Set in an auditorium on a Saturday morning, a group of women are learning to be romantic.
Based on Miranda July's short story "It was Romance", Romance creates an illuminating meeting point between the works of July and Pina Bausch. Resulting from filmmaker Samantha Shay's Fulbright Scholarship at Tanztheater Wuppertal, and in collaboration with one of the company's youngest and first transgender dancer, Romance also centers around how Naomi Brito’s transition was inspired by her encounter with the roles of women, as she observed them, in the repertory of Pina Bausch.
Shot on 16mm film in Pina Bausch's iconic and aging Lichtburg rehearsal studio, this piece walks the line between fiction and reality, dance and documentary, in the same way Bausch's deeply cathartic, and often autobiographical work did. Romance is a fertile intergenerational dialogue between past, present and future, and, through a fresh and powerful encounter, assures that the power of an aging legacy is never ending.
Directed by Samantha Shay
Adapted from the short story “It was Romance” by Miranda July
Created in collaboration with, and performed by Naomi Brito, Emily Castelli, Marissa Chibas, Taylor Drury, Heather Ehlers, Claudia Ortiz Arraiza, Julie Shanahan, Ekaterina Shushakova and Julie Anne Stanzak.
A Source Material Production
Produced by Julie Runge
With original Music by Sara Flindt
Director of Photography: Constanza Sandoval
Edited by Samantha Shay
Costume Designer: Angela Trivino
Props Designer: Fien Lute
Line Producer: Athina Liakopolou
Director of Finance: Stephanie Regina
Assistant Director: Cinthia Konopacki
1st Assistant Camera: Marja Vormann
2nd assistant camera: Tom Ridilenir
Gaffer: Chantal Bergemann
Sound: Tarik Badaoui
Hair & Make-up: Mai Ahn
Costume assist: Anna Lenna Dresia
Colorist: Silvia Grav
Catering: Mangi Mangi Wuppertal & Schimmerlos Deli
Set Photography: Saga Sig
Titles: FISK
Past & Upcoming Screenings, & Awards
Cinedans, Amsterdam, Netherlands, March 25th, 2023
Wild Dogs Dance Film Festival, September 15th -16th, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Inspired Dance FIlm Festival, October 12th, in Perth, Australia
Choreoscope, Barcelona, Spain, October 18th, 2023 *Award: Outstanding Achievement in Dance Film
Dance on Camera Presented by Film at Lincoln Center, New York, New York, USA, February 2024
TanzMoovy Film Festival, Cologne, Germany, March 17th, 2024
Schritmacker Festival, Germany / the Netherlands, February/March 2024
Nice International Film Festival Nice, France, May 2024
