As a sneak preview to DCW’s June festival come to the silver Lake Film Festival in March to see the fantastic new film Blush by Wim Vandekeybus with Ultima Vez. Also on the program is The Cost of Living by Lloyd Newson with DV8, a rare opportunity to see this great film again. Don’t miss these two master choreographer/directors at the Silver Lake Film festival.

Blush mixes confrontational, intensely physical dance, theatre, text and music in an explosion of visual imagery and sound. Love in all its states – lust, temptation, exhilaration, and shame - is the subject of Blush as the performers transform into wild animals, lost Eurydices and raging furies. A rock soundtrack, composed by American singer & songwriter David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower and Woven Hand, forms the background to an avalanche of images. A dazzling voyage swinging between the heavenly landscapes of Corsica and the slummiest depths of Brussels, and inspired by the eponymous performance of Ultima Vez, Blush seethes with energy, danger, emotion and sensuality.

Wim Vandekeybus as choreographer has toured his dance company Ultima Vez worldwide integrating film into his stage work. As director, he has received awards for his films at Prague d’Or, Montreal Festival du Film sur l’art, IMZ Dance Screen Award. He is currently developing his first feature film.

“One knows straightaway that one is in a ‘Vandekeybus’, with the violence and the poetry, the drive and the tenderness, delivered in a visual and bodily shock.” – La Libre Belgique

“It is the pillar of ‘Blush’ with its percussive hammering, cutting and ethereal guitars, heavy, nervous, dreamy ambience. Sometimes Latin, sometimes Voodoo, it doesn’t lose any of its rock essence or its personality.” - Le Soir

The Cost of Living, London’s famed DV8 Physical Theatre takes us to a faded sea side town where street performers struggle as they work argue, fail at romance, and fall out with old friends. The summer season has petered to an end. An air of desertion hangs over the town.

Eddie and David are disillusioned street performers. Eddie is tough, confrontational and not afraid to defend his belief in justice, respect and honesty. David is a dancer who has no legs (as he is in real life), watching him makes you reconsider accepted notions of grace and perfection. He is quietly determined not to let his disabilities or society's prejudices get in his way. A series of inter-linked scenes show Eddie and David's encounters with other people; some are incredibly hard-hitting, others exhilarating because of their sheer physicality. The Cost of Living hurls provocations and scalding humor at notions of how the fit and unfit are supposed to act.

Lloyd Newson, director of DV8 Physical Theatre, has had a dynamic impact on contemporary dance by challenging the traditional aesthetics and forms that pervade most modern and classical dance. His film work with DV8 has consistently received awards at the IMZ Dance Screen, Montreal Festival for Films on Art, San Francisco Film Festival, Emmy Award, and Prix Italia.

Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 8:15 PM
Location: ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood
6360 W. Sunset Blvd. (at Vine) Los Angeles 90028
Tickets: $10 www.arclightcinemas.com