Mother Melancholia is available for rent on Vimeo
Mother Melancholia by Samantha Shay is a multi-layered portrait of four women and a eulogy for the planet set to, and inspired by Sóley’s album of the same title, a self-proclaimed soundtrack for the end of the world as we know it. Co-commissioned by Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, the dance film approaches patriarchal politics and ecofeminism through an unguarded, unsettlingly beautiful meditation on the difficulty, and immediacy of being fully present in the world. Filmed in the surreal and eroding Icelandic landscape, Mother Melancholia is a quiet, yet urgent conduit between the internal world of the human experience, and the planet we inhabit.
Screenings, Nominations & Awards:
Wuppertal, Germany, May 2022
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, June 2022
* Award: Audience Choice Award
Hamburg, Germany, September 2023
Porland, Oregon, USA, September 2022
San Francisco Dance Film Festival
San Francisco, CA, USA, November 2022
Los Angeles, CA, USA, January 2023
Dance on Camera presented by Film at Lincoln Center
New York, NY February 2023
Montreal International Film Festival
Montreal, Canada, March 2023
* Nominee: Best Experimental Film
Reykjavik, Iceland, March 2023
* Nominee: SPRETTFISKUR Award
Bollwerk Dance on Screen co-presented by Cinedans
Zürich, Switzerland, April - May, 2023
Cologne, Germany, May 20th, 2023
Contact Dance International Film Festival
Toronto, Canada, June 8th - 10th,, 2023
* Award Won - Social Issues
Lago International Film Festival
Lago, Italy, July 21st - 23rd, 2023
Manifest Dance Film Festival
Puducherry, India, 2023
* Award - Most Inspiring Film
Durhan, North Carolina, USA, April - September, 2023
Warsaw, Poland, August 17th, 2023
Choreoscope - Barcelona Dance Film Festival
Barcelona, Spain October 18th 2023
Press & Reviews:
“Mother Melancholia is a visually stunning film, with four outstanding actor-dancers. It grabs you immediately and doesn’t let go even for a second.”
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