Experiencing Interruptions?

Breath | Light | Stone

The grand architecture and dappled light of an abandoned limestone mill set the stage for stone and steel and flesh and bone to become one, breathing life and beauty into decay and uncovering distant memories.

  • Allen Hahn
    Director
  • Ryan Newman
    Director
  • Elizabeth Shea
    Director
  • N/A
    Writer
  • Venture Production Company
    Producer
  • Ryan Galloway
    Key Cast
  • Stephanie Marks
    Key Cast
  • Caitlin Negron
    Key Cast
  • Rachel Newbrough
    Key Cast
  • Jarrett Rashad
    Key Cast
  • Justin Sears-Watson
    Key Cast
  • Elizabeth Shea
    Choreographer
  • Allen Hahn
    Production and Lighting Design
  • Jonathan Snipes
    Sound and Music
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Other
  • Runtime:
    14 minutes 26 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    October 20, 2017
  • Production Budget:
    87,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Arri UHD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Utah Dance Film Festival
    Orem, Utah
    United States
    February 24, 2018
    World Premiere
    1st Place Winner - Sound Design, 1st Place Winner - Cinematography, 1st Place Winner - Ensemble Performance, 2nd Place Winner - Direction, 3rd Place Winner - Editing, Finalist - Choreography for a Lens, Finalist - Costume Design, Official Selection
  • EXPOSURE
    Fermignano
    Italy
    April 29, 2018
    European Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Front & Main Dance Film Festival
    Temecula, CA
    United States
    May 29, 2018
    California Premiere
    3rd Place Winner, Finalist
  • FAD Festival: Film-Art-Dance Festival 2018
    Cary, North Carolina
    United States
    August 12, 2018
    North Carolina Premiere
    Official Selection
  • FAD Collections: Film-Art-Dance Collections 2018
    Cary, North Carolina
    United States
    August 12, 2018
    North Carolina Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Queen Palm International Film Festival
    Palm Springs, CA
    United States
    August 8, 2018
    Official Crown Selection August 2018 Edition
  • Phoenix Rising Dance - "This Mortal Coil"
    Indianapolis
    United States
    August 31, 2018
    Indiana Premiere
    Invited Screening
  • 1st Thessaloniki Cinedance International Festival
    Thessaloniki
    Greece
    September 29, 2018
    Greek Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Moving Images International Videodance Festival 2018
    Nicosia
    Cyprus
    November 10, 2018
    Cyprus Premiere
    Official Selection
  • DanceFilm (SPACE Gallery)
    Pittsburgh
    United States
    December 21, 2018
    Pennsylvania Premiere
    Invited Exhibition
  • Reel East Texas Film Festival
    Kilgore
    United States
    November 15, 2018
    Texas Premiere
    Official Selection, Winner, Best Dance Film
  • 2018 Dance Film Festival at Triskelion Arts
    Brooklyn
    United States
    November 16, 2018
    New York Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Greensboro Dance Film Festival
    Greensboro
    United States
    November 9, 2018
    Greensboro Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Dance for Reel
    Atlanta
    United States
    November 6, 2018
    Georgia Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Phoenix Dance Film Festival
    Phoenix
    United States
    December 1, 2018
    Arizona
    Official Selection
  • Kinetoscope: International Screendance Film Festival
    Missoula
    United States
    January 19, 2019
    Montana
    Official Selection
  • ROLLOUT Film Festival
    Macau
    China
    December 31, 2018
    Asian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Dance Innovation from Israel to Bloomington
    Bloomington
    United States
    January 20, 2019
    Bloomington Premiere
    Curated Screening
  • Oklahoma Dance Film Festival
    Tulsa
    United States
    January 25, 2019
    Oklahoma
    Official Selection
  • Seyr Festival
    Tehran
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
    February 27, 2019
    Iranian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Idaho Screendance Festival
    Boise
    United States
    April 27, 2019
    Idaho Premiere
    Official Selection and Winner, Best Choreography for a Lens, Best Editing, and Best Performance
  • Contact Dance Film Festival
    Portland
    United States
    May 9, 2019
    Oregon Premiere
    Official Selection
  • TDP'19 International Dance Festival Screendance Selection
    Tipperary
    Ireland
    October 7, 2019
    Irish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • MOVING BODY
    Varna
    Bulgaria
    October 18, 2019
    Bulgarian Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Wil Dogs International Screendance Festival

    Poland
    October 13, 2020
    Polish Premiere
    Official Selection
  • • Filmfest by Rogue Dancer
    ONLINE
    June 25, 2021
    Official Selection
  • • Screen.dance
    Aberdeen
    United Kingdom
    March 11, 2021
    Scottish Premiere
    Official Selection and International Jury Awards Finalist
Director Biography - Allen Hahn, Ryan Newman, Elizabeth Shea

Allen Hahn is a lighting designer whose work has been seen in the U.S. at New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass, and the Lincoln Center and Spoleto USA Festivals. He has also designed for The Finnish National Opera, Opera Zuid (NL), OLBE-ABAO (Bilbao), and for companies and festivals in Australia, Korea, France, Germany, and the UK as well as
and world premieres at Juilliard and the Royal Danish Opera. His theater designs have been seen in New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Portland among other US cities and his work was selected for the 2007 Prague Quadrennial Exhibition of Stage Design for which he served as a US curator
for the 2011 Quadrennial. He has worked with the performance company The Builders Association since 1994 and artist Tony Oursler on installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and ARoS Kunstmuseum in Denmark. Breath | Light | Stone is his first film.

Elizabeth Shea is a dance artist whose work has been described as “stunning…mesmerizing…powerful” and “a remarkable contemporary dance display.” Her choreography has been produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, PUSHfest at ODC San Francisco, Detroit Dance City Festival, Wave Rising Series, the American Dance Guild, DUMBO Dance Festival, and Footprints Dance Festival in NYC, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, and the World Dance Alliance. Recent guest work includes the Royal Academy of Dance in London and the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, who performed her work in Tel Aviv. Liz’s work in new media and film includes works for live performance utilizing motion capture technology and real-time video and sound. Her recent video collaboration with composer Jeff Hass, Labyrinth, has been selected for dance film festivals across the U.S. and abroad, screening in Canada, Italy, and China. She is a frequent teacher of somatics at Dance Italia, in Lucca, Italy.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Making this film was an extraordinary experience. We made the decision early to focus on the juxtaposition of the mill's grand and linear architecture, including glorious patterns of filtered sunlight, against the curvilinear capabilities of the human body. As the work progressed, many things, including our own embodied understanding of the place and its history, and the dancers' relationship to the site and each other, built and shaped a non-linear narrative. We were not prepared for the exponential growth in the source material that resulted from dancing take after take, from differing perspectives and points of view. As the sunlight streamed in, then retreated and faded, stone and steel and flesh and bone seemed to become one, breathing life into the space. Jonathan Snipes' sound and music adds another layer of depth and inquiry as distant memories rise and fall from structure and body.