The Dance selected for 65th BFI London Film Festival
Posted: 7th September 2021
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to congratulate Pat Collins and Break Out Pictures on the news that Pat Collins' The Dance will have its world premiere at the prestigious BFI London Film Festival, where it will compete for the acclaimed Grierson Award for best documentary. This year the festival will take place from October 6-17 and the film joins Screen Ireland-supported short film Pork in selection at the London Film Festival this year.
The Dance follows the staging of a new international dance and theatre work (MÁM) by the acclaimed choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan from the first day of rehearsal to the opening night performance. The Dance is a fiercely true and beautiful account of a magical process of work, brought to life by the inimitable Pat Collins (Song of Granite, Silence).
Speaking on the selection, Collins comments “It’s a great honour to have our film The Dance premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. This film is observational in the most literal sense. Every day over the course of eight weeks, we filmed in a community hall in West Kerry with choreographer Michael Keegan-Dolan and 12 dancers, the s t a r g a z e collective and Cormac Begley. We were given a rare insight into an intense period of collaboration as they rehearsed. It was a privilege to observe at such close proximity the gradual emergence of a work of art. There is something very moving about witnessing someone lost in their own work.”
MÁM brought the virtuoso concertina player Cormac Begley, the European musical collective ‘s t a r g a z e’ and twelve international dancers to the remote Dingle Peninsula in Ireland and is a unique confluence between soloist and ensemble, classical and traditional, the local and the universal. It went on to be reviewed rapturously, toured internationally and was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best production in London. As well as Dublin it has been performed in theatres' in London, Australia and New Zealand.
The Dance is a South Wind Blows and Harvest Films Production with backing from Screen Ireland, Teaċ Daṁsa and RTÉ.
Break Out Pictures will release The Dance in cinemas in 2022.