- Local
- Community
- Journalism
Support the independent voice of Miami and help keep the future of New Times free.
Bodies swirling in motion, traversing space, and challenging expectations, all on the big screen — that’s ScreenDance Miami, a film festival dedicated to showcasing dance on film.
From Wednesday, January 16, to Saturday, January 19, ScreenDance will project films at three locations: the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, Soundscape Park, and the Perez Art Museum.
“Film and dance are so opposite.
ScreenDance, which is presented by
The second feature-length film is If the Dancer Dances, written and produced by Lise Friedman and Maia Wechsler and presented as part of the Merce Cunningham Centennial. The documentary will be shown outdoors as a WallCast film at Soundscape Park. Winter, who has not yet attended a WallCast screening, is excited to see the film projected on the outside of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center.
The festival’s short films include a Florida focus section, selections from an open call, and student shorts. ScreenDance will also show works from a partnership with Third Horizon Film Festival, a Miami-based fest that focuses on the Caribbean and its diaspora, and the Moving Body-Moving Image Festival, which is organized by the dance program at Barnard College and aims to highlight bodies of color.

Given the political atmosphere, Winter says ScreenDance will commit itself to diversity and progress. “We can choose to ignore what’s happening in the world and let art be separate and art for art’s sake, but I feel like that would be a misuse of this platform,” he says.
“With the current social climate, we need to be really deliberate with programming. This year, we have two feature films, both by women filmmakers, and we have an hour of shorts from Third Horizon and Moving Body-Moving Image. The films will explore topics relevant to social justice, like toxic masculinity. There is a piece called Negotiation, where there is a pas de deux between two men of color. It looks at the politics of male masculinity.”
Winter, who also runs his dance company Pioneer Winter Collective, has directed ScreenDance for three years. “I’m really excited. It’s our sixth year and each year, we take a step forward. Last year, for the first time, we showed a feature-length film. This year, we added an additional feature-length film and created new partnerships,” he says. “ScreenDance is a really great way for us to cross-pollinate with our audience, from gallery-goers to film buffs to dancers. It intersects many different areas of our community.”
ScreenDance Miami Festival 2019. Wednesday, January 16, to Saturday, January 19, at various Miami locations; miamilightproject.com. Tickets range from free to $10.
Keep Miami New Times Free... Since we started Miami New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Miami, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Miami with no paywalls.