Sadler's Wells to Launch THE FUTURE REMEMBERS Film Commissions for DANCE DIGITAL
Head of Digital Stage and Studio Bia Oliveira said the programme builds on the inaugural festival's global submissions.
Sadler's Wells is offering three dance artists a £6,000 commission and in-house production support to create a short film responding to the theme: The Future Remembers. The final selected films will receive their premiere screenings at Dance Digital, a weekend festival that celebrates dance in digital formats taking place in November 2027.
The Future Remembers commissions invite dance artists to explore the relationship between what has come before and what is yet to come, as we navigate a rapidly changing world. Digital Stage is seeking responses to ideas of legacy, responsibility, and the futures we create together. At a time of environmental uncertainty and accelerating technological change, Sadler's Wells is looking for films that explore what the future will remember. Applications open from today and close at midnight on 22 November 2026. Selected artists will be interviewed in December 2026 with successful projects beginning development in January 2027.
Sadler's Wells today also invites film submissions for inclusion at Dance Digital 2027. The weekend-long festival, which takes place in November 2027, includes film screenings, networking sessions, mentoring opportunities, VR/XR installations talks and more. Filmmakers from across the world are invited to submit films to screen at the festival, where they will be considered for an award and be selected for a curated limited time release on its Digital Stage Platform.
In its inaugural year, Dance Digital received 415 submissions from 55 different countries – from Senegal and Syria to Peru – all celebrating dance on screen. The first festival screened 45 films in the Lilian Baylis Studio, including a screening of Damien Jalet's music video for STORM by GENERA8ION featuring Yung Lean, which has since amassed over 17 million streams on YouTube, as well as feature-length films from Olivier Award-nominated choreographer Manuel Liñan and the award-winning Hungarian film The Euphoria of Being.
Submissions can be made via FilmFreeway by Sunday 10 January 2027 in the following categories: Short dance on screen; Short documentary; Feature-length film; Social first films; Films by young people (artists 21 and under). Filmmakers will be notified by the end of April prior to the full programme announcement.
Bia Oliveira, Head of Digital Stage and Studio, said: “Dance film gives artists the freedom to imagine movement beyond the stage, reaching audiences in new and unexpected ways. With The Future Remembers, we're asking artists to reflect on where we've come from and what we want to leave behind. At a time of rapid technological and environmental change, we're excited to see how artists respond to these questions.
We're also pleased to be opening submissions for the next Dance Digital, building on the success of the inaugural festival. Some of the most exciting creative work exists at the intersections of artforms, so we're delighted to continue to platform the work of brilliant artists bringing dance and film together. We're looking for ambitious, intriguing and enticing films from around the globe and can't wait to see what's sent in.”
The Future Remembers shorts are the third in a series of thematic short film releases that Sadler's Wells Digital Stage have commissioned; the first series were entitled The Classics Re:Framed (2025) and The Floor is Yours (2026). Following their releases on Digital Stage, both Mythili Prakash's Mollika and Emma Farnell-Watson and Kieran Lai's Aṁṁonia, which responded to the theme The Classics Re:Framed were nominated for Best Short Film at the National Dance Awards and presented at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival, with Aṁṁonia winning the award for best Set Design. Mollika was also selected for Dance Camera West in Los Angeles. Laura Steiner's Más Glow which premiered at the inaugural Dance Digital Festival this June at Sadler's Wells, has been selected for the San Francisco Dance Film Festival taking place across October and November this year. All films from The Classics Re:Framed and The Floor Is Yours can be viewed for free on Digital Stage here: https://www.sadlerswells.com/digital-stage/.
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