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.

CREDITS:

Director

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

Producer

Julie Runge

Original Music by

Sara Flindt

Director of Photography

Constanza Sandoval

Editor

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