find recognition of ourselves or something bigger than ourselves in the visual and audio arts.

🖤 TONIGHT 🖤 Portland Dance Film Fest has screened over 250 films in the past 10 years. It has truly been an honor to wit...
10/04/2026

🖤 TONIGHT 🖤 Portland Dance Film Fest has screened over 250 films in the past 10 years. It has truly been an honor to witness so much incredible art and have a front row seat to the growth and evolution of dance film.

Directors’ Picks: A Decade of PDFF is a cohort of nine films from the festival’s history that have remained especially meaningful to us. They come from nine countries and span a remarkable range of voices, styles, and stories. Together, these films offer a glimpse into the array of work that has excited and moved us over the years.

🍫 Old Man at the Corner Store | 2023 | Directed by Nadav Heyman and Anabella Casanova & Choreography by Nadav Heyman and Cheryl Mann | United States

🌊 What I Know So Far | 2022 | Directed by Shawn Fitzgerald Ahern & Choreography by Emilie Leriche | France

🍰 Table for one, please. | 2024 | Directed and Choreographed by Samantha Shay | Germany & United Kingdom

🔵 Dive | 2021 | Directed by Oscar Sansom & Choreography by Sophie Laplane | United Kingdom

🏃‍♀️ Second Seed | 2020 | Directed and Choreographed by Amadi “Baye” Washington and Sam “Asa” Pratt | United States

👭 TWINS: You Must Be Related! | 2018 | Directed by Varya Rootwood & Choreography by India Gonzalez and Ananda Gonzalez | United States

🍊 Your Approval is Not Essential | 2017 | Directed by Leen Michiels & Choreography by Jelena Kostic | Belgium

💡 Aura | 2023 | Directed and Choreographed by Chenglong Tang | China

🍁 It Cries Too Loudly | 2021 | Directed and Choreographed by Dolly Sfeir | Lebanon / United States

🥳 TODAY 🥳We’re all aging. Along the way, we encounter ourselves anew and inhabit the vulnerabilities and freedoms of cha...
10/04/2026

🥳 TODAY 🥳

We’re all aging. Along the way, we encounter ourselves anew and inhabit the vulnerabilities and freedoms of change. Over the past ten years, we’ve had the privilege of watching so many filmmakers and dancers in our community grow and evolve, including local artists Suzanne Chi, Carla Mann, and Robert Uehlin.

As we reflect on a decade of PDFF, it felt especially meaningful to share their documentary, Still Moving: Dancing Across A Lifetime. The film invites us to think about what it means to keep moving, creating, and dancing as our bodies and lives change. The 40-minute film will be followed by a 20-minute panel discussion—Dancing 40 and Beyond—moderated by Still Moving directors Suzanne Chi and Carla Mann. Please join us!

All new, all magic. Tonight you can see 11 extraordinary films from this year. What ties these films together isn’t a si...
10/03/2026

All new, all magic. Tonight you can see 11 extraordinary films from this year. 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.

💅 Más Glow | Directed by Laura Steiner & Choreography by Arci, Lucy Cobaleda, Valentina Ávila, and Valentina Hadad | 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 | Norway
A dance film about miscommunication and living in different realities.

🇫🇷 CE QI NOUS LIE | Directed by Damien Bourletsis | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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.

❤️‍🔥 TONIGHT ❤️‍🔥  Support Portlands thriving dance film community and rewatch or see for the first time 14 films create...
10/02/2026

❤️‍🔥 TONIGHT ❤️‍🔥 Support Portlands thriving dance film community and rewatch or see for the first time 14 films created by Oregon Artists.

Opening Night Live Dance Film Creation, 2017 | Directed by Tomás Alfredo Valladares & Katie Scherman, Edited by Ikaika “Tiki” Cofer
During the opening night party for the 1st Annual Portland Dance Film Fest in 2017, three artists created, shot, and edited a one-minute screendance in five hours to have its World Premiere at the end of the party!

Where We’re Going, 2020 | Directed by Heidi Duckler
Filmed on the rooftop of Los Angeles’ historic Bendix Building, this short dance film explores belonging, family, and the ways communities define themselves through movement.

Diedre, 2020 | Directed by Amy Leona Havin & Tomás Alfredo Valladares
An abstract dance film about restlessness amid repetition and material value, suspended between nostalgia, stagnation, and reverie.

Harbor, 2020 | Directed by Ivana Horvat & Choreography by Alexander Dones
Three friends take a scenic Pacific Northwest trip while confronting the private heaviness they hide from the world. As their burdens surface, the journey becomes an exploration of empathy, connection, and brief moments of lightness.

