MIRA Film Nights presents: Body and Movement

This event is not included in the HOME Film Pass

Please note this film has no ads or trailers.

MIRA is a programme for experimental film showcase and discussion, featuring artists underrepresented in their region. The project began in 2018, with the aim to increase the inclusion of female, non-binary, LGBTQ+ and ethnically diverse artists in the North West film sector. Although the focus is on local artists, MIRA is open to people from other areas with the aim to facilitate professional connections at a national and international level.

For this event, MIRA presents a series of short films from the past four decades, exploring the body through dance and movement by UK-based female and non-binary filmmakers. The films’ screening will be followed by a Q&A with artists Bridget Coderc and Mahshid Alavi, hosted by MIRA’s founder Nuria Lopez de la Oliva.

This event is part of the BFI FAN Innovation Lab 2022-23. A mentorship programme for emerging curators from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds, hosted by UK’s leading independent cinema organisations. 

Films screening in this programme are:

Sitting on a Man, by Onyeka Igwe (2018, 7 mins)
Traditionally, women in Igbo speaking parts of Nigeria, came together to protest the behavior of men by sitting on or making war on them by adorning themselves with palm fronds, dancing and singing protest songs outside the man in question’s home. This practice became infamous due its prominence as a tactic in the Aba Women’s War, the 1929 all woman protest against colonial rule. Two contemporary dancers reimagine the practice, drawing on both archival research and their own experiences.

Hither & Thither, by Bridget Coderc (2022, 5 mins)
Holding onto Bridget’s fascination with aesthetics from the early 2000s, the artist distorted VHS footage of a dance festival from 2001 that she took from her mother’s archive. Bridget is drawn to the imperfections that the analog medium contains. They feel so familiar and bring up memories from early childhood. These recollections are incredibly vivid, and suddenly, there is a need to re-experience the past. The film was showcased for the first time online in December 2022, but MIRA is the in-person premiere.

Reesheh, by Mahshid Alavi (2022, 5 mins)
Reesheh tells the story of dance in Iran, where this art form has been prohibited for the last few decades. The film attempts to show the fight for liberty to express, and the struggle to take back the right to move freely.

Undercurrent 528, by Evan Ifekoya (2021, 15 mins)
This work draws on avant-garde filmmaker Stephen Dwoskin’s complex relationship with care, desire and everyday rituals and reorients it from Ifekoya’s perspective. Ifekoya sent invitations to their extended black, queer and trans community for a dancer, a drummer, a gathering around breathing and a sonic response to these images. The film explores the relationship between documentation and liveness, opening portals of intimacy by bringing people together through different spaces and time. 

Baby Girl, by Louise Stevens (1996, 10 mins)
Baby Girl follows the journey of a long-limbed, pouting Pierrot figure who explores the streets of Amsterdam through dance and movement. The character encounters other people later on in the film, whom she only communicates through dance with. This film is a collaboration between the filmmaker Louise Stevens and dancer/ choreographer Sharon Smith.

This event contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy. 

Duration:
90 minutes

Languages:
English

Country of origin:
Great Britain

Year of production:
1996 - 2022