Screen.dance – Scotland’s first and only festival of dance film – was initiated and co-curated by Simon Fildes, Iliyana Nedkova and Peter Royston in 2016 and held at Threshold arspace, Perth until 2019 in association with Goat Media and Horsecross Arts. Explore Screen.dance 2019 (formerly known as Perth Screen Dance) by scrolling below
In June 2020, Screen.dance migrated to Edinburgh under the curatorship of Simon Fildes and Iliyana Nedkova and streamed live in association with Summerhall, Edinburgh, The Work Room, Glasgow and Migrating Artists Project Power (maPs), Paris. Explore Screen.dance 2020 by scrolling below
In March 2021 Screen.dance streamed live and on demand from the heart of Aberdeen through a new partnership with Citymoves Dance Agency and with further support from Festival Quartiers Danses, Montreal. This was the last curatorial collaboration of Simon Fildes and Iliyana Nedkova as unexpectedly and sadly Simon died on 17 April 2021. Explore Screen.dance 2021 programmes, reviews and awards by scrolling below
Building on the new partnership with Citymoves Dance Agency, Aberdeen, Iliyana Nedkova curated four programmes presented for in-person audiences from the heart of Aberdeen and worldwide online as part of 17th annual DanceLive Festival 14–17 October 2021 and on demand until 31 October 2021. Explore the full line-up of all four screen dance programmes at DanceLive by scrolling below
At DanceLive Festival launch on 14 October 2021 we announced the production of late Simon Fildes (1962-2021) final film project entitled Do you mind can I ask you…(what happened to your legs)?. Find out more about the cast and crew and learn about the in-person launch at Edinburgh’s Cameo Cinema on 18 December 2021 led and hosted by Goat Media READ MORE
The four screen dance programmes curated by Iliyana Nedkova streaming as part of DanceLive 2021 include:
MOVEMENT – our collective moving image homage to the contemporary dance pioneer Margaret Morris (1891–1980) with six works by Scottish and international contemporary artists, including Etch by Abby Warrilow and Lewis Gourlay, Fresh Fresh Air by Su Grierson, signs of direction by Brian Hartley, Trio for a Quartet by Simon Fildes, we record ourselves by Katrina McPherson and Witness by Marlene Millar. Curated by Wendy Timmons and Iliyana Nedkova. The programme was followed by a live conversation between Iliyana Nedkova and some of the featured artsts. For the full programme notes, please see Screen.dance website here.
THERE IS A PLACE – our celebration of the cultural legacy of Simon Fildes (1962-2021) featuring eight short screen dance works which he directed, co-directed or edited, including Pace, Moment, The Time it Takes, Six Solos, Trio for a Quartet, Uath Lochans, Coire Ruadh and There is a Place. The programme was followed by a live conversation between curator Iliyana Nedkova and director Katrina McPherson with whom Simon worked for 20 years. For the full programme notes, please see Screen.dance website here.
OUTWITH – our new programme of nine Scottish screen dance works drawn from a juried open call, including the world premiere of High Winds & Slippery Surfaces by Pernille Spence, Corinne Jola and Zoë Irvine – the final our Screen.dance one-minute commissions. The selected line-up features Loose Leaf Tea by Barrowland Ballet, The End of the World Show by Bridie Gane, Where are You From by Kae Sakurai and Monika Smekot, Fading Echo by Yuxi Jiang, Renewable by Susan Hay, The Chosen Haram by Sadiq Ali, let’s hold hands the old way by Zoe Katsilerou and where the spiders live by Holger Mohaupt. The programme was followed by a live conversation between Iliyana Nedkova and some of the featured artsts. For the full programme notes, please see Screen.dance website here.
Prompted by the question posed in one of the featured works, i.e. Where are You From by Kae Sakurai and Monika Smekot, the programme borrows its title from the unique Scots preposition ‘outwith’ meaning outside and beyond. Outwith is a proposition to celebrate the outward looking and diverse community of film and dance artists working within Scotland and the Scottish diaspora outwith the country who could identify with the sentiment ‘I may be from out but I am now with’ struck by spoken word performance artist Katie Ailes in her poem Outwith. An opportunity to step outwith the boundaries of Scotland’s contemporary and traditional dance and engage in a dynamic, inclusive and poetic dialogue with the language of cinema.
Iliyana Nedkova
ON DEMAND – our selection of five Scottish screen dance works drawn from a juried open call featuring Happy Together by Sofia Kondylia, Forest Within by Anna Dako, Out of Time by Penny Chivas and Alan Paterson, Sylph by Louise Barrington and In Absentia by Malcolm Sutherland. For the full programme notes, please see Screen.dance website here.