Opening Night Live Dance Film Creation, 2018 | Filmed by Conrad Kaczor & Choreography by Jessica Zoller
Created in approximately three and a half hours during PDFF’s 2018 opening night party, this live dance film combines Jessica Zoller’s movement, Conrad Kaczor’s cinematography, and Zsuzsanna Mangu’s editing.

SANKAKU, 2021 | Directed by Mako Barmon, Jenelle Gaerlan & Skye Stouber & Choreography by Jenelle Gaerlan
Lost and disoriented, San wakes in a dark void and moves through shifting landscapes in search of light, confronting the power of the land around her in a Taiko-inspired movement narrative.

Signal, 2023 | Directed and Choreographed by Heather Hindes
Isolated in the desert, something is created out of nothing. This visually striking dance film becomes a meditation on fire, creative renewal, and breaking free from self-limiting bonds.

Alice in Nite Hawk, 2019 | Directed by Devin Tau & Choreography by Heidi Duckler
Friends are forced to navigate a new world after their tradition is disrupted, leaving them to question their own existence.

Unfolding, 2019 | Directed by Dylan Wilbur & Choreography by Suzanne Chi, Kailee McMurran, Rachel Slater, and Lena Traenkenschuh
An anonymous woman moves through surreal imagery and dream logic as the world blurs around her, caught between determination and anxiety, surrender and endurance.

A Ball & A Bash: Live Dance Film Creation for the Closing Night Party at PDFF, 2019 | Directed by Steven Cady
Created for Portland Dance Film Fest’s 2019 closing-night celebration, this live dance film features performers Heather Hindes and Briley Joswiak.

untitled, 2019 | Directed by Conrad Kaczor and Choreographed by Jordie Campbell
Movement is light, shining on the soul to create a path.

Catherine, 2020 | A film by Kailee McMurran
Catherine is stuck inside.

FEEDBACK: Live Dance Film Creation, 2024 | Directed by Matthew Tomac & Choreography by Franco Nieto
Created in real time during PDFF’s eighth annual festival, FEEDBACK is a collaborative dance film shaped by director Matthew Tomac, choreographer and performer Franco Nieto, and the festival audience.

House of Joy, 2018 | Directed by Robert Uehlin & Choreography by Raven Jones
This Super 8mm screendance chronicles one person’s struggle to let go of expectations about what life would be.

10/02/2026

Unfolding // 2019

Directed by Dylan Wilbur
Choreography by Suzanne Chi, Kailee McMurran, Rachel Slater, and Lena Traenkenschuh

An anonymous woman moves through surreal imagery and dream logic as the world blurs around her, caught between determination and anxiety, surrender and endurance.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Friday, Oct. 2nd @ 7pm as part of the Oregon Artist Retrospective.

10/01/2026

Harbor // 2020, Oregon Dance Film Commission

Directed by Ivana Horvat
Choreography by Alexander Dones

Three friends take a scenic Pacific Northwest trip while confronting the private heaviness they hide from the world. As their burdens surface, the journey becomes an exploration of empathy, connection, and brief moments of lightness.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Friday, Oct. 2nd @ 7pm as part of the Oregon Artist Retrospective.

10/01/2026

Diedre // 2020

Directed by Amy Leona Havin & Tomás Alfredo Valladares

An abstract dance film about restlessness amid repetition and material value, suspended between nostalgia, stagnation, and reverie.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Friday, Oct. 2nd @ 7pm as part of the Oregon Artist Retrospective.

10/01/2026

House of Joy // 2018, Oregon Dance Film Commission

Directed by Robert Uehlin
Choreography by Raven Jones

This Super 8mm screendance chronicles one person’s struggle to let go of expectations about what life would be.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Friday, Oct. 2nd @ 7pm as part of the Oregon Artist Retrospective.

09/30/2026

Where We're Going // 2020

Directed by Heidi Duckler

Filmed on the rooftop of Los Angeles’ historic Bendix Building, this short dance film explores belonging, family, and the ways communities define themselves through movement.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Friday, Oct. 2nd @ 7pm as part of the Oregon Artist Retrospective.

09/30/2026

It Cries Too Loudly // 2021 // Lebanon, United States

Directed and Choreographed by Dolly Sfeir

Created in response to the 2020 Beirut explosion and its aftermath, this dance film explores the uneasy overlap of joy and tragedy, as well as the emotional distance and divided belonging experienced by a Lebanese American emigré.

Screening at the Tomorrow Theater, Sunday, Oct. 4th @ 7pm as part of Directors' Picks: A Decade of PDFF.

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