An evening screening of films by dance artist Gabri Christa

Gabri Christa and Niles Ford
in Savoneta (2008)
(photo: Dolph van Stapele) 

Museum of the Moving Image

presents

Dancing with Our Past

film screening and live event

appearance by filmmaker/choreographer 

Gabri Christa

followed by a reception sponsored by 

Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Friday, October 24, 7pm

Gabri Christa
(photo: Malgorzata Headshot)

Born and raised in Curaçao, Dutch Caribbean, Gabri Christa came to filmmaking after a successful career as a choreographer and dancer. She choreographed and danced with companies such as Danza Contemporanea de Cuba (Cuba) and the Bill T. Jones Dance Company (United States). 

Christa's short films connect the relationship of historic buildings and sites to their environment, and reflect upon the people and cultures that inhabit them. Each film—Quarantine (2007, 10 mins.), Savoneta (2008, 14 mins.), and Kasita (2014, 21 mins.)—sheds a different light on Dutch history through dance, text, music, and movement. Filmed on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Bonaire, they tell stories of the Dutch African diaspora, from a time when Peter Stuyvesant was governor of both New Amsterdam and the Dutch Caribbean.

Space, Place and Memory

How to capture the memory of a space, the place where people lived, loved, fought, a place of such reverence all loaded with slavery's past? How does the body feel and deal with the memories of those feelings in that space? A body moving in space is very concrete, especially in an empty space. I could speak about form and shape and make it physical, but what drives me is more spiritual. I long to communicate a feeling, a smell, a memory, one that is not necessarily mine. I want to capture the spirit that still lingers and the flood of images, smells, stories that call out from behind the dust, or make an interpretation of that feeling crawling onto my skin. People once lived and worked here, and a space absent of them and their things still speaks loudly, begging not to be forgotten. So I am telling tales of sound, movement is what is left, without words and sometimes with. Glorious amidst a bright sun, now associated with a Caribbean vacation, but the past still lingers and is still relevant. How to capture that on film? How to imagine this in movement? Those essential questions I explore while I made these films and in all three I take a different approach, combining the old (music and dance) with the new (music dance image).

--Gabri Christa

For complete information and tickets, 

click here.

Dancing with Our Past is part of the Changing the Picture (2014) series, organized by Chief Curator David Schwartz and Warrington Hudlin.

This ongoing series celebrates and explores the work of film and television artists of color who are bringing diverse voices to the screen. The series, which consists of screenings and discussions with directors, writers, actors, scholars, and more, includes contemporary work as well as historically significant work that has played an important role in the evolving attempt to “change the picture” and bring a wider variety of voices and visions to the moving image. 

Click here for more information on Changing the Picture.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35 Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

A special screening of "Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life"

Katherine Dunham (photo by Dwight Carter)

The Museum of the Moving Image 

welcomes you to 

Katherine Dunham: Dancing with Life

Saturday, June 22 (3pm)

with director Terry Carter, 

and dancers Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott in person

This screening is scheduled in celebration of the 104th anniversary of Katherine Dunham's birth. Following the screening will be a town hall discussion of the Dunham legacy with the film's director, Terry Carter, and two celebrated Dunham dancers, Julie Belafonte and Dr. Glory Van Scott. The discussion will be moderated by Warrington Hudlin, a former Dunham drummer and trustee of Museum of the Movie Image.

Dir. Terry Carter. 2013, 73 mins. (work-in-progress)

One of America's most influential performing artists, Katherine Dunham introduced African Diaspora dance movements to the American stage, greatly influencing the character and development of modern dance. This documentary by the renowned actor and director Terry Carter explores Dunham’s intellectual curiosity and artistic genius. The film documents Dunham as an artist/scholar whose anthropological fieldwork shaped her vision as a choreographer and led to her creating a new dance technique. The technique is based on a series of physical exercises that enable dancers to master and execute her complex dance vocabulary. Over time, this set of exercises evolved into what is today considered an important methodology of dance: The Dunham Technique.

Featured are excerpts of recorded performances from the early years of Katherine Dunham's career, including Carnival of Rhythm (1939), Hollywood’s first Technicolor dance film; The Spirit of Boogie-Woogie, a “soundie” short film of the Dunham dance troupe in action from the late 1930s, and the star-studded motion picture Stormy Weather (1943) which featured Lena Horne, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Katherine Dunham's remarkable performance with the Dunham company. Included in this painstakingly researched film are clips that have never been seen in the United States including rare highlights of Dunham Company's European performances from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s as well as scenes from the Italian motion pictures, Botta e Riposta (1952) and Mambo (1954), featuring Ms. Dunham as actress-dancer-choreographer. In addition to interviews with dancers and scholars who speak to her great artistic legacy, the film includes Katherine Dunham's reflection on coping with the racial bigotry of the times she confronted as she traveled with her dance company.

About the filmmaker

Terry Carter is an esteemed black film and television pioneer whose career as an actor and filmmaker spans 60 years. His television acting credits include The Phil Silvers Show, Julia, McCloud, and the original series Battlestar Galactica. He starred opposite Pam Grier in the cult classic Foxy Brown. His Emmy nominated documentary, A Duke Named Ellington, won several international awards and is widely considered to be the best documentary ever made on the life and art of Duke Ellington.

Program information

Free with Museum admission on a first-come, first-served basis. Museum members may reserve tickets in advance by calling 718-777-6800. For more information about becoming a Museum member and to join online, please click here.

Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue (at 37th Street), Astoria, Queens
(map/directions)

Celebration of Greek film in New York City

The Fifth Annual New York City Greek Film Festival, heralding what presenters have called a new renaissance in Greek film, kicks off on October 16 and will run through November 6 at venues from Chelsea's Rubin Museum of Art to the Museum of the Moving Image.

This year's lineup includes Athina Rachel Tsangar's unconventional Attenberg, the first Greek film to be presented at the Sundance Festival and Greece's current contender for a Best Foreign Film Oscar. Its lead actress, Ariane Labed, won the Best Actress award at the 2010 Venice Film Festival.

Tickets are available now. Learn more about the festival's schedule of screenings and related events here.