Estro on Film in celebration of the EstroGenius Festival’s 20th Anniversary Presented by Frigid New York and Manhattan Theatre Source

Frigid New York and Manhattan Theatre Source presents Estro on Film, a one-time, special event celebrating the EstroGenius Festival’s 20th Anniversary. As part of #stayhome, the festival brought together four film works by four extraordinary choreographers. This curated event is available to stream online through Saturday, April 4, 2020 at 11:59pm. Watch all four at once, or come back to them over a few nights. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at https://www.extrofromestro.org/events.

EstroGenius has been sharing and celebrating the voices of womxn for twenty years. Now, on a virtual stage, EstroGenius celebrates its 20th anniversary with a riotous collection of performances by women, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and trans dance-makers, playwrights, experimental performers, teens, musicians, burlesque performers, noise artists, filmmakers, dj’s and anyone else looking to break molds and crack gender codes. This “extro” online content from Estro will bring you the art and the artists, the inspirations and the tools over these quarantined weeks across the country.
 
EstroGenius was founded in 2000 at Manhattan Theatre Source by Fiona Jones as a short-play fest to support dynamic female characters while celebrating inclusivity and pushing gender parity in theatre.
 
Heading into the 20th year, at the helm of the festival are Melissa Riker (Kinesis Project dance theatre, Women in Motion) and Maura Nguyen Donohue. Guest curators include Vincent Marano and John C. Robinson (On the Boards, Emerald City Music).
 
“I am thrilled to offer these four brilliant artists to our audiences. I am particularly interested in how each of these films is directly connected to a live performance experience,” said Ms. Riker. “In some cases (NIC Kay’s) they were the performance, in others (Same As Sister, Garnet Henderson) the artists were inspired to bring a performance work to film as a different medium. My aim is to offer this window into layered performance as film while we all continue to stay safe and at home.”
 
Now, with a home at the Kraine Theatre on E. 4th Street and stepping into 20 years as the longest running festival of its kind, EstroGenius continues to expand an inclusive view of the diverse and creative community that is a womxn’s festival.

The four films that are streaming now are:
 
Address
by Garnet Henderson and Nick Tyson
 
Odd Jewels: Beauty Under Mask 
by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi and Aitor Mendilibar
 
Come Diventare Un Partigiano
by Alice Gosti 
 
you, black and bluised: Day Three A Pieace
by NIC Kay
 
About the Films
 
Address
by Garnet Henderson and Nick Tyson 
(run time 22:03)

Directed, choreographed, and performed by Garnet Henderson
Cinematography by Nick Tyson
Editing by Nick Tyson and Garnet Henderson
Costume by Quinn Czejkowski

Filmed at The Muse Brooklyn. Special thanks to Women in Motion and the generous backers who funded our location rental.
 
Odd Jewels: Beauty Under Mask
by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi and Aitor Mendilibar
USA, 2018
(Run time 8:26)

Same As Sister’s “Odd Jewels: Beauty Under Mask,” is a live performance work and its cinematic re-envisioning. The project continues to push the collective’s use of non-linear storytelling in a landscape where fragmented bodies, projection, and sound interchange their roles as subject and object.

A film by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi and Aitor Mendilibar 
Choreographed and performed by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi in collaboration with Hannah Caggiano and Kristina Hay
Cinematography and editing by Aitor Mendilibar 
Installation by Cern
Video projection by Briana Brown-Tipley
Music by Visnja Krzic
Costumes and props by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi
Jewelry design by Melissa Draugsvold/Draugsvold Jewelry
Produced by Same As Sister/Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi

“Odd Jewels: Beauty Under Mask,” was originally commissioned by the Fresh Tracks program of New York Live Arts, is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, and was the recipient of a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
 
Come diventare un partigiano
by Alice Gosti
(Run time 10:50)
A video documentary by Tumulto Video
With Anna Burini, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Sharon Estacio, Fabiana Mangialardi, Lorraine Lau, Kaitlin McCarthy, and Cecilia Ventriglia.
Performance by Anna Burini, Alyza DelPan-Monley, Sharon Estacio, Fabiana Mangialardi, Lorraine Lau,
Kaitlin McCarthy, and Cecilia Ventriglia
Directed and choreographed by Alice Gosti
Music composition and arrangements by Monika Khot
Music by Monika Khot and Hanna Benn
Lighting design by Amiya Brown
Costumes by Rachel Ravitch, K.D. Schill, Val Mayse, and Deborah Trout
Dress installation and design by Erik Holden, Val Mayse, and Deborah Trout
Technical design by Erik Holden and SANDFORD&GOSTI
Sculpture aura pendente by SANDFORD&GOSTI 2018
Other music includes “Toccata from Symphony for Organ No. 5” by Charles-Marie Widor, “Deux” by Jehan
Alain, “Testi lirici” by Hanna Benn, Richard Crashaw, Franco Fortini, Alfonso Gatto, and AliceGosti
Producer and company manager: Giulia Carotenuto
 
