31st Kalamata International Dance Festival-Dancing on Screen-THE FERRYMAN (2016)/Damien Jalet & Gilles Delmas

THE FERRYMAN (2016) – Damien Jalet & Stephen L. Bethel
A hypnotic cinematic ritual on transition, mortality, and humanity’s connection with the elements, choreographed by Damien Jalet.

This year, the Kalamata International Dance Festival is launching a new thematic section dedicated to the relationship between dance and the moving image.
In constant conversation with the Festival’s live performances, the Dancing on Screen screening program will take place daily from July 19 to 27, 2025, at the Theo Angelopoulos Amphitheatre / Kalamata Labour Centre, with free admission. It is addressed to both seasoned audiences and to viewers encountering contemporary dance for the first time.

The program consists of an eclectic mosaic of films that explore the relationship between dance and image through a range of genres, styles, and cinematic languages. It includes poetic musical films such as Symmetry by Ruben Van Leer, as well as biographical documentaries like Maguy Marin: L’urgence d’agir by David Mambouch and One Day Pina Asked… by Chantal Akerman, which portray the work of iconic figures in contemporary dance through a political and existential lens.

Also featured are dance-theatre fictions, such as Car Men by Jiří Kylián and The Cost of Living by DV8, where social satire, theatricality, and movement interact within a rich physical landscape.

The program further includes experimental works of sensory performance, such as Transept by Charmatz & Vayssié and the ritualistic The Ferryman by Damien Jalet, which focus on the body as a vessel of symbols, elements, and transformations.

Finally, William Forsythe’s The Barre Project elegantly captures the form and abstraction of classical ballet through a cinematic study in precision and expressiveness.

Collectively, the screenings map the spectrum of kinetic storytelling in cinema – from documentation and reflection to hallucination and metaphor – proposing a creative dialogue between lens and body.

This new section is implemented in collaboration with Delta Pi and made possible with the invaluable support of the Qualco Foundation and the Filmhouse / New Film Club of Kalamata.

Free admission, until all available seats are filled.