Opine Dance Film Festival: The Little Festival That Could

Abstract

Opine Dance Film Festival (ODFF) was founded in Atlanta in 2015, bringing screendance to a community just beginning to experience the practice in a more developed way. After four seasons of presenting professionally adjudicated and student programming, ODFF had planned on changing formats. After relocating the festival to Philadelphia, ODFF planned its 5th season to be screened in gallery format, looping three ambitious programs over the course of three days on the campus of Bryn Mawr College. On March 11, 2020, Bryn Mawr College announced that it would close its doors and move remote for the remainder of the semester, due to Covid-19. With only one week before the festival was to launch and with the world changing by the minute, ODFF quickly decided to put the 35 films online and stream them as curated, during the original festival dates. In doing so, the online reach far surpassed the exposure of our in-person event. As the pandemic continued, ODFF realized its festival plans for 2021 and 2022 would have to continue online. As the festival prepared for the changes needed to sustain, it watched closely as practitioners everywhere were now dabbling with the camera. Dancers and dance makers were turning to digital practices to carry them through the pandemic. The team established a new category to accommodate professional artists who were newer to the medium or experimenting with the camera for the first time. This category, called “The Newbie Filmmaker,” has become a staple for ODFF and the 2023 festival was the third time screening the program. Now culminating in its 10th season, ODFF was fortunate to partner with the well-established Bryn Mawr Film Institute, but entering a “post-Covid” world with a small festival has been daunting. What is the best screening model for the small, but mighty festival? Stepping into the unknown has taught everyone: Adaptability is key.

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