Crystal Pite: Angels' Atlas | |
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Directed by | Chelsea McMullan |
Written by | Chelsea McMullan |
Produced by | Sean O'Neill |
Starring | Crystal Pite |
Cinematography | Maya Bankovic |
Edited by | Lindsay Allikas |
Music by | Kieran Adams |
Production companies | Visitor Media National Ballet of Canada |
Release date |
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Running time | 64 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Crystal Pite: Angels' Atlas is a 2022 Canadian documentary film, directed by Chelsea McMullan. [1] The film profiles choreographer Crystal Pite as she works with the National Ballet of Canada to stage her ballet Angels' Atlas as the company's first new stage production since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live stage productions in 2020, illuminating her creative process through the depiction of rehearsals until ending with a full, uninterrupted performance of the work. [2]
The film premiered at the 2022 Vancouver International Film Festival. [2] It was subsequently screened in Toronto on October 4 at the Fall for Dance North festival, [3] before its television premiere on November 25 on the Documentary Channel.
Johanna Schneller of The Globe and Mail praised the fact that between Angels' Atlas and Ever Deadly , McMullan had two different yet complementary, and both innovative, documentaries about the creative process premiering around the same time, [2] while Janet Smith of Stir praised McMullan for successfully finding new ways to film dance. [1]
At VIFF, the film was named the winner of the Audience Award in the Showcase program. [4]
The film received two Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, for Best Photography in a Documentary Program or Factual Series (Maya Bankovic) and Best Sound in a Documentary Program or Factual Series (Graham Rogers, Stefana Fratila, Krystin Hunter, Dane Kelly). [5]
The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 by artistic director Hope Muir. Renowned for its diverse repertoire, the company performs traditional full-length classics, embraces contemporary work and encourages the creation of new ballets, as well as the development of Canadian dancers and choreographers.
The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October.
Brian Ronald Macdonald was a Canadian dancer, choreographer and director of opera, theatre and musical theatre.
Charles Officer was a Canadian film and television director, writer, actor, and professional hockey player.
Crystal Pite is a Canadian choreographer and dancer. She began her professional dance career in 1988 at Ballet BC, and in 1996 she joined Ballett Frankfurt under the tutelage of William Forsythe. After leaving Ballett Frankfurt she became the resident choreographer of Montreal company Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal from 2001 to 2004. She then returned to Vancouver where she focused on choreographing while continuing to dance in her own pieces until 2010. In 2002 she formed her own company called Kidd Pivot, which produced her original works Uncollected Work (2003), Double Story (2004), Lost Action (2006), Dark Matters (2009), The You Show (2010), The Tempest Replica (2011), Betroffenheit (2015), and Revisor (2019) to date. Throughout her career she has been commissioned by many international dance companies to create new pieces, including The Second Person (2007) for Netherlands Dans Theater and Emergence (2009) for the National Ballet of Canada, the latter of which was awarded four Dora Mavor Moore Awards.
Sean O'Neill is a Canadian producer and television personality. From 2015 to 2017, O'Neill was the host of the CBC Television art challenge show Crash Gallery, and in 2018 he co-created the CBC Television documentary series In the Making, which he executive produced and hosted.
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Lunkina is a Russian-Canadian ballerina who is a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada.
Kidd Pivot, is a contemporary dance theatre company based in Vancouver, Canada. The company, currently comprising eight full-time dancers and several guest artists, is led by its founder and artistic director, Crystal Pite. Since its formation in 2002 Kidd Pivot has toured extensively around the world, presenting several works, many of which have received awards and accolades from the international dance community.
The Canadian Screen Awards are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media productions. Given annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the awards recognize excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.
Chelsea McMullan is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, best known for their 2013 film My Prairie Home, a film about transgender musician Rae Spoon.
Andrew Cividino is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his feature film directorial debut Sleeping Giant, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and for his frequent work as a director on the Emmy winning comedy Schitt's Creek, for which he won a Primetime Emmy at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.
In the Making is a Canadian television documentary series, which premiered on CBC Television on September 21, 2018. Co-created and hosted by Sean O'Neill, the series explores the creative process by profiling notable Canadian artists as they meet pivotal moments in their lives and work.
Future History is a Canadian documentary series, which premiered in 2018 on APTN. Hosted by Kris Nahrgang and Sarain Fox, the series profiles efforts to reclaim and revive indigenous cultures in Canada.
Flight Pattern is a one-act contemporary ballet by Canadian choreographer Crystal Pite, set to the first movement of Henryk Górecki's Symphony No.3. It premiered at the Royal Opera House, London, on 16 March 2017, making Pite the first woman to choreograph for The Royal Ballet's main stage in 18 years. The ballet won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production in 2018.
The World Is Bright is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Ying Wang and released in 2019.
Siphesihle November is a South African ballet dancer. He joined the National Ballet of Canada in 2017 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021, at age 22.
Hope Muir is a Canadian dancer, rehearsal director, teacher and the artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada. She danced professionally in the UK and US for seventeen years, until her retirement from performing in 2006. Then, she began working as a rehearsal director and teacher. In 2009, she joined Scottish Ballet as a rehearsal director, and became its associate artistic director in 2015. In 2017, she became the artistic director of Charlotte Ballet. In 2022, she assumed her position at the National Ballet of Canada, officially titled Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director.
Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew is a 2021 Canadian documentary film, directed by Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas. The film is a portrait of the Notic Streetball Crew, a streetball team who were active in Vancouver in the early 2000s; Schaulin-Rioux and Thomas got their start in the film industry making short documentary films and performance videos about the team.
To Kill a Tiger is a 2022 Canadian documentary film, directed by Nisha Pahuja. The film centres on a family in Jharkhand, India, who are campaigning for justice after their teenage daughter was brutally raped.
Swan Song is a 2023 Canadian documentary film, directed by Chelsea McMullan.