Giselle: Belle of the Ballet

Tamara Rojo, dancer and artistic director of English National Ballet, explores Giselle - the first great Romantic ballet, and a defining role for any ballerina. Through two radically contrasting 2016 productions - a traditional 19th-century recreation, and a gritty reimagining of the work by celebrated Anglo-Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan - Rojo examines the cultural and social background to the ballet’s genesis in 1840s Paris, and the spiritual themes that have fuelled its success over the last 175 years. Giselle is the story of a young peasant girl who personifies all that is good in life, and ultimately forgives the aristocrat who has seduced and betrayed her. With Giselle, the look and emotional heart of ballet was transformed forever, from mime-based storytelling to a fusion of emotion, music and movement, formulating a tradition that has inspired audiences, dancers and choreographers ever since.

Against Nature / À Rebours

A sensuous, celebrating smell, touch, color, skin, poetry, painting, sex, and home decorating; to the point of decadence. A man, tired of the debauched and decadent world in which he has lived becomes a recluse, and aims to create his own universe within his home. What starts as a celebration of 'nature', however, becomes a personal disaster as he turns far away from the world.

Tuff Turf

The new guy in a Los Angeles high school, Morgan, does some singing and fights hotshot Nick over disco dancer Frankie.

Step Up: Year of the Dance

Youth from different social classes in Beijing come together to form China's best dance crew and learn what it really means to be family.

Fallen Art

Fallen Art presents the story of General A, a self-proclaimed artist. His art, however, consists of a deranged method of stop motion photography, where the individual frames of the movie are created by photographs made by Dr. Johann Friedrich, depicting the bodies of dead soldiers, pushed down by Sergeant Al from a giant springboard onto a slab of concrete.

Dance of the Dragon

The story of three people whose lives are pulled into review and assessment when their paths cross. The initial sparks of what could be a new romance plays off against a couple falling out of love, a student and teacher, a father and son, a mother's influence and competing suitors - all explored with sensitivity, delicacy and refined artistry.

Le Syndrome des cœurs brisés – Takotsubo

Blue Boy

After having an otherworldly vision, a spirited Indian-American boy convinces himself he's the reincarnation of Krishna. Turns out he's just gay.

Limelight

A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.

Grand Jete

Dance teacher and mother Nadja left her son Mario with her own mother when he was little. Now she has reappeared on his doorstep, seeking a closeness that knows fewer and fewer boundaries. An uncompromising film about family relationships.

Shall I Compare You to a Summer's Day?

The director turns the diary of his sexual adventures into a serial narrative in the style of “One Thousand and One Nights”. This polyamorously-minded queer musical applies the same playful approach to folk tales as it does to Egyptian pop music.

Millie's Care Free Day

Weighed down and despondent from crushing depression, Millie tries to escape the daily grind by deciding today will be different. However, she must first confront her trauma before it consumes her.

Off Ground

A light grey room. A slender woman of 50 and a 12 year old boy. Joined together like the links of a chain. Changing positions at a constant rate. One flowing movement. Never losing touch with each other. A game played by a mother and her child. A kind of tango. Sound of feet. Breathing. Faint smiles. Until suddenly the woman's hands let go of each other.

When the Night Falls

The dance film When the Night Falls tells the story of a woman fleeing the horrors of a collapsing society in the near future. Along the way, she encounters people on whose trust her entire future depends on.

Step Up

Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with an up and coming dancer, Nora.

Save the Last Dance

After the death of her mother, Sara moves to the South Side of Chicago to live with her father and gets transferred to a majority-black school. Her life takes a turn for the better when befriends Chenille and her brother Derek, who helps her with her dancing skills.