Old Country (2004, Film Trailer)

Old Country - Trailer (2004)

Co-Directors: Allen Kaeja and Mark Adam
Choreographer: Allen Kaeja
Music: Edgardo Moreno
Principal performers: Karen Kaeja, Allen Kaeja
Main Dancers: Tara Butler, Piotr Biernat, Susan Lee, Michael Sean Marye, Teena Walker
Additional Dancers/performers: Tim Spronk and Amy Hampton, Aniya Kaeja and Mika Kaeja

"A potently emotional piece of dancemaking. It is a world teetering on the brink of war, tense, anxious, full of foreboding in which people live in shadowsevoked not only kinetically but through the marriage of (Kaeja's) movement, lighting and music. These things work together to give OLD COUNTRY its atmospheric power." -- William Littler, Toronto Star [from the premiere of the original stage version, 1995]

The following is an excerpt of the original film. Old Country, adapted from Allen Kaejas successful 1995 stage presentation, explores the dynamics of a pre-WWII community confronted with the frustrating brutality of war. Shifting allegiances and values challenge the complex levels of relationship and connectedness. The ensemble cast shows how the fabric of a society can be stretched and torn in dark times.

The nature of this film is both contemporary and historic. Old Country shows two closely-knit communities (Jewish and Polish) living and interacting together in Kutno, a small town outside of Warsaw. There are tensions, as in all small towns. The film cuts back and forth between past and present, revealing a larger community in crisis. As the film begins, Poland has been invaded and German forces will reach the town of Kutno in two days. Men are called off to war and begin to disappear. As the two communities erode, we witness the degeneration of friendship, betrayal and loss of trust, where people turn their backs on one another in a time of crisis. The film Old Country runs 24-minutes and is a choreographic response to the Holocaust. Edgardo Moreno composed the original score for the 1995 stage version of Old Country. He re-recorded the music with live instrumentation for the film score.

Old Country is housed in the Permanent Collection of Yad Vashem, Israel and the Jewish Museum, New York, and received a Gemini Award Nomination - Best Direction of a Performing Arts Film or Series.

"You cannot imagine how lonely I am here all by myself. I am alone without wife and family."
Munniac Nossal (Allens father) November 19, 1946 Displaced Persons Camp, Germany.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Kaeja d'Dance
• Allen Kaeja
• Karen Kaeja
• Edgardo Moreno
• Tara Butler
• Piotr Biernat
• Susan Lee
• Michael Sean Marye
• Tim Spronk
• Amy Hampton
• Teena Walker
• dance
• film
• contemporary

[plancarte59]

what da song?