19th Portland Jewish Film Festival
BREATH MADE VISIBLE
DIRECTOR: RUEDI GERBER
SWITZERLAND/US, 2009
VISITING ARTIST—For the last seven decades, San Francisco dance pioneer Anna Halprin has redefined modern art by exploring one key question in her work: What is important in life? The search for that answer has ushered in such revolutionary experimentation in theater, music, and performance that its reach extends beyond the arts and into our cultural conscience. Gerber’s rich cinematic portrait blends recent interviews with the late Merce Cunningham and husband, collaborator, and landscape architect Lawrence Halprin (Portland’s Forecourt Fountain); archival footage, including her establishment of one of the first multiracial dance companies in the US; and excerpts of recent performances such as “Parades and Changes” at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. BREATH MADE VISIBLE offers a stunning, inspiring account of one of the most important icons in modern dance and avant-garde culture. (80 mins.)
Anna Halprin will introduce the film.
PRECEDED BY
STRANGERS NO MORE
DIRECTORS: KAREN GOODMAN, KIRK SIMON
US, 2010
This year’s winner of the Oscar for short documentary tells the story of a school in Tel Aviv where children from 48 countries come together to learn. (40 mins.)
Sponsored by White Bird Dance.