Nine Easy Dances – Films – Visions du Réel

Nora Rosenthal
Canada | 2023 | 20 min
International Premiere
Language : English
Subtitle : French

On old VHS tapes, Nora finds footage of her holidays and birthdays. But where are the other chapters? She persuades her parents to make a film of their life, to complete the archives. But her father is a poor actor, and her mother bedridden. How will she complete the project? Hire some parents! A hilarious family mise en scène on loss and transformation.

Browsing through her old VHS tapes, Nora Rosenthal, a former dancer, realises that many chapters of her family history have not been recorded, and sets out to create an archive of these missing moments - "in case we need proof of who we once were". She hires a film crew – and recruits her parents – for what should be a great choreography of life. But when her actor father turns out to be a ham, and her mother's cancer worsens, Nora is forced to replace her parents. The real parents inspire the fake parents, the encounter is magical, and a new reality is created, but can roles really be reinvented? And how can bereavement be prepared for, together? With humour and an abundance of ideas, the director takes us on the journey of fictionalising her family while it is disappearing, exploring the importance of loss, transformation, and the importance of what we leave behind. An exquisite, nostalgia-inflected dance in nine chapters.
Anne Delseth

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