The tenth edition of the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival (BIDFF) running September 5 through 8 will offer art lovers over 30 entertainment events: four dance films (national premieres), a competition of feature films selected from over 20 countries, a contemporary dance show, guided tours, workshops and a VR exhibition, the organizers said in a release.

At the core of the festival program is the BIDFF Films section, with four feature films in which dance, the body or movement play the main roles, and screened for the first time in Romania: What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears? (Elvire Popesco Cinema – Thursday, September 5/18:30); Body Odyssey (Elvire Popesco Cinema – Friday, September 6/20:30; Memories of a Burning Body (Elvire Popesco Cinema – Saturday, September 7/20:30); This is Ballroom (the Movie Garden – Cinema & More, Friday, September 6/21:00, and Elvire Popesco Cinema – Sunday, September 8/21:00).

The International Short Film Competition is divided into four categories: Land Of the Unmarked / Land of Fluids Outlines / Land of Living Frames / Land Of Flickering Bodies. The short films on the bill will be screened at Elvire Popesco Cinema, the Romanian Peasant Museum, the Masca Theatre, the Movie Garden, the Roaba de Cultura grassland venue, and the Apollo 111 cultural center.

BIDFF Expand will include a choreographic piece – Les Vagues, a reading performance – Cosmic Chronicles: Body and Gender Mythology, and an artistic installation dedicated to dancer and choreographer Adina Cezar, designed by peer artist Andreea Novac.

BIDFF Exhange will host a forum dedicated to the current state and future of European dance film, moderated by BIDFF founder Simona Deaconescu, and which will take place at the Modul Carturesti bookshop on September 7, starting at 15:00.

The festival also includes the BIDFF VR exhibition, organized in collaboration with /SAC @ MALMAISON and showcasing works by artists present at famous industry events, such as the Cannes or the Venice film festivals.

This year’s jury is made up of Lucia Carolina de Rienzo (COORPI vice-president and producer of dance projects, digital art and dance film), Fu Le (choreographer, performer and filmmaker, director of the company Tetrapode, associate artist at Istres Dance House, France), Iztok Kovac (artistic director of the Cultural Center EN-KNAP Productions), and Spanski Borci (choreographer, pedagogue, creator and internationally renowned contemporary dance performer, Slovenia).

Special guests, such as Marius Hodea and Ioana Mischie will each hold a masterclass on VR production, choreographer and dancer Catrinel Catana will hold dance workshops for children under the care of PlayHood – Ferentari Association, and Lucie Eidenbenz will also hold a dance workshop.

This year’s festival theme, Mapping Bodies, will bring together several one-off events: the retrospective screening of the short dance films awarded at the previous nine editions of the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival, off competition screenings, guided tours that connect the participants with locations in Bucharest where choreographer Adina Cezar trained, danced and created, as well as the BIDFF#10 award festivity and the screening of the short films that are the winners of this year’s competition.

The program is available both on the festival website and on the social media pages of the event.

A cultural project co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund – AFCN and the Bucharest City Hall through ARCUB under the “Bucharest 565. Urban Connections” 2024 Program, the Bucharest International Dance Film Festival is organized by the Tangaj Collective Association.