SP-01   Miranda Pennell Retrospective

Miranda Pennell was born in London in 1963 and studied contemporary dance in New York and Amsterdam, where she was a member of Sasha Waltz's first ensemble. She worked as a professional dancer in the Netherlands, Italy and England, and in 1993 she turned her attention to direction, choreographing dance-pieces for the stage. It was also the same period, in which Pennell's first films were created - with her second film "Lounge", winning the 1996 "Grand Prix International Video Danse" award in Paris. Since then, Pennell has consistently used the film medium to explore choreographic ideas. Although the focus of her film work is entirely removed from the subject of contemporary dance, Pennell's fascination for the essence of movement and performance remains central to her films. Inspired by the choreography found in everyday life Pennell draws from a diverse range of subjects and situations that has included teenage ice-skaters, bar-room brawls and marching soldiers. She skilfully undercuts this realist point of departure with a formal approach to camera and editing, thereby revealing the contradictions within the worlds explored. Her films have won numerous prizes, including from the Biennale of Moving Images (Geneva 2005), the Ann Arbour Film Festival (USA 2004), Cork International Film Festival (Ireland 2003).

Screening :

06. 11. 2008 at 16:00 h, Hackesche Höfe Filmtheater Kino 2
07. 11. 2008 at 22:00 h, Babylon Berlin:Mitte Saal 2

THE 8 FILMS OF THE PROGRAM: