French Selection at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2025

Villa Albertine is pleased to return to the San Francisco Dance Film Festival in support of its’ French Film Selection.  

Founded in 2010, Dance Film SF (DFSF) is a nonprofit organization bringing dance to new audiences through the presentation and development of dance-based media.  From in-depth feature documentaries to engaging shorts programs, the San Francisco Dance Film Festival (SFDFF) offers something for diehard dance fans and newcomers alike. 
 
We invite you to join Villa Albertine San Francisco at the featured French films to experience the dynamic world of dance. 
 

Preview the Selection below: 

Farewell, Opéra
With the presence of SF Ballet Principal Dancer Sasha De Sola, Director Yonathan Kellerman, and featured dancer Aurélia Bellet. 
 
Farewell, Opéra follows three Paris Opera Ballet dancers facing compulsory retirement at age 42. With breathtaking grace and quiet vulnerability, the film captures their final rehearsals, backstage rituals, and personal reflections on artistry, aging, and reinvention. A tender meditation on change and legacy, this documentary invites us to witness the beauty of letting go, and the strength it takes to do so. 

Followed by a Q&A with director Yonathan Kellerman moderated by former Paris Opéra Ballet star and former San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer Pierre Vilanoba, with a reception in the lobby. 
 

GUSTAVIA  
A visually stunning performance film of the Royal Swedish Ballet’s production inspired by the extraordinary life of Gustav Badin, an enslaved child brought to the Swedish royal court who became a dancer, diplomat, and Freemason. Featuring Paris Opera Ballet Étoile Guillaume Diop and choreography by Pär Isberg, the work blends ballet, theater, and history to explore identity, power, and cultural erasure. Set to a rich score by Brahms, Bologne, and Beethoven, Gustavia brings to light a hidden figure of European history with elegance, fire, and depth. 
 

Leap! 
Set in 19th-century Paris, the story follows Félicie, a spirited orphan determined to become a ballerina, and her best friend Victor, an aspiring inventor. Together they escape their orphanage and chase their passions in the City of Lights, where Félicie must summon all her determination to pursue the role of a lifetime at the Paris Opera Ballet. 

 
Seasons of Dance winner of the Grand Prix at the Golden Prague Festival 
Love unfolds across four seasons, four choreographers, and four duets in this emotionally charged cinematic journey directed by dance-film visionary Tommy Pascal. Seasons of Dance reimagines Vivaldi’s Four Seasons through Max Richter’s acclaimed re-composition, weaving together striking screendance chapters into a feature-length film. With new works by internationally celebrated choreographers Peeping Tom, Imre & Marne van Opstal, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, and Emilie Leriche, the film captures the aching beauty and raw power of love as it blossoms, deepens, fractures, and fades. 

 
Aito Hine 
Set against the mythic landscapes of French Polynesia, Aito Hine traces the journey of a young heroine awakening to her culture, her ancestors, and the strength of her lineage. Directed by Krysten Resnick and choreographed by Tehani Robinson, this short dance film celebrates the spiritual force of ‘Ori Tahiti as both a personal rite and a cultural inheritance. Performed by an all-women troupe, the film merges movement and nature into a story of emergence, resilience, and ancestral pride. Aito Hine is both a cinematic offering and a call to honor indigenous voices and the power of women worldwide. 

Cimetre 
Set in Bobo-Dioulasso’s Saint-Étienne district, Cimetre is a sensory music film that explores the six-meter social space surrounding homes—known locally as the cimetre—where daily life unfolds in rhythm, resilience, and connection. From morning rituals to nighttime celebrations, the film layers dance, symbolic imagery, and poetic juxtapositions to reveal the beauty of everyday life. Directed with a lyrical eye by Jacob Londry Bonkian, Djibril Ouattara, Cimetre honors a tightly-knit community while reflecting on the universal tension between solidarity and individualism. 

Les Chausseurs Rouges (The Red Shoes) 
As a pivotal separation approaches, one woman dances through memory, transition, and the quiet force of unseen connection. Written by Maylis Arrabit and directed by Carolina Kzan, Les Chaussures Rouges (The Red Shoes) follows Arrabit as she confronts a life-altering departure. Her relationship with a key partner in her daily life becomes the thread that draws her back through past experiences and emotions. Through movement, the film captures the complexity of change, emancipation, and the invisible bonds that continue to shape us. 
 

Nos petites mains 
A hospice resident and a contemporary dancer connect through shared fears and movement in this poetic encounter at life’s edge. Nos Petites Mains is a tender dance film that interlaces intimate conversation with expressive gesture, bringing together hospice residents and visiting dancers. With sincerity and grace, it reflects on aging, memory, and the enduring language of movement—a quiet celebration of intergenerational connection and the healing capacity of the body in motion. 
 

What Belongs to You  
At the Paris Opera, a dancer traces his journey from Hong Kong to the stage, asking: What truly belongs to him? What Belongs to You is a lyrical short documentary in which Paris Opera dancer Chun Wing Lam reflects on identity, sacrifice, and artistry. Shot with haunting simplicity, the film illuminates how every gesture onstage is shaped by personal history, discipline, and quiet longing.