LIVESTREAM 11-13 March 2021
ON DEMAND 22-31 March 2021
Curated by Simon Fildes and Iliyana Nedkova
A DESIGNER? ENTER OUR OPEN SOURCE CHALLENGE HERE
FESTIVAL REVIEWS edited by Róisín O’Brien featuring Bárbara Janicas READ HERE and Mhairi Allan READ HERE
AWARDS Jury members Anna Clifford, Hayley Durward, Simon Fildes and lliyana Nedkova ANNOUNCEMENT
UK Jury Award Divided We Scroll 5 min UK Klaas Diersmann, Director
UK Jury Special Mention Collective Stasis 9.58 min UK Jamiel Laurence, Director
International Jury Award Growing Up Category The Last Children 10 min France Fu Le, Director READ REVIEW HERE
International Jury Special Mention Growing Up Category Hungars Beach 3 min United States Kate Corby, Director
International Jury Award Going Out Category Memory 9 min Colombia Andrea Pelaez, Director
International Jury Special Mention Going Out Category Black Stains 13.27 min United States Tiffany Rhynard, Director READ REVIEW HERE
International Jury Award Staying In Category Born Like a Bullet 3.30 min Chile Jimmy Fernández, Director
International Jury Special Mention Staying In Category Intangout 7.48 min Italy Vito Alfarano, Director
Festival 2021 Programme Announcement READ HERE
Festival 2021 Highlights AT A GLANCE
My curatorial news posts FOLLOW HERE
Screen.dance 2021 Writing Workshops led by Roisin O’Brien and Cara Hagan READ MORE
Sample some of my reviews which followed DanceLive 2020 writing workshop led by Roisin O’Brien READ HERE
Audiences from across Europe and North America were able to see an exclusive screening of Navigation by Marlene Millar – the film which received Screen.dance 2020 International Jury Mention – the first of its six laurels to date – following its world premiere at Scotland’s festival of dance on screen on 19 June 2020. Iliyana Nedkova was joined for a post-screening Q&A by Kate Daly – the mezzo soprano starring in Navigation as the soloist of the Irish choir Lismorahaun Singers alongside 10 Quebec dancers READ MORE
LIVESTREAM 19-20 June 2020
Curated by Simon Fildes and Iliyana Nedkova
Press Release DOWNLOAD
Artists’ Q&A facilitated by Iliyana Nedkova and Anna Alexandre following the world premieres of Floor Falls and Navigation WATCH
AWARDS
Jury members Simon Fildes, Iliyana Nedkova and Gitta Wigro
Canning Town | UK Jury Award
Swivel | Special UK Jury Mention
Intertidal. Barene | International Jury Award TRAILER
Navigation | Special International Jury Mention TRAILER
Jah Intervention | Special International Jury Mention
4 | Special International Jury Mention
Bunny | UK Audience Choice Award
Intertidal. Barene | International Audience Choice Award TRAILER
LIVE AT THRESHOLD ARTSPACE, PERTH 7-9 May 2019
Festival Exhibition Guide DOWNLOAD
AWARDS
Jury members Simon Fildes, Iliyana Nedkova, Omari Carter and Peter Royston
Etch by Abby Warrilow & Lewis Gourlay| UK Jury Award WATCH
And So Say All of Us by Mitchell Rose (USA) | International Jury Award WATCH Review by Sarah L. Kaufman published in The Washington Post on 9 February 2022 READ
Unframed by Pawel Zawadzki (Poland) | International Jury Award TEASER
Some Body by Francesco Puppini & Matteo Palmas (UK) | International Jury Student Award WATCH
The inaugural Screen.dance launched under the title Perth Screen Dance in 2016. It was held at Threshold arspace, Perth and co-curated by Simon Fildes, Iliyana Nedkova and Peter Royston as part of Perth Dance Festival. It presented two acquisition awards to Omari Carter and AugenBlick Collective for their artists’ films to join the dance strand of the Horsecross Arts collection of contemporary art.
AWARDS
Jury members Simon Fildes, Iliyana Nedkova, Andy Wood and Peter Royston
Tailored by AugenBlick Collective | International Jury Award
The End of the Block by Omari Carter and Kyle Stevenson | UK Jury Award WATCH
ILIYANA NEDKOVA 
4 thoughts on “Screen.dance”