Dance Like Your Old Man

Concept

Six women imitate their dads’ dancing in a film about fathers as seen through the eyes of their daughters. These unseen men come to life through the dances and reflections of their children.

Credits

PRODUCED BY: Chunky Move in association with Chequerboard productions
DIRECTORS: Gideon Obarzanek, Edwina Throsby
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Cordelia Beresford
EDITOR:Simon Njoo
ONLINE EDITOR: Oliver CliftonSound
EDITOR: Lachlan Carrick
GAFFER: Andrew Lock

PERFORMERS: Meaghan McHenry, Sara Black, Alexandra Dillon, Bec Reid, Penelope Bartlau, Ros Warby

DURATION: 10 mins

Long Synopsis

In this ten minute documentary, six women imitate their dads’ dancing in a film about fathers as seen through the eyes of their daughters. The unseen men come to life through the dances and reflections of their children. The film is directed by Gideon Obarzanek, the Artistic Director of Melbourne’s flagship dance company, Chunky Move and documentary maker and television producer, Edwina Throsby, and shot by Cordelia Beresford.

The six subjects, including professional dancers Ros Warby, Bec Reid and Sara Black, responded to a call for women who had something to say about their dad’s dancing style.

This film continues Obarzanek’s interest in men’s dancing styles which was explored in I Want to Dance Better at Parties, a performance work in which filmed footage of four men talking in a very personal manner about what dancing meant to them, was used as a centrepiece of a dance performance.

“The film is about the changing relationships between daughters and their fathers, the transition from initially idolising their dads and seeing them as heroes to later understanding and accepting them as real people, flaws and all. The fathers are really the subjects of the film, but they’re never seen – which I find particularly interesting.”
GIDEON OBARZANEK

Dance Like Your Old Man has screened at the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals and the 2008 Flickerfest International Short Film Festival. The film received a nomination in the Most Innovative Category of the 2007 Dendy Short Film Awards at the Sydney Film Festival and won two awards – Best Documentary and Nova Cinemas Award for Emerging Australian Filmmaker at the 2007 Melbourne International Film Festival Awards. In 2008 the film won Best Documentary at both Flickerfest Short Film Festival and the ReelDance Awards and Best Short Film and the Audience Award for Most Popular Short Film at the Cinedans Festival in Amsterdam. Also, in 2008 the film was screened as part of and the Dance Camera West Festival in Los Angeles.

Images

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Brisbane Film Festival 2007 (Australia)

Sydney Film Festival 2007 (Australia)
- Finalist Dendy Short Film Awards

Melbourne International Film Festival 2007 (Australia)
- Best Documentary Short Film
- Nova Cinemas Award for Creative Excellence in Australian Film

Flickerfest International Short Film festival 2008 (Australia)
- Best Documentary

ReelDance Awards 2008 (Australia)
- Best Documentary

Cinedans Festival, Amsterdam
- Best Short Film
- Most Popular Short Film – voted by the audience

2008 Dance Camera West, Los Angeles USA
June 15, 2008

11th Brooklyn International Film Festival USA
May 30 – June 8, 2008

FICAP 2008, Lisbon, Portugal
20 – 28 September, 2008

Deutsches Tanzarchiv Koeln, Germany
23 October. 2008