Dance films to screen during college film festival at Sun Studios of Arizona

Eighteen short dance films will be featured at the fourth annual Dance Shorts: College Film Festival this Friday, April 14 at Sun Studios of Arizona.

“The festival provides an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students all over the country to share their short dance films,” said Sharon McCaman, artistic director for the festival and a graduate student in the School of Film, Dance and Theatre in the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

McCaman started the festival in 2013 as an undergraduate student in Florida.

“When I came to ASU to work on my master’s degree, I brought the festival with me,” she said. “Screendance work has the potential to be extremely collaborative, especially in an environment like the School of Film, Dance and Theatre.”

The festival spotlights dance films that are between two and six minutes in length. These films can be narrative, experimental or abstract and incorporate any combination of music, lights, costumes and location with dance and today's film technology. 

This year’s festival received 47 submissions from 29 different schools throughout the United States. All of the films were viewed and adjudicated by professionals within the dance and film community, according to McCaman. Films with the highest scores were selected for the festival gala screening. Twelve different schools will be represented at this year’s gala, including ASU.

“All the Things I was Told I Couldn’t Do,” a film created by third-year MFA in dance student Katherine Dorn, will be one of the featured shorts.

“Katie shot and edited her short dance film herself, and it features several ASU dance students,” McCaman said.

This year's festival gala will take place at 7 p.m. April 14 at Sun Studios of Arizona. The gala is free and open to the public. Register for the event online.