Film
The Ballet of the Nations + Panel Discussion
- Director
- Roseanna Anderson, Joshua Ben-Tovim
- Certificate
- No Cert
- Running Time
- 50 mins
Billy Zane narrates this first short feature film from Bristol-based dance company Impermanence which imagines war as a diabolical dance choreographed by Satan and Ballet Master Death.
The film was inspired by the pacifist satire The Ballet of the Nations, written by Vernon Lee in 1915 and illustrated by Maxwell Armfield as a response to the outbreak of war. Impermanence’s film incorporates original dialogue inspired by Lee’s text, among intricate and stylised dance pieces, with production design by Pam Tait, an original soundtrack by composer Robert Bentall, cinematography by Jack Offord and a directorial debut from Roseanna Anderson and Joshua Ben-Tovim. The film begins with Satan and Ballet Master Death discussing how to reintroduce chaos into a complacent society. Satan instructs Ballet Master Death to assemble an orchestra of human passions (Fear, Panic, Suspicion, Hatred, Heroism, Murder etc.) to provide the music for a corps de ballet of Nations to perform the dance macabre of war. What follows is an often humorous assembly of the orchestra, filmed in the atmospheric cavernous tunnels beneath Bristol Temple Meads. Following this assembly, we see the core Nations perform their dance, joined by a larger cohort of Nations for the final act, Revenge. The film is interspersed with danced sections performed by a Chorus, evocative of the choric elements of classical Greek tragedy.
The screening at Bristol Cathedral will be followed by a panel discussion. Go here for tickets.
Picture credit: Jack Offord
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