Choir members include Canti e-Terni diretto da Lucilla Galeazzi e composto da Ambra Battistelli, Lucio Conti, Marta D’Atri, Manuela Grilli, Roberto Leonardi, Alessandro Manciucca, Maria Serena Manciucca, Cecilia Marino, Erika Ottavi, Monica Petronio, Deborah Rim Moiso, Alessandro Rossi, Enrico Scarinci, Maria Teresa Torti, Maria Paola Trippa Ensemble Coristi a Priori, diretto da Carmen Cicconofri, e compost da Giulia Capacci, Lucia Sagretti, Martina Morbidini, Francesca Picchiò, Claudia Belia, Sara Millucci, Marta Polenzani, Massimiliano Carluccio, Francesco Foresti, Enrico Galletti, Nicola Pisello, David Gionangeli, Cristiano Marinelli, Gino Petrollini
 
Original collaborators include Kaitlin McCarthy, Colleen McNeary, Brittany Karhoff, Noelle Chun, Amy Ross, Lorraine Lau, Alyza DelPan-Monley, and Leigh Sugar.
 
“Come diventare un partigiano” was produced by Indisciplinarte (Terni, Italy). The project was selected for the first edition of the Italian Council award by DGAAP of the Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo (Italy). Come diventare un partigiano is made possible by Velocity Dance Center, Cornish School for the Arts, Open Flight Studio and the Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant’s support. Thank you to Verdecoprente Festival by Associazione Ippocampo (Italy). Special Thank Yous: Stephanie Noren, Absalom Shantz, Giorgio Gosti, Agave Barone, Olga Zucchiatti, RL, Tonya Lockyer, John Robinson, Case Van Rij and Barbara Lewis, Angela Santi, Alvaro Valsenti, Eleanor Owens and Giovanni S.
 
[GET WELL SOON] you black + bluised, an exercise in getting well soon Day Three | A Pieace
by NIC Kay
(Run Time: 44:23 minutes)

“GET WELL SOON [exercises in getting well soon]” is a project/meditation based on the loose and often used phrase indicating a hope of recovery. These “exercises” have been articulated as movement, installation, games, endurance, ritual, poetry, and collective action. “[GET WELL SOON] you black + bluised” is a site-specific work that uses the architecture and positionally of Abrons Arts Center to wrestle with the blues and the “they” versus “us” paradigm. NIC attempts to do this through sound, movement, and tableau. A triptych each day approaches these themes from different settings and perspectives.  

Day One | Prayer ( Amphitheater), Day Two | Protest (Underground Theater), Day Three | A Pieace (youblackandbluised.net)
 
About the Artists
 
Garnet Henderson grew up in the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. In New York, her work has been presented at The Flea Theater, HERE Arts Center, the West End Theater, the 92nd Street Y, Triskelion Arts, and Gibney Dance. She was a Women in Motion 2017-2018 commissioned artist. Garnet holds a BA cum laude in Dance and English Literature from Columbia University and has performed in works by Ori Flomin, Kyle Abraham, David Parker, Larry Keigwin, Reggie Wilson, Colleen Thomas, Heidi Henderson, Faye Driscoll, Mark Dendy, and Jordan Morley. She also appeared in the feature film Shirley, directed by Josephine Decker and choreographed by Faye Driscoll, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. A regular contributor to Dance Magazine, her writing has also appeared in The Guardian, WIRED, Glamour, VICE, and others.

Nick Tyson is a filmmaker, investigative researcher and writer based in New York City. He has directed and worked on the production of multimedia projects in a range of mediums, from short films and mobile apps to museum and television documentaries. His filmmaking practice is primarily archival based, and he’s interested in topics related to mass incarceration, and the LGBT experience. He is a graduate of Columbia University where he studied film and anthropology.

Quinn Czejkowski is a costume artist, mover, and floral arranger based in NYC. She is interested in exploring the intersection of natural and man-made materials and organic and inorganic styles. Recent design credits include through the mirror of their eyes with Kimberly Bartosik, Darling with Helen Simoneau, Stand In with Jen Rosenblit, Chimera with Burr Johnson, rib bone / backbone with Heather Robles, (T)HERE TO (T)HERE with Liz Gerring, as well as pieces for Gwen Welliver, Renay Aumiller, Dylan Crossman, and others. In addition to her own design work, Quinn is the costume shop manager for Company XIV and has worked with designers Reid Bartelme & Harriet Jung.

NIC Kay is an art worker who makes performances. They were born and currently live in the Bronx, New York.
 
