20th Anniversary Dance Camera West Fest Will Be Presented in January

The 20th Anniversary Dance Camera West Dance Film Festival will be presented at two esteemed Los Angeles performance venues: Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz in West L.A. from January 6-8, 2022 and 2220 Arts & Archives in downtown L.A. from January 13-15, 2022.

Dance Camera West (DCW) will screen the top 75 films selected from a record number of 400 submissions from around the world at LIVE IN PERSON events at two esteemed Los Angeles performance and film venues across the city.

DCW is proud to once again partner with LA presenter Théâtre Raymond Kabbaz in West LA to present three evenings of international films from January 6-8, 2022, with artist Q & As and wine & cheese receptions at intermission.

The newly founded 2220 Arts & Archives Arts Center (formerly The Bootleg Theater) in downtown LA will be the home of the closing weekend events, January 13-15, 2022. Throughout the day on January 15th from noon to 8 pm, there will be installations and pop-up performances by festival participants throughout the 2220Arts venue space. Each evening will include a DJ after party in the lounge bar.

The 20th Anniversary season will include the Los Angeles premiere of 75+ experimental shorts, animation and feature docs, in 11 distinct programs over six days, representing more than 40 countries, and featuring a record number of U.S. and Los Angeles-based artists making world and U.S. premieres.

The focus of DCW2022 is the outstanding number of U.S. and California-based artists represented this year, many of them who will appear in person, including Kitty McNamee, Nathan Hirshcaut, Gabriel Diamond, Stu Paul, Inksap, Linda Lack, Whim W'him (Madison Olandt / Mike Tyrus). Our very special guests are the DCW Mentorship/Finishing Fund Awardees Letxia Cordova, Marquisa Gardner, Irishia Hubbard, Alyssa Junious, Austyn Rich, and RouRou Ye whose films will be presented on the closing night of the festival, Saturday, January 15, 2022. These six films will make their World Premieres, as part of DCW's Finishing Fund for Underrepresented Artists.

For 2022 DCW was fortunate enough to receive a National Endowment for the Arts grant to help mentor BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) artists. DCW set up a committee to select films made during Los Angeles-based dance festivals, which went online due to COVID. The goal is to identify films that have the potential for a strong cinematic impact on the choreography, and to strengthen the "production value," by partnering them with experienced, skilled dance filmmakers who act as mentors. DCW acts as a producer on the project paying each artist and mentor an artist fee and production costs, and leaves all artistic decisions up to the teams selected. The 2021-22 Mentors are Roma Flowers, Robin Gee, Yolanda Guadarrama and Cara Hagan.

DCW is curated by Artist/Executive Director Kelly Hargraves, one of original co-founders, along with a 30 member Selection Committee made up of members of LA's diverse dance community who represent a broad range of identities. The Programming Committee is led by Cati Jean. The festival is produced by Amber Adams. The DCW Board of Directors is George Lugg (president), Lionel Popkin, David Rousseve, Sophie Robertson and Lynn Tejada.

Since 2000, Dance Camera West has connected diverse cultures and environments with one of the most extensive, eclectic festivals bringing thousands of challenging and provocative films to Los Angeles bridging the gap between the uniquely influential Los Angeles film and dance communities.

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