2025 Panel-Selected Short Films
Becoming
Becoming tells a story of how we can emerge from a difficult time: better, stronger, and fully realized. Much like the phoenix, this story begins in darkness and ends in a fiery flight of sonorous bliss.
Created with support from the Saint Petersburg Arts Alliance, this project sought to bring together different forms of local Saint Pete based art with a focus on the performing arts. The film was shot in an abandoned bus depot that was adorned with artwork that celebrated the queer community during a time when state leaders were actively passing legislation to oppress such groups. Under the direction of Domenico Pontoriero, the production crew consisted of Caleb Baker as dancer and choreographer, Zach Moore of Coastal Creative as cinematographer, and Candice Stokes of LittleBull4You as stylist.
Directed by Domenico Pontoriero, USA
Behind Closed Doors
A visceral exploration of perception and memory, Behind Closed Doors unpacks how a shared family trauma fractures into conflicting truths—and ultimately seeks reconciliation through embodied empathy and collective understanding.
Directed by Hanna DiLorenzo, USA
Birth
This experimental, movement-driven film aims to poetically celebrate the miracle of being a woman, of birthing life in its various forms, honoring the journey it entails from pain to love.
Directed by Jumana Radi, UAE
But What Am I?
Directed by Mandy Milligan, USA
Change - Kramon
The unconscious self and conscious self meet.
Directed by Meredith Adelaide, USA
dust
"dust" is a dance film that explores themes of legacy and mortality in the cycle of intergenerational caregiving. It pays tribute to the compassion, reciprocity, and unconditional love present as we guide one another into and out of this life. It depicts the experience of caring for my father as he died of cancer.
Directed by Noelle Kayser, USA
Free Mind | A Dance Concept Video
Even when life’s problems pull us into dark places, there’s always something out there that can bring us peace and help us break free.
A dance videography with the goal of bringing editing concepts together with a variety of movement styles.
Directed by Prateek Reddy Gunnam, USA
Hallways
Hallways are where we find ourselves anticipating what comes next. They are the spaces where there are more questions than answers. The confluence of dance, uncertainty and emotions provides a commentary on the uneasy, but beautiful obligation to choose.
Directed by Elizabeth Sears, USA
In The Middle
"In the Middle" is a short dance film captured in the streets of Tehran and London, exploring the emotional experience of living between two worlds. In Tehran, where dance is prohibited, movement becomes an act of quiet resistance—a gesture of freedom within restriction. In London, dance is free, but this freedom can feel anonymous and isolating.
The film traces a dialogue of the body with two cities, capturing how it navigates urban spaces and reflects the tension between belonging and dislocation. Through shifting cityscapes and expressive movement, it explores the internal push and pull of being caught between past and present, home and elsewhere. It is a personal reflection on what it means to exist “in between,” where nothing fully fits, but everything leaves a mark.
Directed by Saba Khatami, Iran
Lettre à ma fille
Unfolding on the beaches and streets of Benin, a heartfelt letter from a mother to her future daughter expresses the challenges and joys of growing up as a woman. Through song and dance, a tribe of women dispel fairy tales myths to center embodied values of feminine power: strength, independence, and self-worth. Their rebellious spirits find freedom and joy through the rhythms of their bodies as hands clap, shoulders shake, hips swirl, and feet stomp out their bold dreams of womanhood.
Directed by Michael Maurissens, Germany
ode to flora
This film was created in conjunction with DAN500 Seminar: Dance, Film, and the Camer at Smith College.
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” -Tao Tzu
Directed by Francesca Baron, USA
POETRY WITH MOTHER, DANCING IN THE SUNSET
My mother and I tried to make a dance film together. This film is the first film of our collaboration to make dance film together. Dances, poetry and sunset bring a beautiful memory that can be remembered forever. Every movement is a freedom. Every move is a beauty. This film is a gift from me to my mother who taught me to love cinema, poetry and dance.
Directed by Rendro Aryo, Indonesia
Porcelain
Porcelain probes into the acceptance of our impotence- as humans - in front of death. When we shatter like porcelain and it is impossible to put our pieces back as they were once. Only stronger. Shattered and precious.
Directed by Paula du Gelly, Brazil
Silent Divide
Tracing the quiet unraveling of a creative partnership, unspoken desires and growing distance fracture a once-intimate connection.
In Silent Divide, two dance artists navigate the shifting terrain of collaboration. The film captures the subtle gestures, mirrored phrases, and lingering silences that reveal a deepening divide. Tension simmers beneath the surface, never fully realized, as the dancers push and pull through moments of intimacy, conflict, and isolation. Through a richly physical vocabulary, Silent Divide meditates on the fragility of connection, the pain of unspoken truths, and the reality of letting go.
Directed by Alexander Petit Olivieri & Gary Champi, USA
The At Home Project: Stefany
Directed by Stephanie Rankin, USA
