Shana Simmons Dance Presents Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival

Shana Simmons Dance will present the first iteration of the Pittsburgh International Dance Film Festival(PIDFF), the third year of hosting Pittsburgh's only International dance film festival (formerly called the Constructed Sight Dance Film Festival).

With a strong history of filmmaking in the Pittsburgh community, SSD is bringing International Artists back to the Pittsburgh screen. PIDFF also features SSD company members' dance film shorts blending public works of art around Pittsburgh with dance on film. This festival not only brings International Artists to Pittsburgh through the screen, but brings Pittsburgh's cultural works of art to a larger stage. 

The Constructed Sight Category portion of the festival features 5 films: artwork “Fortune on Her Wheel” by John La Farge, located in the Frick building, 16th-century monastery ruins of Messejana, Portugal, a film by Merli Guerra, one of Mies Van Der Rohe's legendary architectural masterpieces from Spain, film by Hadi Moussally, a sandy hill location in Australia, film by Ryan Renshaw, and the basement vault of the old Monongahela Trust Company (now known as Bank on 8th) in Homestead, PA. This building dates back to the 1920's with documents still inside.

The 17-day festival kicks off with an in-person Opening Night Event featuring curated selections from the pool of international applicants plus Shana Simmons Dance company members to create an hour and a half long show. Live music from local band, Else Collective, and company dancers round out the pre-show while patrons sip on purchased beverages or nibble on movie theater snacks. The Opening Night Event will be presented at The Oaks Theater in Oakmont, PA, plus be live streamed to a YouTube audience. 

“This is by far and away one of my favorite things to curate through Shana Simmons Dance each year. The films we get from around the world have such diverse content, highlighting topics close to their regional communities. We are excited to have opened up the Constructed Sight Category for outside applications which can either feature a public work of art from anywhere in the world or have a film that is based on a specific site or piece of architecture. The responses were intriguing to watch the interpretation and approach to site specific choreography and film," said Shana Simmons, Founder & Artistic Director of Shana Simmons Dance.

After the March 21st event, PIDFF will be available through a Vimeo playlist for ticket buyers' viewing at their leisure. Films in the online festival run under 20 minutes with a total viewing run time of 2 hours 40 minutes. 

Audience Votes: Audience members via the online festival can vote/like their top three films to help decide who the cash prize winners will be.

Online Artist Meet & Greet Event: via Zoom, a selection of artists from the festival gather to get to know one another and their approaches to their film and the filmmaking process. This is open to the public and offered for FREE. 

SSD has received 112 International submissions which a panel of 4 judges actively curated to select who is a part of the festival and who will be chosen as our “Panelist Picks.” The panel has created four categories for viewing: 

• Panelist Picks: a category that truly highlights outstanding creative voices and high quality films

• Constructed Sight Category: films inspired by public works of art or site specific locations

• General Festival: films from all over the world with strong artistic vision and commitment

• Student/Emerging Artists: younger, less established artists new to dance film that promise vision and creativity

PIDFF is a platform that was originally created by Shana Simmons, Jamie Erin Murphy, and Brady Sanders during the Covid-19 pandemic entitled Constructed Sight. Company members have continued to carry the torch through generating their own dance film shorts based on Pittsburgh spaces and public works of art.

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