The 7th edition MUSIC DANCE SCREENINGS FILM FESTIVAL CONSONANCE

A forgotten goddess wanders the desert only to realize we are never truly alone. We are the angels we seek.

A choreographic film that reimagines the ancient legend of Ara the Handsome and Shamiram as a collision of desire, power, and fate. Through movement and cinematic space, love turns into conquest, death into suspension, and myth into a meditation on time and the impossibility of resurrection.

Waters is a 16-minute dance film shot at Vatnasafn (the Library of Waters) in Stykkishólmur, Iceland, featuring an international cast and comprising choreographic material from the performance "Are We Ok?", which premiered in Iceland in 2021 as a dance-music performance at Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. The element of water, which is our most abundant yet precious resource, determines the sustainability of Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, soil, and arctic regions; the disappearance of the glacier Ok in Iceland in 2019 made world headlines and deepened the focus on water—its presence in gaseous, liquid, and solid forms— and how changes to Earth’s rising temperatures affect all conditions of life, including movement and sound. Waters is partially inspired by writer Andri Snaer Magnuson’s work On Time and Water, and celebrates artist Roni Horn’s installation of Icelandic glacial waters, which are captured within the 24 glass pillars inside the museum.

Portrait of an artist.

What if we could use a towel to indicate states of mind, overcome fears or adopt desired attitudes? TOWELISM is a short film-ballet that takes the phrase "throwing in the towel" literally and further. In the style of a dance workout, the film explores communication and power relations using 50 specially designed towels as a physical language. The queen, the loser, the money-maker disturb the synchronised fitness fanaticism. A submissive cat becomes sexy and a fox appears on the shore. Attitudes come and go, power is gained and lost, and as the towel factory churns out more and more towels, a twisted, colourful society unfolds to the beat. Disclaimer: TOWELISM is a choreographic and audiovisual experience. The short film uses movement and towels as a language. The above narrative is never expressed in words.

How do artists keep creating even in the darkest of times? How did the life-altering events of World War II shape our musical landscape up to today? This documentary uncovers the poignant stories of Mieczyslaw Weinberg and Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Two 20th-century composers of profound artistry, whose legacy is only recently being rediscovered after having been overshadowed in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The film follows the album recording of Four time GRAMMY®-nominated US-conductor Constantine Orbelian, chief conductor of the Kaunas City Symphony Orchestra, and Israel-based cellist Kristina Reiko Cooper who hope to facilitate the transcendence of the two composers’ legacy: Out of the shadows and towards the recognition their music deserves. In adjacent segments we delve into the history of Weinberg’s and Korngold’s very contrasting lives. Born respectively in Warsaw and Vienna and bound by their Jewish heritage, both composers were forced to flee the horrors of the Holocaust during World War II: Weinberg finding refuge in the far eastern part of the U.S.S.R. before resettling to Moscow, while Korngold fled to the USA and established himself as a film score composer in Hollywood. In today's turbulent times, 80 years after the end of World War II, the documentary "Emerging from the Shadows" reminds us how artistic resilience and integrity are values worth fighting as much as ever.

The perfect way to start your day...it's not just coffee.

A contemporary dance film themed around Water, created as part of an ongoing series exploring the four classical elements—Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. The work contemplates the boundary between the self and the world, translating vast universal narratives into intimate landscapes upon the skin. The subtitle VIEW ON SKIN reflects a desire to project the expanse of nature onto the body as a living canvas. Featuring Hana Sakai, one of Japan’s leading ballet dancers, and Joji Akutsu, a young principal dancer. Choreography by Yasutake Shimaji, known for his work with Noism, Forsythe Company, and his international performances with Sakai in the duo Altneu. Music by Tsuquisiqua — a collaboration between cellist Udai Shika and actress Tomoko Nakajima. Costume design by Takayuki Suzuki (costume cooperation), makeup by Michiru, a beauty director known for her pursuit of natural, inner radiance. Directed and filmed by Yukiko Fujinaga, produced by Yoshihito Sasaguchi. The 4.5-minute film was shot along Japan’s serene coastline, with the ending featuring the logos of Iro.MAGAZINE and the costume cooperation.

INSCAPE is a short dance film where humans are seen as vessels for the raw forces of nature—earth, water, air, and fire. Two dancers — Miwa and Olga — explore how their personal “elements” (character, emotion, instinct) connect with the natural elements and with each other. Their movement shifts between meeting and separating, where the edges of their bodies blur, and dance becomes a way to speak without words. An attuned body discovers the elements both inside itself and in the other. This film is a journey into the deep connection between humans and nature — a reminder that we all carry something ancient and wise within us, helping us find strength, understanding, and ways to connect.

In Reverium, movement unfolds like a dream remembering itself. The dancer drifts between repetition and awareness — caught in a silent dialogue with her own reflection, with time, and with the invisible pulse that drives every return. Shot in stark contrasts of light and shadow, the film translates emotion into rhythm, stillness into revelation. Every gesture becomes a fragment of memory — a recurring thought seeking release.

Diving into a fairy tale world, nightmares and hope enchant.

In Starry Venus' "Do You Feel It," consciousness becomes creation — variations of Venus awaken as Goddesses, unlocking each other’s freedom through elemental power.

STRANGE AGE is a window on today's youth. The documentary follows the journey of 13 young dancers enrolled in the contemporary dance training Coline, directed for 28 years by Bernadette Tripier. The documentary reveals the behind the scenes of creation, through the pieces of renowned choreographers such as Dominique Bagouet, Alban Richard, Thomas Lebrun, Joanne Leighton, etc. We will follow the students in this creative process - in dance studios, theater dressing rooms, bistros, a vacant lot, a minibus - testifying to their daily lives crossed by desires, doubts, frustrations, joys that undeniably participate in their construction on the professional but especially personal level. These images are coupled with interviews of former students from previous classes (since 1996), who tell the story of Coline and question the transmission of an indirectly sensitive and ephemeral art. Finally, unpublished archive images from this period are intertwined, creating a parallel between two generations, two eras, two youths who share the same passion: the art of movement. The film aims to convey the beauty and intoxication of dance, leaving a prominent place to purely choreographic moments (captures of shows and outdoor performances), where aesthetics take precedence over narration and invites the viewer to taste the pleasure of dancing.

In a deserted factory, the bodies of concrete mixers come to life through the unexpected resonance of singing voices. Sound and touch reawaken the metal, uncovering buried stories of motherhood—where the told part is not a neutral space. The notion of labor is redefined through these colossal metallic bodies of resonance—concrete mixers treated as productive organs, sites of a life’s work. Human and non-human bodies alike are approached as generative sites, entangled in a shared choreography of effort, memory, and transformation. Through a visual poem of words, dance and matters, the colossal forms of the cement mixers become transformative spaces—thresholds between the materiality of metal and the carnal presence of the dancing body.

The artist infiltrates an artist-exploiting record label with one goal: to defeat the executives by entrancing them with his music. As the sound fills the boardroom, the world dissolves into a surreal space, merging the CEO’s mind with the artist’s psyche, where themes of self-worth and the uncertainty of artistic pursuit unfold through abstract imagery.

A modern interpretation of a world-famous solo dance created by Nadja Sellrup, principal dancer of the Royal Swedish Ballet. The short piece La Mort du Cygne, choreographed by Michel Fokine, with music by Saint-Saëns and originally created for the celebrated Anna Pavlova, became one of the great dance successes of the 20th century. Here presented in an intimate version by cellist Mime Brinkmann and premiere dancer Nadja Sellrup.