SAETA: The mourning (dance film)

A dance film that looks closely at Flamenco and more particularly the Saeta style. The film takes traditional flamenco to an abstract level with an eerie overtone. The dance short takes the traditional religious song, the Saeta, sung during Spain’s Holy Week and brings it to a modern setting. The song is heard typically during a procession and is usually associated with death. The Flamenco movement vocabulary explores grief and longing and the film plays with this concept. Black is usually associated with mourning and the Spanish comb, the peineta, is important to the Saeta  song and to Holy Week.  In the film the peineta is juxtaposed by a modern outfit and is playing with the ideas of new ways of seeing and old ways of being. The film’s costuming and dancing pushes boundaries and Koko Zin’s camera work frames the movement and adds to the anxiety the choreography is playing with. David Ajiri’s editing is crisp and makes “Saeta: The mourning” an eerie and haunting dance film.

Saeta[5]

Production Notes:

Concept: Koko Zin and R.Cisneros

Directed: Koko Zin and R.Cisneros

Edited: David Ajiri and Koko Zin

Photography: Koko Zin

Music: David Sherriff and live recording of man on streets in Seville, Spain during Semana Santa (Holy Week).

Poster Design: David Ajiri

Length: 6 minutes

Production year: July 2016

Screened at:

  • Festival de videodanza internacional-Videomovimientos Colombia, South Americalaurel-seleccion-oficial
  • Open Art Short Film Festival in Dusseldorf, Germany 2016

film_festival_laurels

  • Broken Knuckle Film Festival NY, USA official
  • Rio Web Festival Rio, Brazilriowf16-nomination-best-dan
  • MAP Frame + Form Film Dance Festival North Carolina, USA
  • ScreenDance Festival Stockholm, Sweden
  • Cyprus International Film Festival “Golden Aphrodite” Paphos, Pafos OFFICIAL SELECTION - Cyprus International Film Festival Golden Aphrodite Paphos Pafos - 2017 (1).png