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Dreaming Tango

A film about Argentine Tango and its place in the lives of five people: a young girl having to leave her country and lose her friends and family finds dance, a woman far from Argentina listens to her uncle's orchestra all the time playing Piazzolla, and an older isolated man learns to follow in Tango and find his way back to his wife.

  • Frances Barth
    Director
    End of the Day, End of the Day; Jonnie in the Lake; Regina B; The Audition.
  • Frances Barth
    Writer
    End of the Day, End of the Day; Jonnie in the Lake; Regina B; The Audition.
  • Frances Barth
    Producer
    End of the Day, End of the Day; Jonnie in the Lake; Regina B; The Audition.
  • Sandra Antognazzi
    Key Cast
    "Mother and Tango Dancer"
    https://www.fusiontango.org/
  • Ron Nakahara
    Key Cast
    "Older Man"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619996/
  • Mia Katigbak
    Key Cast
    "Older Woman"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2146264/
  • Dardo Galletto
    Key Cast
    "Tango Dancer"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1886756/
  • Valentina Feldman
    Key Cast
    "Daughter"
  • Abby Royle
    Key Cast
    "Woman"
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0747403/
  • Chris Doi
    Key Cast
    "Walking Man"
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short, Other
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance, Dance
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes 15 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    10,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    4K
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • NewFilmmakers NY 2020
    New York City
    United States
    August 26, 2020
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Madrid Film Awards
    Madrid
    Spain
    July 26, 2020
    Europe, Spain
    Official Selection for Best short film
  • Cannes Short Film Festival
    Cannes
    France
    September 26, 2020
    France
    Best Experimental Short, Audience Award
  • Studio City International Film & TV Festiva
    Los Angeles
    United States
    November 6, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Cutting Edge Film Festival
    Pompano Beach, FLA
    United States
    November 6, 2020
    Official Selection, Best of Genre-Experimental
  • 2020 Directors Circle Festival of Shorts
    Erie PA
    United States
    November 27, 2020
    Official Selection
  • Accolade Global Film Competition Accolade Global Film Competition
    La Jolla CA
    United States
    November 30, 2020
    Award Winner, Official Selection
  • Films Infest Mallorca-2020
    Mallorca
    Spain
    January 1, 2021
    Official Selection
  • 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival
    Bali
    Indonesia
    April 14, 2021
    Indonesia
    Official Selection
  • Osaka International Film Festival
    Osaka
    Japan
    premiere in Japan
    Official Selection
  • International Filmmaker Festival of New York, 10th Jubilee Edition 2021
    New York
    United States
    May 21, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Toronto Film and Script Awards
    Toronto
    Canada
    July 26, 2021
    Official Selection
  • ADIFF - Actor&Director Awards
    St. Petersburg
    Russian Federation
    May 31, 2021
    Russia
    Best Female Director
  • Rotterdam Independent Film Festival
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    June 20, 2021
    Nominee Best Experimental short
  • San Francisco Indie Short Festival
    San Francisco
    United States
    August 14, 2021
    Nominee Best Experimental Short
  • Osaka International Film Festival (OIFF)
    Osaka
    Japan
    August 16, 2021
    Nominee Best Experimental short
  • Festival Internacional de Marbella
    Marbella
    Spain
    September 11, 2021
    Official Selection
  • LA Independent Women Film Awards
    Los Angeles
    United States
    September 28, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Amsterdam Short Film Festival
    Amsterdam
    Netherlands
    September 27, 2021
    Official Selection
  • London New Wave Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    Oct. 5, 2021
    Official Selection
  • The Continental Film Festival Munich
    Munich
    Germany
    October 10, 2021
    Nominee Best short experimental
  • Shockfest Film Festival
    Las Vegas
    United States
    December 10, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Snow Leopard International Film Festival
    Madrid
    Spain
    April 7, 2022
    Official Selection
  • 8 & Halfilm Awards
    Rome
    Italy
    April 13, 2022
    Official Selection,
  • Toronto Indie Shorts
    Toronto
    Canada
    March 21, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Paris Film Awards
    Paris
    France
    April 29, 2022
    Official Selection
  • Milan Arthouse Film Awards
    Milan
    Italy
    April 25, 2022
    Nominee Best experimental short film
  • Sweet Democracy Film Awards
    Cannes
    France
    April 11, 2022
    Winner best romance short film
Distribution Information
  • Frances Barth
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Frances Barth

Frances Barth Bio

Born in the Bronx, having received her degrees from Hunter College, CUNY, Frances Barth has been working and showing her painting in New York and internationally since the 1960's and making films for the last fifteen years. While an art student she also studied modern-dance,and performed with Yvonne Rainer at Lincoln Center and the Billy Rose Theater in 1968-9, and with Joan Jonas in dance and video in 1970.

Video: During the last 15+ years she has created two animations, two short documentaries, a short b&w film set in 1947 after the Japanese internment, and has just finished her new film “Dreaming Tango”.

Her animation, "Jonnie in the Lake" won Best Animated Short in November 2016 at the New York Short Film Festival, and was nominated for Best Short Film at the Sunrise Film Festival in Nova Scotia. It now has Spanish subtitles and has been shown in Venezuela, Ecuador and Uruguay.

The animation "End of the Day, End of the Day" completed in 2007 was shown at the Atlanta Festival of the Moving Image in the Marcia Wood Gallery, and in New York at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in 2010 and was adapted into a performance with projected video and two actors at Triangle Artists Organization in 2018.

Her documentary/portrait on the painter Regina Bogat, "Regina B" premiered at the New Renaissance Film Festival in Amsterdam in 2018 and was nominated for Best International Short Documentary; an earlier short called "Regina" was shown at The Marfa Film Festival in 2014. Regina B was also shown at the New York Short Film Festival in November, 2018, at the Sunrise FF in Nova Scotia in 2019, and is currently being shown at Zurcher Gallery in NYC.

In 2017 she published her first graphic novel "Ginger Smith and Billy Gee" with settings derived from her paintings, and she scripted a live theatrical reading from this book with 7 actors that was performed at Silas Von Morisse Gallery in NY in 2018.
Frances’ new documentary “The Audition” premiered in Paris in April.

Her awards include two National Endowment for the Arts grants, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, an Adolphe and Esther Gottlieb Individual Support Grant, two American Academy of Arts and Letters Purchase awards, the Anonymous Was a Woman grant and a Pollock-Krasner grant. She is Director Emeritas of the Mt. Royal School of Art, The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Non-traditional casting.
"Dreaming Tango" is a short narrative/documentary art film threading three stories involving Argentine tango, and moving from realistic dialogue to voice over, and to the actors breaking the fourth wall.
Having performed with Yvonne Rainer and being part of the NY community of artists in all media going back to the 1960's, and loving my brother's performances (James Barth) in NY in the 1970's brought me inspiration and the desire to write this script. Having studied with Sandra Antognazzi and danced tango myself for the last six years made me want to do this film. This is the first film of mine where I used other additional camera artists and shot in 4k to give me more options for post editing. **The first opening scenes are in Spanish with English subtitles as I felt that was right for the young girl having to leave her culture and country. The rest of the film is in English. An official SAG/AFTRA short project. Thank you in advance for watching!