MOVES is a transformed Dances with Camera competition that was born at Short Waves in 2014 and has become an increasingly recognized part of the festival with each edition. Dance film has naturally found more and more space not only in the competition program, but also out-of-competition, presenting film programs of the festivals dedicated to dance cinema or presenting portfolios of dance-film collectives, institutions or organizations.

Although still not officially called a film genre, dance film has made its mark in the international short film arena and is developing at an incredibly fast pace. Early choreographic registrations have evolved into conscious visual expressions of movement, commentaries on social change, political manifestos or smoothly narrated images. Productions have become increasingly sophisticated and thoughtful – adapting camera movement to the specifics of the choreography, working strongly with sound to enhance the sense of the body’s interaction with the space, or, finally, devoting a great deal of editing work to convey the actual dynamics of dance and movement. 

Dances with Camera competition transforms organically – observing more and more daring dance-film projects, opening up to new perceptual experiences and extremely rapidly developing technological elements of the filmmaking workshop, we felt the need to manifest a conscious observation of the changes that are taking place in the field of dance film.

The MOVES Competition becomes a refreshed idea and attempts to take an even broader, deeper and more conscious approach to dance filmmaking, but also to projects that take movement under the microscope as an integral part of filmmaking, bringing this phenomenon to the forefront. 

We invite you to submit your projects to the MOVES Competition until August 13!

If in doubt, please take a look at our FAQ page or our – Contest rules

For all other questions and concerns, please contact the Head of Competitions – Aleksandra Ławska at aleksandra@adarte.pl