Philip Szporer

Actor, dancer, and choreographer, Chief-Moon is founder of the Coyote Arts Percussive Performance Association, and member of the Blackfoot Confederacy, member of the Blood Band. Through his art and his life, Chief-Moon's story is one of cultural survival. Themes of his dance creations begin with his people's traditional stories, his attachment to the land and his community, as well as the inner conflict he faces in existing within the Aboriginal culture and the wider community. The documentary also explores his identity as a First Nations two-spirited gay man and a father of three adopted children. His art and his life cross boundaries. Challenging the cultural construct is never easy; but Chief-Moon does.

Based on the poetry cycle of the esteemed African-American poet Cornelius Eady, the film is inspired by the work of Phillis Wheatley, the first published black poet in the US. “Mercy” aims to weave Wheatley's poetry and imagery, which focuses on the complication of the slave learning their captor's language, with gesture, movement and voice into an intricate meditation on black womanhood.

“Bhairava” evokes facets of Shiva, the Lord of Dance, as both the destroyer of evil and the guardian of time. He is fierce and drives terrible deeds, but he is also the Divine Protector and Supreme Guardian; his intention springs from pure compassion. In this work, carried by a strong and deeply evocative musical score and by the singular energy of the ancient site of Hampi, dancer and choreographer Shantala Shivalingappa embodies the presence and distinctive qualities of Bhairava. With her technical mastery and refined expressivity, she alternates between moments of precise symbolic gestures and more abstract body language surging from the powerful and omnipresent persona of Bhairava, creating a vivid incarnation of the deity.

For over thirty years, Montréal-based dancer, choreographer, and philosopher Zab Maboungou, of Franco-Congolese origin, has galvanized the contemporary dance scene with her radically regrounded conception of time, the body and the self.

This short film addresses the revolving cycles of human conflict through contemporary dance. Celebrated choreographer Crystal Pite and dance filmmakers Marlene Millar & Philip Szporer commemorate the fading legacies of WWI, while also creating a moving homage to Pite’s mentors and contemporaries, whose lives and short careers are pitted against the fleeting nature of the dance art form. Featuring Theodore Ushev’s haunting and distinct artwork, the film explores the themes of conflict, loss, and rescue we all experience as we cycle through states of love and war.