Same As Sister (S.A.S.) is an award-winning performance collective founded in 2013 by Canadian-American choreographers, Briana Brown-Tipley + Hilary Brown-Istrefi. The sisters, who originate from Toronto, graduated from École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, and have since performed for international dance and visual artists including Bouchra Ouizguen, Doug Elkins, Phillipa Kaye, Mike Kelley, Jillian Peña, and Candice Breitz. Based in Toronto and New York City, S.A.S. was initiated to make experimental narrative performance accessible to a diverse audience through collaborative and interdisciplinary practices within the fields of dance, theater, music, video, and design. Their work grapples with social constructs of gender, race, and power, drawing on historical and contemporary representations of “high” and “low” culture, to retell familiar stories in unfamiliar ways. The collective’s works/commissions have been presented at venues in the United States, Canada, France, Greece, and Italy including POP Performance: Women in Motion at Gibney, NYC; AUNTS @ La MaMa Moves! at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, NYC; Dancing Platform Praying Grounds: Blackness, Churches, and Downtown Dance (Platform 2018), curated by Judy Hussie-Taylor and Reggie Wilson at Danspace Project, NYC; Movement Research at the Judson Church, NYC; CRAWL: Chapter 5, curated by Kate Ladenheim/The People Movers at ISSUE Project Room, Brooklyn;
BRIClab at BRIC Arts | Media House, Brooklyn; Fresh Tracks at New York Live Arts, NYC; Test Drive at Dancemakers Centre for Creation, Toronto; and.
Open Studios at Centre d’Art Marnay Art Centre, Marnay-sur-Seine. The film adaptation of their live performance, “Odd Jewels: Beauty Under Mask”, a collaboration with cinematographer, Aitor Mendilibar, was exhibited via Video Art Miden at Non Stop Project Video Performance & Video Dance at Kinitiras, Athens; Ibrida Festival at Marmo – Libreria d’Arte Contemporanea, Forlì;
Videolands at MOMus – State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki; Erasmus+ Program: Active Student-Active Citizen at the 2nd Junior High School of Kalamáta; and From Zero to Infinity! Festival at the Archaeological Museum of Messenia, Kalamáta. They are the recipients of a Queens Council on the Arts’ 2020 QCA/QAF New Work Grant in Multi-Disciplinary Performance; a New York Foundation for the Arts’ 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Choreography; a Foundation for Contemporary Arts’
2017 Emergency Grant in Dance; and were a Finalist for the Jerome Foundation’s 2019-20 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Dance. sameassister.squarespace.com
 
Aitor Mendilibar is a New York City based filmmaker, cinematographer, and musician, who collaborates across artistic genres. Originally from Basque Country, where he received degrees in computer science, telecommunications, and audio-visual production, he moved to New York City in 2012 to study documentary filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. Since graduating he has worked as a cinematographer and editor for film, television, and live performance projects including his work with Oscar-nominated director/producer, Oren Jacoby; award-winning cinematographers, Buddy Squires, ASC, and Tom Hurwitz, ASC; and most recently choreographers, Reggie Wilson, Raja Feather Kelly, and Same As Sister. His first feature film as a director of photography, “PROM KING” (2010), won the New Vision Award at Cinequest Film Festival. As a musician Mendilibar co-founded the punk rock band, Disorders, which recorded two studio albums before disbanding in 2011. In 2014 he formed The Wilsons, where he is bass player. aitormendilibar.com
 
 
About the Festival
 
Manhattan Theatre Source’s EstroGenius Festival, an annual celebration of female-identifying, gnc, non-binary & trans voices, is one of New York City’s largest womxn’s arts festivals.
 
Founded by Fiona Jones in 2000, the festival debuted with a program of 10 short plays and music. Since then, it has grown into a multi-week event including short plays, solo shows, teen performances, visual art, and dance. In past years, we’ve also had stand-up comedy, live music, fundraisers for African girls’ education, and full-day networking events with panels and workshops.
 
Almost completely volunteer run, the EstroGenius Festival has provided thousands of artists the chance to shine; showcased award-winning playwrights Sheila Callaghan, Quiara Alegria Hudes, T.D. Mitchell and Melissa Maxwell; presented Bessie Award-winning choreographers Marta Renzi and Jennifer Nugent; and provided scholarships for girls to attend school in Niger, ranked the poorest country in the world by the United Nations.
 
We are committed to providing opportunities to marginalized artists – in a variety of disciplines – ranging from the emerging to the seasoned professional.
 
The New York Times raves that EstroGenius “lives up to its billing as a celebration of women’s work”
 
Manhattan Theatre Source & EstroGenius would like to thank New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature for their support. 
 
For more information, visit estrogenius.org.