Erasmus+ scholar Bryan Levina Viray to represent the Philippines at the first Choreomundus Dance Film Festival with his short film ‘Ella, a female morion’
French audience is about to get a glimpse of the craft behind the Philippines’ Moriones Festival as Bryan Levina Viray brings his “Ella, a female morion” short to the first-ever Choreomundus Dance Film Festival (CDFF), happening in France from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, 2022.
The festival will showcase the works of Erasmus+ International Master in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage (Choreomundus) alumni. Bryan’s featurette, dubbed “Ang Babaeng Moryon at Manlilikha ng Maskara sa Marinduque (Ella, the female motion),” is one of the 13 films selected to be part of the festival.
A native of Marinduque, the home of the Lenten festival Moriones, Bryan aims to put the spotlight on Ella Mazon as she shares her panata (vow) in wearing a mask, an uncommon story in the traditionally male-dominated Moryonan. The film is produced by the Likha-an Resource Center under the auspices of the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), Intramuros Administration (IA), and the Office of Senate President Pro-Tempore Loren Legarda.
“One special focus that I would like the viewers to pay attention to is the story of Ella, a Longina (as the locals would call her) or a woman who portrayed Longinus in the male-dominated tradition of Moriones,” Bryan tells Manila Bulletin Lifestyle. “To hear a woman’s narrative is actually rare, and this platform (CDFF) could be our chance to share it.”
Supported by the European Union (EU) through the Erasmus+ Student and Alumni Alliance (ESAA), CDFF is part of the third edition of the Choreomundus International Dance Festival. For its first run, the film festival plays with the theme “The Crises That Move Us,” inviting everyone to rethink the socio-political relations between dance and the environment, and perhaps a re-elaboration of the term environment itself.
“Through a firm belief in diversity, equity, and inclusion, CDFF embraces the challenge to be the platform for unseen bodies and unheard voices—dancing and telling stories about the change we hope to be in these unprecedented times we live in,” so read a statement from the festival.
Bryan’s “Ella, the female morion” will be shown on Aug. 29 at Salle Georges Conchon, 3 rue Léo Lagrange, Clermont-Ferrand. The three-night film screening will also be live-streamed via the CDFF Youtube channel.
To know more about CDFF, visit @choreodancefilmfestival on Facebook and Instagram.
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