Afro Promo #1 Kinglady, 2016
Directed and Choreographed by nora chipaumire
Director of Photography: Benjamin Seth Wolf
Editor: Alla Kovgan
Art Director: Peter Born
Duration: 11 minutes.
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Afro Promo #1 King Lady 1 is an Afro-Feminist manifesto beautifying bodies to claim the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Using a low-tech — do-it-yourself aesthetics, this short film demonstrates how presence, fashion and pop culture can be a vehicle ​for self-invention and self-determination.
Produced by Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University, The Office of Arts and Cultural Programming (ACP), Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director. Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Film available upon request.
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Screenings:
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Screen Dance. Miami Light Project. January 18, 2018. USA
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Thinking Africa. Centro de Residencias Artísticas Matadero. December 23, 2017. Madrid, Spain.
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Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Exhibition: Three Choreographers, Three Films. April 20-24, 2017. USA
24th African Film Festival in New York City. Digital Art Exhibit: AfroMOTIONS. May 3-9, 2017. USA
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Cape Town Art Fair 2017. South Africa.
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Film and Filmmakers Series, Montclair State University, April 12, 2016. USA
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Peak Performances, Montclair State University. April 14-17, 2016. USA
nora, 2008
Directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton
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“nora” is based on true stories of the dancer Nora Chipaumire, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. In the film, Nora returns to the landscape of her childhood and takes a journey through some vivid memories of her youth. Using performance and dance, she brings her history to life in a swiftly-moving poem of sound and image. The result is a film about family dramas, difficult love affairs and militant politics, which moves back and forth between the comic and the tragic, the joyful and the mournful. It is a film about a girl who is constantly embattled - struggling against all kinds of intimidation and violence - but who slowly gathers strength, pride and independence. Shot entirely on location in Southern Africa, “Nora” includes a multitude of local performers and dancers of all ages, from young schoolchildren to ancient grandmothers, and much of the music is specially composed by a legend of Zimbabwean music - Thomas Mapfumo.
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Awards:
Best film choreography, Ghana. 2009
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Screening:
FESPACO, Burkina FASO. 2009
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DOCUMENTARIES
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Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Documentary Series, 2016:
Behind the Scenes: Afro Promo #1 KingLady {here}
An Introduction to nora chipaumire {here}
nora chipaumire on her Residency at Montclair State
Directed by Natalie Romero Marx
Screenings:
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Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Exhibition: Three Choreographers, Three Films. April 20-24, 2017.
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Film and Filmmakers Series, Montclair State University, April 12, 2016.
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What the body knows, 2016
Directed by Katie Ravell
Watch {here}
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JCDN documentary, Okinawa. 2016
Directed by Chikano Yamashiro
Watch {here}
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Cassa Cassa, 2013
Directed by Elodie Lefebvre
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FAO, 2010
Directed by Carolina Alejos and Aitor Echeverria
Watch {here}
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dark swan, 2008
Directed by Laurie Coyle
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In the 15-minute dance film Dark Swan, Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire and filmmaker Laurie Coyle collaborate on a lyrical and provocative reinterpretation of the 20th century’s most famous ballet solo, Anna Pavlova’s The Dying Swan.Chipaumire's contemporary restaging of The Dying Swan is a meditation on women's struggle to be free, a dance in which strength wrestles with fragility. The outcome is not inevitably death, but the possibility of getting on one's feet and walking away.
In bringing Chipaumire's solo to the screen, Coyle situates, Dark Swan within the post-colonial discourse about emancipation that has been fertile ground for much of Chipaumire's work.
Dark Swan is conceived, choreographed and performed by Bessie Award winning artist Nora Chipaumire and set to composer Camille Saint-Saëns' Le Cygne. Filmed by Vicente Franco with sound design by Alex Potts. {here}
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Between Sand and Solid Floor, 2008
Directed by Claudia Michaela Kochsmeier
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Movement (r) revolution Africa, 2007
Directed by Alla Kovgan
The Brooklyn Rail Review {here}
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