Maze
2016 · 6m · UK
Directed by Eve McConnachie
Genres: experimental
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, surreal
Two Scottish Ballet dancers discover each other while exploring the labyrinthine corridors of Govanhill Baths, a derelict Edwardian swimming pool in Glasgow. The film is a wordless contemporary dance work choreographed by Sophie Laplane, filmed over two winter days in the emptied facility.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
A tidy piece of Scottish dance cinema — handsome location, precise movement, modest ambitions. The derelict-pool setting gives it an aesthetic identity that elevates it above the ordinary, but the emotional territory remains narrow. Worthy of a slot, though squarely in the decent-not-essential tier.
Two Scottish Ballet dancers in a derelict Edwardian pool. The location is doing 80% of the work, which is honest filmmaking — just don't oversell the choreography.
Two Scottish Ballet dancers in a drained Edwardian Glasgow swimming pool — the tiled geometry of decay as architectural partner to the choreography. Wordless, two winter days, music by John Xela. The location does enormous work.
Festivals
- Glasgow Short Film Festival 2016
- Encounters Film Festival 2016
- Underwire Festival 2016
- Leeds International Film Festival 2016
- San Francisco Dance Film Festival 2016, Best Screendance Short Under 10 Minutes