An older man confronted with his ageing body. He loses himself in dancing and by doing so he once again feels young.
Echo won the Audience Award in the 60secondsdance.dk competition of 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It received an honorary mention at the Inshadow festival in Lissabon, Portugal and at the Just a Minute online film festival. Echo won the Bronze Award at the Joie-de-vivre Dance Film Competition in the UK in 2015. The following year, it won a creation award at FIVER Dance Film Festival.
Festival screenings include Cinedans Amsterdam, Multiplié/Minimalen, Loikka Dance Film Festival, Danca em Foco, i-Dance festival Hong Kong, Agite y Sirva, Tiny Dance Film Festival, Videodance Festival Palma, Dance Bridges Festival India, IndieCork, Ireland, Bucharest International Dance Film Festival and Dance on Screen Austria among others. Furthermore, Echo was selected to compete in the Compétition Internationale de Vidéodanse #1 at Festival DesArts/DesCinés in France, Cineminutos Cordoba in Argentina, the International Competition at Flatlands Dance Film Festival in Illinois, USA, and was nominated as one of 10 films for the Screendance Competition at the Leeds International Film Festival, UK.
The film has also been shown in curated programs by Oklahoma Dance Film Festival, by Short Waves Festival in Poland and by Cinedans in Hong Kong during Jumping Frames Film Festival and in Turkey at Sinemadans Ankara.
Director’s note:
“Echo is a one minute film created after I had seen the open call for 60secondsdance.dk. The challenge of making a film last exactly 60 seconds was added upon when I decided to film and choreograph it as a one-taker. The only edit happens when the boy appears in the mirror. He was filmed in front of a green screen and visual effects artist Bram Vleugel tracked the space and fitted the young boy in. The mirror in the space presented a challenge for the postproduction as Gemma Probst, the steadicam operator, would be seen in the mirror each time she passed behind the dancer. Her image had to be erased frame by frame.
Echo is a kinetic, subtle film about ageing. My father is the older dancer performing in it. At 83, he is still dancing and finding it difficult to accept that age is catching up on him. The theme of ageing, reminiscence and memory is recurring in my work.”
Dance: Rolf Hepp and Stijn van der Plas
Steadicam operator: Gemma Probst
Focus puller: Paco Bonsang
Lights: Rutger Platenburg
Editing: Erik Verhulst
Visual effects: Bram Vleugel
Sound: Jurriaan Balhuizen
Direction and Choreography: Nicola Balhuizen Hepp
Steadicam: Chris Fawcett/Steadivision
Camera: Golden Eye
Lights: Schram Studios, Theaterschool Amsterdam
Postproduction: Postoffice