Zénith Zénith

A Chair Fit for an Angel

March 2014 •English

For two hundred years, the Shakers have been America's most successful utopian society. While seeking harmony, order and perfection in every aspect of their lives, they built minimalistic furniture and buildings that influenced modern design. The Shakers wrote songs of exquisite beauty and danced to the point of ecstasy during their religious meetings. Inspired by this music and dance, choreographer Tero Saarinen created Borrowed Light, a dance piece about communal life and individual sacrifice. Shot in Finland and the United States, featuring interviews and excerpts from Borrowed Light, this documentary explore the cultural legacy of this religious group devoted to creating heaven on earth.

Movement in Structure

March 2019 •English

A dynamic and lyric routine explores the relationship between the dancer and the performance space. Choreography by John Lam.

Kreativ: A Study in Creativity by Alexander Ekman

January 2017 •Swedish

Award-winning choreographer Alexander Ekman dives into the subject of creativity by meeting scientists, professors, artists, film directors and choreographers, with the goal of trying to understand every aspect of the phenomenon.

Not Bad at All

Invalid date •English

Every weekend for six years, Jessica takes a bus from NYC, where she lives and works as a set decorator, to Boston, her hometown, where she cares for her dad, Aloysius, who is 87 and has advanced Alzheimer's disease.

Streetdance Family

May 2016 •English

The journey to the world championship is fraught with difficulties for Entity, the UK's most successful and controversial under sixteen street dance crew, as they battle to overcome the many challenges that face them in their bid for glory on the world stage.

How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere?

November 2010 •English

A multimedia performance including film, live narration and dance, How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? explores loss and transcendence experienced in human partnerships. Reflecting on his relationship with 102-year-old former sharecropper, carpenter and gardener Walter Carter as well as Andrei Tarkovsky’s science fiction classic, Solaris, Lemon and 6 dancers create a performance which arcs from turbulent physicality to restorative grace.

Madonna: Truth or Dare

May 1991 •English

From the rains of Japan, through threats of arrest for 'public indecency' in Canada, and a birthday tribute to her father in Detroit, this documentary follows Madonna on her 1990 'Blond Ambition' concert tour. Filmed in black and white, with the concert pieces in glittering MTV color, it is an intimate look at the work of the icon, from a prayer circle before each performance to bed games with the dance troupe afterwards.

Son of Torum

February 1989 •Estonian

In the same vein as Meri's other documentations, this one takes advantage of the glasnost policy to discuss the social and ecologic impact of the Russian oil industry on the natives and the lands they inhabit.

Dance for All

September 2007 •English

Wallachian Dance

September 1905 •Macedonian

Early Balkan footage.

Memories of Nijinsky

August 1980 •Russian

A valuable testimony that approaches the essence of Nijinsky who did not leave a video. Boris Kochno, who was at the center of Russian ballet, vividly tells how Nijinsky, who had fallen ill, witnessed his newly choreographed self-made work. Nijinsky's successor machine is a rare record of transferring Nijinsky's appearance in the popular work "Afternoon of a Faun" to two great dancers, Grigorowich and Wasiriev, who carry Bolshoi ballet on their backs.

Brotherly Dance

July 2004 •Serbian

Savo from Kikinda (Serbia) and his brother recall how they called communal service few years back to empty the septic tank in their backyard. As careless servicemen weren't coming for days, Savo staged his death by drowning in the hole. Communal service sent three trucks while Savo was looking at them from the attic. A story of a small man who fought the system and won, only to become a huge YouTube hero afterwards.

Ella

July 2016 •English

Ella Havelka made history in 2013 by becoming the first Indigenous dancer at the 50-year-old Australian Ballet. In this engaging, MIFF Premiere Fund-supported world premiere, Ella – a descendant of the Wiradjuri people – charts her inspiring journey from growing up in modest circumstances as the only child of a single mother in rural Australia to gaining entry to National Ballet School, then spending formative years with the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre before accepting the invitation of The Australian Ballet's artistic director David McAllister to join one of the world's foremost ballet companies.

Flamenco at 5:15

January 1983 •English

In this Oscar Winning documentary short film, students in their final year at the National Ballet School of Canada are seen learning the flamenco from Susana and Antonio Robledo, who come to the school every winter to conduct classes which are held after the day's regular schedule has ended.

Dancer

September 2016 •English

Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.

Rize

January 2005 •English

A documentary film that highlights two street derived dance styles, Clowning and Krumping, that came out of the low income neighborhoods of L.A.. Director David LaChapelle interviews each dance crew about how their unique dances evolved. A new and positive activity away from the drugs, guns, and gangs that ruled their neighborhood. A raw film about a growing sub-culture movements in America.

Darcey Bussell: A Ballerina's Life

March 2014 •English

Prima ballerina Darcey Bussell talks about her life at the top. From tears at ballet school and forgetting the steps, to becoming the Royal Ballet's youngest-ever principal and her favourite roles, Darcey recalls her performing career from its earliest days.

Cavalcade of Dance

October 1943 •English

Ballroom dancers Veloz and Yolanda perform the various dance fads of the first half of the twentieth century.

Back To Africa

April 2008 •English

The Soul of Motion

October 2020 •Portuguese

This observational documentary was realized by filmmakers at the State University of Paraná. It follows the Federal University of Paraná’s Téssera Dance Company in black-and-white images as the group’s members prepare the dance piece “Black Dog”, a work about confronting depression, in June of 2017. The film’s story, structured in chapters, presents archetypal characters overcoming individual crises for the sake of collective expression. “The pack must walk together”, says the company’s stern but compassionate leader, within the context of a pedagogical work about the importance of a show going on.