Experiencing Interruptions?

ANEMOIA

ANEMOIA is:
- anemoia - n. nostalgia for a time you’ve never known
- a term coined by John Koenig ("The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows")
- constructed from Ancient Greek ánemos (wind) + nóos (mind)
- referencing anemosis, the warping of a tree by high wind, “until it seems to bend backward”

“ Imagine stepping through the frame into a sepia-tinted haze, where you could sit on the side of the road and watch the locals passing by. Who lived and died before any of us arrived here, who sleep in some of the same houses we do, who look up at the same moon, who breathe the same air, feel the same blood in their veins—and live in a completely different world. “
— "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows", 2013

  • Jamie Helen Greco
    Director
  • Jamie Helen Greco
    Writer
  • Jamie Helen Greco
    Producer
  • Aja Alabastro
    Key Cast
  • Frances Whitford
    Key Cast
  • Hanna DiLorenzo
    Key Cast
  • Rachel Ferring
    Key Cast
  • Michelle Skiba
    Key Cast
  • Jamie Helen Greco
    Choreography & Photography
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    7 minutes 53 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 24, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Madame Zuzu's International Film Festival
    Highland Park
    United States
    March 31, 2023
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Youtube
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Internet
Director Biography - Jamie Helen Greco

Jamie Helen Greco (she/her) graduated from the University of Utah Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in Ballet. That summer she collaborated with Alessio Silvestrin. Later in 2018, she attended the LINES Training Program directed by Karah Abiog. Jamie acted as Carmen Rosenstraten’s choreographic assistant during the 2019 LINES Summer Program. In 2019, she studied at HSPro directed by Alexandra Wells. Transformative creative processes led Jamie directly into 2020. She co-founded the Little Fire Artist Collective that summer, and choreographed for Summer Shorts, the One Hour Project, and Rooted from Home. Jamie co-produced two evening-length performances in 2022, presented at the Fasseas White Box. She lives in Chicago with her rescue dog, Mimosa.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I’ll start by describing who I am. I’m a twenty-six-year-old cis-gender woman with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. I am thin and stand at about 5’5”, although my height depends on how much sleep I get and how much water I drink.

My choreographic process is influenced by the people in my life. I explore the relationships in my present and past through choreography.

I want to explain why 23 is my favorite number. It was the number they gave me at the audition for the Joffrey Children’s Cast of the Nutcracker. The audition was held at their old studios. I think the year was 2006. I was nine, and I wasn’t on pointe yet. I was training at Ballet Chicago, and ended up getting my first pair the following summer, when I was 11. Anyway, I remember that audition because they told everyone at the end whether it was a yes or a no in a very dramatic way. I only checked my number once, chin to my chest; I saw the upside down 23 looping up towards me. It looked like a swing set from this angle. I kept repeating my number over and over in my head, in time with the woman calling out numbers. My number wasn’t called. Did I miss it? No, I was listening so intently there’s no way that I missed it.

After they dismissed some auditioners, they told us that we got in. They told us that we did a great job and that we should be proud of ourselves. They did not tell us that we would probably fit into the costumes. We all scrambled out to meet our parents in the hallway. My mom brought me to the audition. I couldn’t wait to tell her everything. The studios were a maze of rooms all connected by one long hallway.

I think one of my biggest fears is memory loss. Stories make me feel good and I want so badly to be good at telling them. The body connection to trauma provides lots of information. The physiological effects.