This festival celebrates the art of storytelling through dance and cinema

Films tell stories of people, places, and memories. Dance tells similar stories. And when the two come together they create an engaging narrative like no other. Take for instance, La La Land, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling’s musical. It worked with the audiences mainly because the songs and dances they broke into every ten minutes stirred irrevocable emotions within us and took the story ahead. Their love would’ve never reached us the same way if it wasn’t for the ballads and dance moves. What would Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried's lives be like with dance and ABBA's music? Dance and film work beautifully because together they can tell stories in a way no other art form can. 

The Manifest Dance-Film Festival 2024, a three-day festival in Pondicherry, is the first and only festival in the Indian sub-continent to celebrate this genre. Taking place from July 26 to 28, this festival comprises screenings of riveting short films from across the world. The events of the festival include but are not limited to, 40 international dance-film screenings, live performances, workshops, and masterclasses hosted by professionals in the field. 

But, what are dance-films? Why are we talking about them? 

Fluidity is the talk of the hour. Breaking barriers and traversing limits is what art is all about in today’s age. And that is exactly what this genre seeks to do. 

Under the aegis of AuroApaar, a not-for-profit arts collective nestled in the South of India, this festival has worked towards defining what this experimental form of art means. The hyphen between the words ‘dance’ and ‘film’ accurately lays the uniqueness of the genre bare. An amalgamation of two distinct forms of art, these dance films are just as avant-garde as they are quirky. Dance films transcend the boundaries laid down by the two art forms, prompting a movement away from rigid, set definitions. While the film aspect delves into discovering more about the body’s rhythmic movement, the dance aspect highlights the liquidity and performativity of cinema.

Deriving inspiration from the intersection of film, performance and poetry, AuroApaar works towards creating art that is a healthy mix of all, exhibiting it nationally and internationally, in idiosyncratic spaces designed to house contemporary art. The festival’s primary aim is to stir transnational dialogue about this rare genre of dance films and nurture it within our own country. 

Having screened powerful films like Solo, My Lovely Home, and Pin Drop, in its earlier editions, Manifest is all set to explore movement, choreography, and direction at the end of this month. 

All images: AuroApaar

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