Dance-themed films centre stage at Hong Kong festival

Two weeks, 14 films, one theme: dance. Organised by the City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC), this big-screen celebration of the medium offers audiences a window into the ever-evolving world of modern dance.

Curator and producer Raymond Wong Kwok-wai says he had three main criteria when planning for this year's programme: how cinematic language or approaches can enhance dance, documentaries about choreographers and dancers, and films focused purposely on movement. For the first time, feature-length films are being included, which is unusual for a festival that focuses on shorts.

One of these is 3-Iron, a South Korean love story directed by Kim Ki-duk. With few lines spoken by the leading characters, the film utilises ambient sounds and purposeful movement to chronicle a story of forbidden love. "The director takes an approach to communicate and tell a story not just through dialogue," says Wong. "Quite a lot of people don't regard that as a dance film, but for me it's an exploration worth mentioning."

Another feature film will be the company's own commissioned work A Dance Movie: In Search of the Grand View Garden, which is based on its stage adaptation of popular classic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber.

"It's really hard for a dance company to produce a film like this," says Wong. "The film attempts to explore how dance can become a major form of communication for interpreting a story, and how to convey a message through dance."