Join us Friday, May 13 at 7:30 pm for an extraordinary evening of 7 dance-themed short films, as the 41^st Annual Thomas Edison Film Festival and the Museum present A Celebration of Screen Dance with special guest internationally acclaimed filmmaker and choreographer Marta Renzi. Jane Steuerwald, Executive Director of TEFF,  is your host. Admission is free, refreshments will be served. 

Guest Marta Renzi is a filmmaker and choreographer who has created over 20 short films, which have screened in over 100 festivals. Marta and her Project Company received a New York Dance and Performance Award (a “Bessie”) in 1992 and the first Dancing in the Streets award in 1995. She has received two videodance commissions from PBS, including one for MOUNTAINVIEW (1989), made in collaboration with filmmaker John Sayles.  A seven-time recipient of funding from the NEA, Marta was a Bogliasco Fellow at the Liguria Center for Arts & Humanities in 2013 and a RAW Community Supported Artist in 2014. She served on the Board of Directors of DFA from 2008-2018. Click here for more information.

Jane Steuerwald and TEFF will be screening:

Wait a Minute  3 min. by Marta Renzi, Nyack, NY, US

Dancing turns out to be a way to say hi, an invitation to play, and a challenge to move from awkward outsider to willing partner, all buoyed by the infectious groove of Ana Egge’s music.

 Out of Time  9 min. by Delphine Montaigne, Lyons, France

A tender story about a young man, Felix, who is risking much to visit his elderly grandmother. The director of the facility where she lives, summons Felix’s mother, and threatens to deny Felix access to visit his grandmother unless he complies with certain rules. What should Felix do? How can he maintain his close ties to the grandmother he loves?

Proximity  11 min. by Andrew Dawson, London, England, UK

We live by unconsciously measuring the inverse distances of our proximity. “Inspired by these words from poet David Whyte, we set out to develop a visual poem, as we searched for what is intrinsic in our relationship with others. Collaborating with my son Roman and composer Jonny Pilcher, the film is for those who are reaching for something more but can’t quite grasp it. For those on their journey, not yet at their destination.”

The Farewell  5 min. by Kitty McNamee, LA, CA, US

In “The Farewell,” star-crossed lovers Raymond and Stephanie are torn apart by racial divides and the call to war.

Home Movies  7 min. by Rosie Trump, Reno, NV, US

“Home Movies” is a montage of found footage of people dancing. Moments captured long ago of living room dance parties, impromptu twirls down the street, in the kitchen, at birthdays, New Year’s Eves, and wedding celebrations. More than just dance moves – the film is a documentary mash-up of family and culture.

Clear Creek  8 min. by Ellen Smith Ahern, Lebanon, NH, US

A dust storm, a shoot-out, and endless horizons. Two women dance through iconic western images and into something new: a moving portrait of home, land and memory as illuminated by the voices of a rural Wyoming community.

Digital Afterlives  5 min. by Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman, Surry Hills, New South Wales, Australia

A man in white-winged angel shoes in an infinite black space is awakened by the strains of Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz” (The Dance of the Dead). He is multiplied and manipulated through all the dimensions of infinite black. None of the incarnations of his body have free will as he is thrown, bounced, split, squelched, flopped, frozen, and slid through multitudinous geometries by an unknown force, finally to be returned to his original form and spat out onto the junk heap of history.

To learn more about the Thomas Edison Film Festival and the Thomas A. Edison Media Arts Consortium visit www.TEFilmFest.org, Jane Steuerwald, Executive Director, +1 201.856.6565, Jane@TEFilmFest.org.