Honorable Mention – “Touch the Beast” (UK)

Title: Touch the Beast
Runtime: 2 min
Country: UK
Director: Dora Frankel – Concept and choreography, Andy Wood Filmmaker and camera 1, Kevin Wong – 2nd camera
Placement: Honorable Mention
Competition: December, 2021

Synopsis: A dance film and performance evoking a gothic world through the lens of the 21st Century, featuring a charismatic cast caught in a moment of time; sensual, strange, gender fluid it is inspired by the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe and the visual art of Aubrey Beardsley.

Created in 2019 it is a gothic romance film and performance filled with ambiguity and at 20 minutes (9 minute film, 11 minute live performance) is a forerunner to what will be a longer live work. Three characters emerge from the dark and interact and we, the viewer are left with a sense of disquiet over half realised encounters and a possible murder.