Rock is Broken

LIZ SARGENT’s extensive background in dance, theater and film inform a unique style to stories with complicated subject matter. The NYTimes describes her work as “imaginative...both lovely and disturbing”.

Her short film STRANGERS’ REUNION is an exploration of the pressure to reunite across language and culture. The script for Ritz Carlton & Hearst was 1 of 5 winning films to be produced with RSA Hong Kong, Final Cut NY, Jungle Sound, Glassworks, with mentoring by Academy Award Nominee Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas). It was released internationally in six languages online.

Sargent’s New York EMMY winning short film SLOW DOWN (WNET/ALLARTS) captures the themes of LMCC’s River To River Festival: deceleration, stillness and reflection from a filmmaker's perspective. Work with acclaimed artists Pam Tanowitz, Caroline Shaw and BARD @ Fisher Center include: DANCERS (slightly out of shape), Every Moment Alters, What Came Before. ‘Rock Is Broken’ was filmed on the fire ruins at Jacob’s Pillow with MacArthur Award winning artist Eiko Otake. Upcoming short films in production with Helen Simoneau Danse and with Eiko Otake supported by UCLA’s Center for Arts & Performance & filmed at UCROSS.

Liz’s work as a producer with her production company, Cyprian Films, New York include the series Flowstate: North Brooklyn Artists (producer, dir episode 7), Tango On The Balcony, ‘A Perfect Journey’ for TUMI and Tribeca Film Festival, Behind the Mirror (The Orchard).

Film Festivals and awards include: Best Director Diversity at Cannes, Venice Biennale Danza, Dance on Camera Lincoln Center, Best Short & Best Actor at SOHO International Film Festival, Best Screenplay at BRAND Film Festival London, UNIONDOCS Summer Lab, finalist for AFI Directing Workshop for Women 2021, short listed for NBC Female Forward, and Asian Women Giving Circle grant recipient. Sargent is a member of New York Women in Film & TV and is on the short film awards committee for IDA (International Documentary Association 2020 & 2021).

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ABOUT EIKO OTAKE
Born and raised in Japan and a resident of New York since 1976, Eiko Otake is a movement–based, interdisciplinary artist. After working for more than forty years as Eiko & Koma, she now performs as a soloist and directs her own projects collaborating with a diverse range of artists.

Eiko & Koma
After studying with Kazuo Ohno and Tatsumi Hijikata in Japan and Manja Chmiel in Germany, Eiko & Koma created 46 interdisciplinary performance works, two career exhibitions and numerous media works. Their durational performance living installations were commissioned by the Whitney Museum, the Walker Art Center, and MoMA. Their Retrospective Project (2009 to 2012) culminated in a comprehensive monograph, Time is Not Even, Space is Not Empty, published by the Walker Art Center. Eiko & Koma were honored with the first United States Artists Fellowship (2006) and Doris Duke Artist Awards (2012). They were the first collaborative pair to share a MacArthur Fellowship (1996) and the first Asian choreographers to receive the Samuel H. Scripps American Dance Festival Award (2004) and the Dance Magazine Award (2006).