Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company to Present FRAMING MÉNERBES Film Screening And Reception

Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company will present the US premiere of Framing Ménerbes: Film Screening and Reception on June 26, 2025 at 6pm at the Dolby 88 Screening Room in Manhattan, entrance on 55th Street at the corner of 55th/6th Avenue, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, NYC. Tickets are $25 (plus $3.52 in service fees). 

An exciting evening has just become more so. Choreographer and company director Donald Byrd will join the conversation with Jovani Furlan and Daniel following the U.S. premiere of Framing Ménerbes. Donald and Jovani will bring very different viewpoints to their lensing of the film. Rather than a typical talkback format, this conversation will be an intimate-the Dolby theater has eighty-eight seats-and unique opportunity to hear these three artists speak about their perspectives and philosophies on art and art-making. Daniel will have the chance to share the inspiration for the work and respond to questions from the two guests. Providing accessible, entertaining, and meaningful connections with art and the processes of making it has been central to Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company since its inception.

Donald Byrd is the Artistic Director of the Seattle-based Spectrum Dance Theater, a TONY-nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award-winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer. He has created works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, The Joffrey Ballet, among others and worked extensively in theater and opera including The New York Public Theater, The 5th Avenue Theater, CenterStage (Baltimore), Seattle Opera, Dutch National Opera, The Atlanta Opera, The Israeli Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and San Francisco Opera. Awards, prizes, and fellowships include John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, Doris Duke Artist Award, James W. Ray Distinguished Artist Award, Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts (Cornish College of the Arts), Masters of Choreography Award (The Kennedy Center), Fellow at The American Academy of Jerusalem, James Baldwin Fellow of United States Artists, Resident Fellow of The Rockefeller Center Bellagio, Fellow at the Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue (based at Harvard), and the Mayor's Arts Award for his sustained contributions to the City of Seattle. For more information about Mr. Byrd, please click here.

Born in Joinville, Brazil, Jovani Furlan started dancing at the age of 11 at The Bolshoi Theater School in Brazil. In 2010 he participated in the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, and was offered a full scholarship to attend the Miami City Ballet School by Edward Villella. Mr. Furlan began his training at the MCB School in 2011 and joined Miami City Ballet in 2012. He was promoted to soloist in 2015 and was named an MCB principal dancer in 2017.

Coming straight after the NYC premiere of e-Motion, which Culturebot reviewed as "profoundly chilling," noting Daniel Gwirtzman's performance as "masterful," Framing Ménerbes presents pastoral, French beauty through Gwirtzman's unique and personal lens.

At the screening, you will be able to immerse yourself in the picturesque landscapes and charming architecture of this French village. Framing Ménerbes frames a stunning village in Provence, its natural beauty of far-reaching vistas, mountains, vineyards, and the light for which it is known, taken in through the prism of choreographer and dancer Daniel Gwirtzman, celebrating thirty years as a New York City artist in 2025. Daniel shot each frame of the film, capturing, as he has often said, the dancer who has been with him the longest, himself!

The event promises an unforgettable experience filled with cinematic delights and delicious French desserts by Brooklyn French Bakers. Don't miss out on this unique, one-night only opportunity to discover Ménerbes through the lens of dance film!

FLOW OF EVENING

6pm: Doors open. Mingle with filmmaker Daniel Gwirtzman informally.

6:45pm: Screening begins, followed by a moderated Q&A with a special guest filmmaker.

Followed by a wine and dessert reception.

9:45pm: End of Event.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Direction, Choreography, Filming, Editing: Daniel Gwirtzman

Cast: Daniel Gwirtzman

Supporting Cast: Philippe Anthoine, Ophélie Brisset, Mireille Cartet, Myris Mouisson, Nancie Piskor, Sven Slazenger, Susanne Turner

Original Score: Jeff Story

Lightning sometimes does strike twice. Daniel Gwirtzman has the sole distinction of being the only dance artist to receive a fellowship from the Dora Maar Cultural Center in Provence, France. This past June he received a second. Since the residency's inception in 2006, more than 300 artists and writers have been awarded 25 National Endowment for the Arts Grants, 18 Fulbright Fellowships, 11 Rockefeller Foundation awards, 19 PEN writing awards, among many other accolades. The Center offers artists' residencies for "individuals of exceptional vision to produce enduring works of art, literature and scholarship."

Daniel was in residence for five weeks last June and describes this period as an unusually prolific time, living in a house Picasso acquired for his longtime muse and lover, the famed surrealist painter and photographer Dora Maar. He developed an extensive series of dance photography, all self-portraiture, filmed in situ, in beautiful Provence. The unique setting of this landscape, renowned for centuries to artists, coupled with the choreographic imprint, has yielded a unique trove of vibrant visual imagery.