Portland Dance Film Fest, the city’s only film festival showcasing dance on film, returns for its eighth year to PAM CUT, the Portland Art Museum’s Center for An Untold Tomorrow. From 7:30 p.m. nightly Sept. 26-28, 27 films from 14 countries will screen at PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater, 3530 S.E. Division St.

Along with three days of an hour and 45 minutes’ worth of screenings, the festival will include celebrations, a live film creation, and short Q&As with visiting filmmakers. There will also be a workshop titled Dialogue: A Conversation Between Dance and Film at 2:15 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28 at NW Dance Project featuring filmmaker and dancer Audrey Rachelle of AnA Collaborations.

From January of this year through the end of May, the festival’s three organizers worked alongside a panel of four judges to wade through roughly 150 submissions. The judges, all based in Oregon, were chosen for their knowledge of one or more aspects of dance film and their lived experiences and approaches to artistry in the cohort, according to the organizers.

While the festival has become known for showcasing upcoming Oregon talent, the judges found themselves in a unique predicament this year. Speaking with organizers Kailee McMurran, Jess Evans, and Tia Palomino over email, they told me they were saddened that no Oregon filmmakers would present films in PDFF 2024. Their plethora of programming, however, would remain eclectic. “The majority of our films would fall within the vast contemporary dance genre as well as having a mini-documentary, a ‘horror-esque’ film, and a film that falls closer to performance art,” they explained.

“We’ve noticed that dance films are starting to split in genres,” they continued. “Just like a non-dance film festival might have a lot of different types of films, we are seeing definite categories of dance films start to emerge. Some films are starting to act more like ‘normal’ films that have integrated movement to help tell the story. Earlier tendencies of dance film relied heavily on the dance aspect to fully capture the audience’s narrative attention, which can be fatiguing after a short time. We are excited that dance filmmakers are learning how to employ the film aspect more successfully.”

Despite navigating a post-pandemic film landscape and having to do away with projects like the Oregon Dance Film Commission, initially established to support a team of filmmakers commissioned to make a work for the event, the festival is holding strong with renewed excitement.

The Live Dance Film Creation — an on-site collaboration between a dancer and director of photography that sees the pair make a short dance film live during the festival — will return, featuring dancer and Open Space founder Franco Nieto in collaboration with Matthew Tomac, 2024 PDFF judge and director of the video production company RUNTHISBLOCK.

In addition to this news, the PDFF organizers are also already scheming up celebration plans for their 10th annual festival, including a party, possible “Best Of” PDFF screening, and other potential screenings throughout the 2026 year.

When asked about why they keep coming back despite the increasing challenges of putting together this event, Jess Evans explained, “It’s worth sharing that the three of us organizers all have full lives with careers and families, and our own creative endeavors. PDFF is a passion project for us! A lot of the cohesion and continued success is because the three of us work well together and have a depth of friendship and trust that is at the heart of this endeavor. This festival would also truly cease to exist without Kailee McMurran at the helm. She is the metronome of the heart.”

“We keep coming back because every year we are hungry for what is new in dance film,” she continued, “as well as the diversity of stories we are introduced to, and how the films make us feel. Our audiences tell us that’s why they keep coming back, too.”

Tickets for the 2024 Portland Dance Film Festival are now available. For more of my interview with the organizers, continue reading below. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

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What has been your biggest lesson learned so far, and what have been your biggest moments of joy?

It’s been surprisingly hard to find a theater in which to show our films! Every year, that seems to be the last thing to fall into place. We are quite thrilled to be with PAM CUT this year at the Tomorrow Theater. 

Our biggest victory is bringing the community together to enjoy the films! It’s easy to get lost in the planning and technicalities of putting on this big show, but then the festival happens and we are reminded of the whole reason we set out to do it in the first place.

Another joy is that last year we helped our friend, colleague, and Berlin resident Zarha Banzi start Berlin Dance Film Fest. BDFF had its inaugural festival in May and is on track for a second season. We are proud and excited to make it over to Berlin for the festival!

How has accessibility, or lack of, to extremely high-quality cameras impacted dance film? What are your thoughts on this landscape?

Within our adjudication process, we try to be mindful of production value and we don’t include it in our rating rubric. We have realized this aspect doesn’t necessarily have a significant impact on the success of the work. We hope to encourage filmmakers and show that a high-quality camera isn’t necessary for a successful dance film to be made. Some films are high-production, “gorgeous” and successful and some are high-production, “gorgeous” and not successful. 

While a higher production value is a tool for implementing a vision, it doesn’t ensure success. Of course, we would love for artists to have access to everything they want and need, but within the limits of capitalistic inequalities, we do our best to look for the ways a piece is executed with care, thoughtfulness, and clarity. 

Can you talk a little bit about the importance of funding/advertising partners when putting on a film festival?

We used to put more effort into courting partners, but the work put in didn’t yield a lot of support. With just three of us organizing almost year-round, this part of our strategy has diminished in recent years. That being said, we have been fortunate to receive the Arts3C Grant from the Regional Arts and Culture Council for the past two seasons, and it has made it possible to bring in workshops from out of town and pay for some of our operating costs.

How does being a PDFF organizer inform your personal art?

One product of watching and rating over 1,500 dance films is, the subtleties and successes of art that lands in that sweet spot of fresh, authentic, thoughtful exploration done with some form of rigor and diligence becomes more and more known. Each year there are films that push the form into a new space in such a way that inspires us to continue our devotion to an artist’s way of engagement.

Is dance required to be present in a dance film for it to be categorized as such?

We think of dance film as any film experience that is primarily driven by movement. This doesn’t need to fit nicely into a dance genre, be performed by a dancer, or be highly choreographed. There can be voiced dialogue, but the “story” shouldn’t be told most noticeably through it. We also generally trust the director to categorize their film however they see fit and view it through that lens.

It looks like dance film has continued to make its way into the mainstream. What impact do you think that has on the art form?

Like any art form, as it grows, the applications and intentions become vast. This offers an accessibility, a variety, and a continued discussion of what makes a work of art mainstream vs. fringe, pop vs. counter, masterful vs. amateur. This discussion creates awareness, intrigue, curiosity, and resources. There is no perfect evolution within this imperfect-seeming world, so we are just along for the dance film ride, intent on sharing what we are moved by, excited by, and even unsure of at times.

Why is dance film important? What is the importance of dance on film in the digital age?

The first motion pictures were silent films, employing expressive movements, often accompanied by music, so while dance film is in a period of new growth and visibility, this art form’s lineage runs deep. We continue to hear from our audience about the resonant power they feel and of a tapping of our collective empathy by offering an experience of the emotions and stories of others in a visceral way. The combination of movement and cinematic techniques can create an intimate connection, helping viewers to see the world from different perspectives and understand the shared human experience.

There are so many new tools and technologies that allow choreographers and filmmakers to experiment with visual effects and camera angles. This includes editing techniques to help explore what creators are seeking to understand about themselves and this world, and then communicate it to an audience. There is the potential for entirely new forms of expression, expanding the possibilities of both dance and film, and how we are evolving our awareness of our diversities and our sameness.

How can readers support PDFF?

You can support us by coming to the festival and telling your friends about us!