Shadow / Self is a film project that combines dance, fashion and music to explore the darker side of the feminine psyche. A story of human struggle told with movement, beauty and light.
Social & External
The people behind it
Geraldine Hakewill
Self
Elizabeth Blackmore
Shadow
A short film based on Alex Sawyer and Tasie Lawrence's song "Relapse."
A vibrant anthology of LGBTQ+ short films and music videos that delve into the complexities of youth, identity, and desire. This diverse collection showcases a range of cinematic voices—both emerging and established—exploring the exhilaration, vulnerability, and confusion of coming-of-age through stories that celebrate queer love, self-discovery, and the breaking of societal boundaries. Blending narrative shorts, experimental visuals, and music-driven pieces, the anthology offers an evocative, multifaceted portrait of innocence transformed.
A man and his daughter, living in an isolated log cabin built in an open field near an inhospitable forest, are terrified by the mysterious mist rising from the trees.
The 12-year old Dolores, a feisty preteen desperate to be seen as a grown-up in 1976 suburbia is on her humiliating, hilarious journey from girlhood to growing up. She fantasizes about sex, womanhood, work... and Freddie Prinze. The girl thinks she's got the lowdown on being a woman, but when her overworked single mom Janice hires Cleo to babysit her world collides with the super cool black 16-year old's, each learns painful truths about what it really means to grow up.
In an inhospitable place, a boy and his family struggle for survival.
'Lukas & the Aspies' is a story about 12-year old Lukas. In many ways, Lukas is a normal kid: He plays in a band, hangs out with his friends and fights with his little brother. But Lukas' has also Asperger syndrome - and hence his own set of unique problems.
Sincho is a cruise ship clown who is evicted from his home without much money. He hallucinates about a lawyer who offers to help him. Homeless, Sincho decides to commit suicide rather than suffer on the streets.
8-year-old Jérémy is ready for a typical evening with his parents and little brother. But his mother’s behavior grows more and more unsettling.
A young college student reluctantly meets with her estranged father only to discover the truth about the events of the wild summer of '75 that drove them apart.
A funny, cruel exploration of the male psyche, Enter Achilles is set in a typical British pub, a shabby, nicotine-stained boozer. Pop songs tumble out of the jukebox, there is football on the TV, and the eight men lark around, pint glasses in hand. But their blokish fun is balanced on a knife-edge of tension, for beneath the mateyness lurks a disturbing undercurrent of paranoia and insecurity, where weakness is brutally exploited and violence covers up vulnerability.
Three friends leave their small town to walk to Chicago, but find the tension among themselves rising.
Mourad is a young Moroccan man who lives alone on his parents' farm. After a meal, Mourad's family realizes that the scars of the past are beyond anything they could have imagined.
Amanda struggles to keep something inside as she spends the day taking pictures of her best friend.
A tragic comedy of a sweet little girl, who grows up to be a crazy old cat lady.
A woman makes a powerful connection with a surprising stranger on her 30th birthday.
A short animation by Makoto Shinkai in Lightwave 3D. Inspired by Haruki Murakami's book "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" with music by Tenmon.
Music by Byron Westbrook, 16mm film by Paul Clipson.
A look at the challenges of living in a small Australian town, portrayed through the lens of a novelist and her teenage son.
When a young girl’s father is taken to hospital, a familial bond between her and her uncle is tested.
A heartwarming story delivered by the New Santa.
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Mal emerges from the shadows of a mystical forest onto a dark coastline where she crosses paths with Dizzy.
At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers — and their moves — two warring friends have to pull together to represent the street.
A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.
Their love of dance, and their friendship, is challenged for two high school girls when one is diagnosed with cancer.
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
XOXO follows six strangers whose lives collide in one frenetic, dream-chasing, hopelessly romantic night.
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
After the death of his younger brother, a troubled 19-year-old street dancer from Los Angeles is able to bypass juvenile hall by enrolling in the historically black, Truth University in Atlanta, Georgia. But his efforts to get an education and woo the girl he likes are sidelined when he is courted by the top two campus fraternities, both of which want and need his fierce street-style dance moves to win the highly coveted national step show competition.
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.
Aspiring small-town musician Chito is determined to make it big. When a clip of him performing one of his songs goes viral, he seizes the opportunity and pushes to carve out a place for himself in the new wave of Mexican-American music... and ultimately gets caught in a game more dangerous than anticipated.
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
A famous pianist at the twilight of his career meets a free-spirited music critic who soon becomes his rock as his mental state deteriorates.
A young alcoholic ambient musician locks himself in his apartment on a dangerous seven day bender as he attempts to finish his upcoming album.
A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.
An agoraphobic hip-hop prodigy and a disgraced former music manager cross paths in Chicago’s South Side and help each other face demons of their pasts.
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.