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Afro Promo #1 Kinglady, 2016

Directed and Choreographed by nora chipaumire

Director of Photography: Benjamin Seth Wolf

Editor: Alla Kovgan

Art Director: Peter Born

Duration: 11 minutes.

Afro Promo #1 King Lady 1 is an Afro-Feminist manifesto beautifying bodies to claim the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Using a low-tech — do-it-yourself aesthetics, this short film demonstrates how presence, fashion and pop culture can be a vehicle ​for self-invention and self-determination. 

Produced by Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University, The Office of Arts and Cultural Programming (ACP), Jedediah Wheeler, Executive Director. Funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

 

Film available upon request. 

Screenings:

Screen Dance. Miami Light Project. January 18, 2018. USA

Thinking Africa. Centro de Residencias Artísticas Matadero. December 23, 2017. Madrid, Spain.

Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Exhibition: Three Choreographers, Three Films. April 20-24, 2017. USA

 

24th African Film Festival in New York City. Digital Art Exhibit: AfroMOTIONS. May 3-9, 2017. USA

Cape Town Art Fair 2017. South Africa.

Film and Filmmakers Series, Montclair State University, April 12, 2016.  USA

Peak Performances, Montclair State University. April 14-17, 2016. USA

nora, 2008
Directed by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton
 “nora” is based on true stories of the dancer Nora Chipaumire, who was born in Zimbabwe in 1965. In the film, Nora returns to the landscape of her childhood and takes a journey through some vivid memories of her youth. Using performance and dance, she brings her history to life in a swiftly-moving poem of sound and image. The result is a film about family dramas, difficult love affairs and militant politics, which moves back and forth between the comic and the tragic, the joyful and the mournful. It is a film about a girl who is constantly embattled - struggling against all kinds of intimidation and violence - but who slowly gathers strength, pride and independence. Shot entirely on location in Southern Africa, “Nora” includes a multitude of local performers and dancers of all ages, from young schoolchildren to ancient grandmothers, and much of the music is specially composed by a legend of Zimbabwean music - Thomas Mapfumo.

Awards:

Best film choreography, Ghana. 2009

Screening:

FESPACO, Burkina FASO. 2009

DOCUMENTARIES

Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Documentary  Series, 2016:

Behind the Scenes: Afro Promo #1 KingLady {here}

An Introduction to nora chipaumire  {here}

nora chipaumire on her Residency at Montclair State

Directed by Natalie Romero Marx

 

Screenings: 

 Dance for Film on Location at Montclair State University Exhibition: Three Choreographers, Three Films. April 20-24, 2017. 

Film and Filmmakers Series, Montclair State University, April 12, 2016. 

What the body knows, 2016

Directed by Katie Ravell 

Watch {here}

JCDN documentary, Okinawa. 2016

Directed by Chikano Yamashiro

Watch {here}

Cassa Cassa, 2013

Directed by Elodie Lefebvre 

FAO, 2010
Directed by Carolina Alejos and Aitor Echeverria 
Watch {here}

dark swan, 2008

Directed by Laurie Coyle 

In the 15-minute dance film Dark Swan, Zimbabwean dancer Nora Chipaumire and filmmaker Laurie Coyle collaborate on a lyrical and provocative reinterpretation of the 20th century’s most famous ballet solo, Anna Pavlova’s The Dying Swan.Chipaumire's contemporary restaging of The Dying Swan is a meditation on women's struggle to be free, a dance in which strength wrestles with fragility. The outcome is not inevitably death, but the possibility of getting on one's feet and walking away. 

 

In bringing Chipaumire's solo to the screen, Coyle situates, Dark Swan within the post-colonial discourse about emancipation that has been fertile ground for much of Chipaumire's work. 

 

Dark Swan is conceived, choreographed and performed by Bessie Award winning artist Nora Chipaumire and set to composer Camille Saint-Saëns' Le Cygne. Filmed by Vicente Franco with sound design by Alex Potts. {here}

Between Sand and Solid Floor, 2008

Directed by Claudia Michaela Kochsmeier

Movement (r) revolution Africa, 2007

Directed by Alla Kovgan

The Brooklyn Rail Review {here}

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