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Dreaming the White Goddess

'Dreaming the White Goddess' recounts dancer Francoise Angenieux's dreamscape encounter with the enigmatic muse 'Dames Blanches', the ancient White Goddess of the French folkloric tradition from her mother’s birthplace in Brittany. This film invites the audience into the artist's unconscious, to feel the White Goddess’s trickster essence and experience her summons through the veil of a dream. It is an invitation to awaken to the call of our own creative inspiration, weaving itself though the very fabric of our existence.

  • Jane Austin
    Director
    'So happy. Together', 2016, 'Liminal' 2017, 'Animus' 2017, 'Crocodile' 2018, 'Mirrored Room' 2019, ‘Un-earth-ing Medusa' 2022, 'In Conversation with Medusa' 2022, ‘Anamnesis’ and ‘Dreaming the White Goddess’, 2023.
  • Jane Austin
    Writer
    'So happy. Together', 2016, 'Liminal' 2017, 'Animus' 2017, 'Crocodile' 2018, 'Mirrored Room' 2019, ‘Un-earth-ing Medusa' 2022, 'In Conversation with Medusa' 2022, ‘Anamnesis’ and ‘Dreaming the White Goddess’, 2023
  • Jane Austin
    Producer
    'So happy. Together', 2016, 'Liminal' 2017, 'Animus' 2017, 'Crocodile' 2018, 'Mirrored Room' 2019, ‘Un-earth-ing Medusa' 2022, 'In Conversation with Medusa' 2022, ‘Anamnesis’ and ‘Dreaming the White Goddess’, 2023
  • Francoise Angenieux
    Key Cast
    "The Dreaming Artist"
    'Liminal' 2016, 'Anamnesis' 2023, 'Dreaming the White Goddess' 2023
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Dance, Poetry, Mythology, poetic documentary, artists muse, Dream
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 50 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 18, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    800 AUD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • The Female Gaze Exhibition, Darwin Visual Arts Centre
    Darwin
    Australia
    September 18, 2023
    Australia
    Finalist
Director Biography - Jane Austin

Austin embodies the spirit of a modern-day alchemist, seamlessly blending literature, digital expression, myth, dance and dreams. Her first microfilm, 'So happy. Together', 2016, explored the joy of community song. Austin launched her Imramma Series in 2016 with 'Liminal', premiering at the MCEF Festival, NY, USA in 2016. 'Animus' was released in 2017, followed by 'Crocodile' 2018, 'Mirrored Room' 2019, ‘Un-earth-ing Medusa' 2022 and 'In Conversation with Medusa' 2022, ‘Anamnesis’ and ‘Dreaming the White Goddess’ in 2023. Austin is a PhD candidate (English), focusing on repurposing dream and imaginal content into experimental poetry films. She also has a day job as a Curriculum Specialist: Innovation and Transformative Teaching & Learning, at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Dancer and choreographer Francoise Angenieux, born in Mali and raised in Senegal, trained as a professional dancer in Monte Carlo and Geneva before dancing in companies across Europe. Her journey led her to Australia, where she danced with the Sydney Dance Company for 11 years, served as Rehearsal Director and dancer for the Aboriginal Islander Dance Company, and later became a teaching artist at NAISDA Dance College, Australia's premier First Nations Performing Arts institution.
In ‘Dreaming the White Goddess’, Angenieux invites us into her ethereal encounter with the enigmatic muse, the 'Dames Blanches' of medieval French folklore, known as the White Lady in Brittany, where her mother was born. The Dames Blanches are also linked more deeply to an ancient past, embodying the White Goddess, as described in Robert Graves' seminal work, ‘The White Goddess'.
Angenieux reimagines her dream, which opens in a sumptuous scene from the Italian director Visconti's landmark 1963 film 'The Leopard'. She transposes into the scene and chases the muse through the winding corridors of a labyrinthine palace. At the heart of this maze, Angenieux is called by the Dames Blanches to a creative quest.
Angenieux recalls how the creative work came into being and reflects on the universal struggle all artists face in seeking a glimpse of the muse . She realises her own enduring relationship with the White Goddess of her mother's tradition, and the universal Triple Goddess of birth, death and rebirth.
I hope this film invites audiences to journey with Angenieux, delving into the artist's dream, and to experience first-hand the summons of creative inspiration. My intention is that our audience is left with a sense of the boundless wellspring the imaginal world has to offer and an invitation to seek their own muse and creative pursuits.