The end of the 16th edition of InShadow - Lisbon Screendance Festival is approaching. Since the 7th of November, the Festival has been on a mission to move Lisbon and bring videodance to the city's cultural spaces. We are now preparing to close our last programme venues.
Casa do Comum, Teatro do Bairro, Museu da Marioneta e Cinemateca Portuguesa are examples of some of the 14 cultural centres that InShadow inhabited over the past month, having organised a total of six performances, six special videodance sessions, eight photographic exhibitions, two masterclasses and nine workshops led by guest artists. Six art installations were also presented, including three videodance collections played on a loop (totalling 43 films).
However, the highlight goes to our International Competitions. Of the more than 400 applications received in the various categories in competition, 100 films were chosen to feature in these epicentres of our programme, and 33 countries were represented during the 15 dynamic sessions.
On the 12th and 13th of November, as part of the LittleShadow section of the programme, our youngest audience was the jury for the International Animation Competition. Held at the Museu da Marioneta, this initiative aimed to promote critical reflection among the children on themes such as body awareness, the interpretation of moving images and the role of art in the construction of aesthetic notions.
Among the 11 films screened, it was Battle for Swan Lake that won the children's hearts and the prize of Best Animation. Created by American filmmaker and animator Joan C. Gratz, known for her Oscar-winning animated short Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase, this animated film is a fun reinterpretation of the classic Swan Lake.
Between the 16th and 24th of November, we brought Documentary to Casa do Comum, which, for the first time, joined InShadow's programme venues. Bringing together a total of 18 films from 10 countries, our International Documentary Competition illustrated the current panorama of dance-related documentaries.
In the Same Boat, by Finnish directors Mervi Junkkonen and Mia Malviniemi, was the film that our Documentary Jury chose as the edition's Best Documentary. Contrasting the limits of the body and the infinite capacities of the mind, this film brings memory to life through dance and movement.
The Documentary was followed by the Videodance. From the 26th to the 29th of November, the International Videodance Competition returned to the Teatro do Bairro with a total of 71 films from 32 countries, which highlighted the relationship between the body and the image, marvelling at their technical, aesthetic and narrative quality.
The Competition's big winner was Olhares - a film by the young Portuguese-French artist Alexia Fernandes. Her scenic exploration of the limitations of conformity, the dynamics of identity and social norms won her the awards for Best Videodance - Jorge Salavisa Prize and Best National Director - Territory Prize, Victor Córdon Studios. See the other winners of the International Competitions.
The Festival is still ongoing. Until the 19th of December, we'll be at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (FBAUL). In the Faculty's Gallery, we are featuring Discernible Beauty, an exhibition by guest artist Sam Asaert that explores the tension between Western performing arts, capitalist visual culture and the role of the female body. At the Cisterna, we have a video-dance collection played on a loop.
At the various moments of this edition, we had the presence of filmmakers, choreographers and other national and international artists, keeping alive the creative synergies that have been moving us over the years.
Open Call for the 17th edition already in place.