2024 Mobile Dance Film Festival

Official selection filmmakers

Listed in alphabetical order by first name.

  • The Process of Self

    Camille Imperial is a first-time, Filipino-American student filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Camille grew up in the Philippines cultivating her love for the arts. She is currently finishing out her studies at the AMDA College of the Performing arts as a Dance Theatre Major. She creates complex dance work in the style of contemporary through the use of filmmaking and live theatre. Always thought-provoking, her work touches on inter- and intrapersonal relationships grounded in authentic experiences.

    @ckimperial

  • ECHOES

    Femi Adebajo hails from Bariga, a neighborhood in Lagos State, Nigeria. He is a multidisciplinary artist renowned for his innovative choreographic performances and artistic projects. Using body movement as a tool for social change, he co-founded and serves as the artistic director of Future of Dance Company in Lagos, making significant contributions to the cultural landscape. Femi also served as a festival director for Artist Crossroad Festival, a dynamic community art gathering fostering creative incubation and vibrant interactions among visionaries and their audiences.

    Throughout his career, Femi Adebajo has collaborated with numerous international artists, institutions, and brands, including Adidas, Center for Contemporary Art (Lagos), Goethe Institute, Theatre Del Welt, Monster Truck, Company Christoph Winkler (Germany), Hektomeron Theatre Festival (Romania), Irineu Nogueira Dance Program (Munich), Sanskar Virtual Dance, and Tanzfabrik School (Berlin). He is currently a member and ambassador of KIN, a global network of creators, connectors, and cultural experts dedicated to promoting culture.

    @femiadebajo_

  • These Years

    Kiana Rosa Fischer graduated from MGSA, Rutgers University, in 2016. As a freelance artist, Kiana has danced for Cleo Mack/Rock Dance Collective, OcampoWang Dance, John Evans and Ani Javian. Kiana’s choreography has been presented at Dixon Place, MGPAC, NBPAC, NJPAC, Nimbus Arts Center, Grounds for Sculpture, and Morven Museum. Kiana has been the recipient of two DNJ Mini-Grant Awards in 2021 and 2023. She recently concluded DNJ and NJPAC’s Jersey (new) Moves Fellowship Program under the mentorship of Carolyn Dorfman, premiering work in 2022 and 2023. Currently, she teaches at Mason Gross School of Performing Arts.

    @kianathellama__

  • Lost

    Kristen Helen Poppe is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in Lafayette, Colorado. She started tap dancing at 19, but didn’t begin serious training until she was 32. Soon after, she quit her day job to become a dancer. Now she studies tap, ballet, Irish, flatfooting, and contemporary dance, and teaches tap and ballet to adults. She has made half a dozen dance films, some of which have been official selections in film festivals around the country. Her 40-minute solo-show, “Shoes” has been selected for three Fringe Festivals around the world. She is also the artistic director of Terpsichorean, a lose collective of adult students of dance who perform annually at a theater in Denver.

    @kristenhelenpoppe

  • The Journey

    I’m a Cinematographer who loves telling stories and is in Love with Cinema. Cinema actually changed my perception towards watching film and now when I watch a film I feel like i’m in a different world cause of how I see the Lighting, Composting, Framing, Blocking, Performance and Production Design. There’s nothing I want to do right now than tell stories, my passion really grows as I grow and I continue to Love my Craft.

    @gibson_lawrencedp

  • Colorful Patterns

    Lejing Liu (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, educator, and movement analyst with a BA in Dance Science from Beijing Dance Academy. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree at New York University. Her training includes contemporary dance, Chinese classical dance, and modern dance techniques.

    Reyna Carrillo (she/her) has a background in classical ballet. She holds a BS in Dance Arts Administration and Psychology, and an MA from NYU Gallatin in Performing Arts Administration, Organizational Leadership, and Psychology. Her interests include directing, producing, marketing, and fundraising. Her passion lies in creating environments that enhance performance and are inclusive to all individuals.

    @lejing_liu
    @reyna__carrillo

  • Les Spectacles

    Lisa Kusanagi is a multi-award-winning artist with expertise in dance and short film. Her creative work has received recognition and been presented in over 30 countries including at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Aesthetic Short Film Festival, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Danspace Project at the St. Marks' Church, JW Marriott Hotel Los Angeles L.A. Live, REDCAT, Miami Light Project, Cineteca Nacional México, and Eye Film Amsterdam. She is a founder and director of the Kusanagi Sisters and the MUNI Film Festival, a 2023 Pola Art Foundation fellow, and a 2024 Miami Light Project Here & Now commissioned artist. Kusanagi holds a BA in Dance from Sonoma State University and an MFA in Dance from Hollins University.

    @lisa.kusanagi

  • Death and Other Disguises

    Marta Renzi has made more than 75 dances including her Bessie- award-winning VITAL SIGNS. Her site-specific pieces in locations such as the Guggenheim Museum, Union Station and the Staten Island Ferry led naturally to her work in video and film: the 1981 You Little Wild Heart, and 1989 Mountainview, both for Public television. Since 2005 Marta has self-produced over three dozen short videodances, which have been presented at over 300 festivals nationally and internationally. Her debut feature film Her Magnum Opus was released in 2017. This is the 4th time her work has been selected by MDFF!

    @renzimarta

  • plugged in.

    Nastia Yavorski is a dance filmmaker based in Los Angeles, CA. Since the age of ten, they have had a huge interest in media arts and filmmaking, making home movies with their family and friends. Now, Nastia is making films and dancing at the CalArts Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance, as well as working on commission with dance studios and independent artists to produce and direct dance films. Nastia's artistic focus rests in the use of movement as a “second mouth”, one that can tell stories and convey feeling without the need for words.

    @nastiayavorski

  • I Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer

    Nia Miah Mason (she/her) is a Los Angeles based dance artist and creative who pushes herself through choreography and movement via film and stage. As a Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from the American Musical and Dramatics Academy (AMDA), Nia has trained in various styles of dance and has had the opportunity to perform in, produce, direct and choreograph for multiple projects and shows on stage and for the camera following graduation. Whether performing for a live audience or the camera, Nia strives to stand out as an eclectic and captivating artist.

    @niamiahmason

  • Enough

    Oluwaseun Usman is a London-based performer, photographer, videographer, scholar, aspiring DJ, and creative director. He uses art to challenge social constructs and explore self-identity, aiming to liberate the human mind. With a degree from the University of Lagos and currently studying Dance Anthropology in the Choreomundus Erasmus Master's program, Oluwaseun's filmic and performance works have been showcased globally.

    @usman_is_man

  • BEING

    Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cinema teacher (University of Buenos Aires). Cinematographer, cameraman and Movie Director. Co Director of “KOAN” with Karina Kracoff. Fiction feature Film winner of two first prizes.

    @osvaldoraulponce

  • Me Desmorono

    Richie Rodriguez, born in 1987 in Orizaba, Veracruz, Mexico, studied Contemporary Dance at the Universidad Veracruzana. His passion for creation and choreography developed through multidisciplinary projects and an academic exchange at the Folkwang University in Germany in 2009. After completing his studies in 2011, he joined the CEPRODAC project and received the PECDAV scholarship for his first solo piece. Between 2014 and 2019, he worked in Central America as a teacher and choreographer, founding the Movimiento Grávido company and the Festival P Escena in Costa Rica in 2020. In 2024, during a residency in Argentina, he created "Me Derrumbo," inspired by Patagonia and Queer art. Currently, he lives in Mexico, exploring the integration of body and dance into visual arts.

    @richie_to

* Indicates Student Film Official Selection