French Selection at the 15th Edition of the SF Dance Film Festival 

Take a look at the French films featured in this year’s festival below!

Rone L(oo)ping by Louise Narboni,  performed with the National Orchestra of Lyon (France, 2023) 

World Festival Premiere: Grounded in reality and departing into daydreams, “Rone L(oo)ping” centers on a sweeping orchestral-electronic performance in Lyon’s grand concert hall led by French electronic music artist Rone. Dancers portray a playful usher, a wistful musician, and a handful of audience members who are each transported by the performance into the inner worlds of their psyches, just as Rone himself journeys from creative spark to full-scale performance. As the pulsating score builds, subsides, and surges, each character receives the music and reflects through unique explorations of nature, architecture, and human connection in a range of contemporary dance vocabularies. 

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Louise Narboni moderated by Jonathan Bingham (composer and on SF Conservatory of Music faculty), plus a reception in the theater’s lobby.  

Obsessed with Light by Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum (United States, 2023) 

Bay Area Premiere — “Obsessed with Light” is a meditation on groundbreaking artist Loïe Fuller’s fascination with light and her enduring drive to create. The film pulls back the curtain on Fuller, a wildly original performer who revolutionized the visual culture of the early 20th century by inventing a spectacle that combined dance, fabric, and movement. She pioneered the ingenious use of electric light for the stage and immediately understood the importance of protecting her ownership of these innovations. With a strong will toward self-empowerment, her avant garde representations of the body resonate through history. In a dialogue between past and present, the documentary delves into the astonishing influence of Fuller’s work on contemporary artists and uncovers the commonalities that connect these creative luminaries to Fuller and to each other. 

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Zeva Oelbaum. 

Contresens by Tizia Benmchich-Lanardonne (France, 2024) 

From a Parisian Métro platform below to the night streets above, one woman decides to go against the current in “Contresens.” Her defiance bubbles up through expressive facial contortions that build to a freewheeling dance motivated from deep within. As her confidence grows, she discovers the sheer pleasure of each movement, coming fully alive in her body through the catharsis of dance. 
 

Fraudulations by Caroline Grimprel and Clara Lie, in collaboration with choreographer Amalia Salle (France, 2023) 

Workplace tensions lead to dramatic daydream departures in “FRAUDULATIONS,” a defiant romp through sterile fluorescent corridors of storage lockers. One woman’s passionless job chains her to a soulless screen where she mechanically executes tasks under the trance of neon lights, lost in the shadows of corporate servitude. When a fraudulent call triggers the void of her work station, her pent-up frustration erupts, unleashing a storm of chaos that sends her winding through the endless corridors of her workplace. 

Learn more here.