8-Count

Overview

Shining the spotlight on dance on film.

Following a successful inaugural season in 2022, our short dance film series 8-COUNT returns to the festival with two live screenings, each one followed by an artist chat with select creators. This year's eight films have been hand picked by our esteemed Selection Committee of professionally acclaimed film and dance artists through our first open call.

Showcasing eight distinct short dance films produced and directed by both national and international creators, this year’s 8-COUNT will premiere at our newest festival venue, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and return to Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre at York University. Each live screening will include a lively moderated artist chat right after the films are presented.

This year's 8-COUNT films include:

amalgaMOTION
Co-Directed by Adam Daniel Mezei and Crystal Finn-Dunn

Burn From The Inside
Ballet Black on Film. Directed and Choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November

Challah
Choreographed and performed by Karen and Allen Kaeja. Directed by Moze Mossanen

Circular Labyrinth
Choreographed by Margie Gillis. Directed by Louis-Martin Charest. Performed by Ruth Naomi Levin

The Euphorian
A film by William Yong. Choreography by Lina Cruz. Featuring Sylvie Bouchard. Produced by BoucharDanse.

Locked
Choreographed by Roberto Campanella. Directed by Moze Mossanen. Performed by Dani Jazzar and Johanna Bergfelt

Lucid Space
Directed and Choreographed by Geanderson Mello and Mio Sakamoto

Reflejos del Tiempo (Reflections of Time)
Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company

Learn more about this year’s 8-COUNT films and their creators here.

View the playbill for this event.

Discover the eight short dance films that will be presented at this year's 8-COUNT screenings (Sep 27 & 28) and stream here and our Official Streaming Partner, MarqueeTV from Sep 29, through the festival and for an extra week, until Oct 15.

amalgaMOTION

Co-Directed by Adam Daniel Mezei and Crystal Finn-Dunn
Collective / Performed by Tariq Chin, O'Shani Cardwell, Mike Smith, Gautam Tiwari, Matthew Cuff, Crystal Finn-Dunn, Natalie Poirier, Joel Famadico, Jr., Victoria Barrie, Julia Walton, Raoul Pillay, Indiana Mehta

A visually stunning celebration of diverse dance styles fusing into harmony. Captivating choreography, mesmerizing synergy. Prepare for a fascinating journey where cultures unite through dance.

Burn From the Inside

By Cassa Pancho's Ballet Black.
Directed and Choreographed by Mthuthuzeli November.

Reflecting on personal experiences, a childhood memory emerges from the Eastern Cape. Gathered inside a hut, family members would chant while a fire crackled in the sand. The ambiance created by this ritualistic chanting became a favourite lullaby, transporting the young narrator to a state of pure tranquility. In creating Burn from the Inside Mthuthuzeli sought to capture this communal feeling through the film's unique approach. By immersing oneself in the collective experience, viewers have the opportunity to delve into individual journeys and explore the expansiveness of the depicted space. The film aims to evoke a trance-like state, reminiscent of the personal experiences of the creator. The focus shifts from visual imagery to capturing the essence of being in a trance. It becomes an exploration of what it feels like to exist in a space where time and space lose their boundaries, and the driving beat becomes the guiding force.

Challah

Choreographed and performed by Karen and Allen Kaeja.
Directed by Moze Mossanen.

Part of the Kitchen Dances series of five short films, Challah is about a couple, Allen and Karen, who reflect on the importance of their Holocaust ancestry to their current lives and family.

Circular Labyrinth

Choreographed by Margie Gillis.
Directed by Louis-Martin Charest.
Performed by Ruth Naomi Levin.

Circular Labyrinth is a film about the process of navigating love, loss and identity as a human being. How do we find centre amidst longing? How do we find self alongside other? How can sorrow lead us to surrender? Circular Labyrinth shows a human being in the continual process of locating, defining and navigating home. She is afloat, circling in the amorphous, ever-shifting, seemingly repetitive world of longing, relationship, loss and memory; perpetually reaching for love. As she reaches more completely, so she falls more fully. Only, she finds, grace is there to catch her. Carrying her to a centre more loving and truer than ever she knew before.

The Euphorian

A film by William Yong.
Choreography by Lina Cruz.
Featuring Sylvie Bouchard.
Produced by BoucharDanse.

Like the original choreography that inspired this film, The Euphorian elaborates a fantasy around the Picasso painting La buveuse assoupie / The Absinthe Drinker. A woman appears uninhibited and unrestrained, though her loneliness is palpable. Her smile directed at no one, perhaps at herself, or at the fragility of life.

Locked

Choreographed by Roberto Campanella.
Directed by Moze Mossanen.
Performed by Dani Jazzar and Johanna Bergfelt.

Part of the Kitchen Dances series of five short films, Locked is about a couple struggles for ways to cope with the emotional challenges of isolation with a startling use of film editing to create vivid choreographic effects.

Lucid Space

Directed and Choreographed by Geanderson Mello and Mio Sakamoto

Lucid Space explores the power of dreams to free us from the confines imposed on us by society. The film follows a woman as she encounters misogyny and mundanity in her day-to-day life. In the mirror she sees only distortions of her true self - reflected back at her are all the labels that have been thrust upon her by others. One day, she visits a strange place in her dreams and begins to regain control of her life.

Reflejos del Tiempo (Reflections of Time)

By Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company.
Directed by William Yong

How can we discover all the mysteries that lie within us? Symbolic rituals and customs have satisfied spiritual and emotional needs over time. Yet perceptions and opinions about traditions that we adhere to can change. How do we preserve the integrity of tradition? At the heart of our dance, we draw upon flamenco’s prodigious power, reflected in its unique ability to move us, in all our shared emotions.