Diego Vega and Amy J. Gardner explore human connection between strangers in Xeno

The movement-based short forms part of Jacob Jonas The Company’s free film series, Films.Dance.

In Xeno, choreographed by Mexico City-based Diego Vega and directed by Amy J. Gardner, Natasha Patterson and Sabine Van Rensburg play out a brief yet intimate encounter against the backdrop of a barren hillside in Montreal. The piece forms part of Films.Dance, a free series at the intersection of dance, music, fashion, and film produced by LA-based Jacob Jonas The Company.

“Xeno is the smallest measurable unit of human connection, typically exchanged between passing strangers—a flirtatious glance, a sympathetic nod, moments that are fleeting and random but still contain powerful emotional nutrients that can alleviate the symptoms of feeling alone,” says Films.Dance of the concept, which also features original music by Berlin-based artists Alice Phoebe Lou and Thor Rixon.

Films.Dance was launched by two prestigious Los Angeles cultural institutions, the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Chicago’s Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater and Somewhere Magazine to create a series of 15 free films shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, which have involved the participation of more than 150 artists from 25 countries.

You can watch all of the Films.Dance programme so far at the project’s website. New films will continue to be added every Monday until May 3, 2021.

Credits:

Director: Amy J. Gardner
Choreographer: Diego Vega
Featuring: Natasha Patterson and Sabine Van Rensburg
Cinematographer: Kristof Brandl
Composers: Alice Phoebe Lou and Thor Rixon
1st AC: Ivan Peloquin
Editor: Joy Isabella Brown
Color: Simon Bøisx
Loader: Olivia Nikolayenko
Executive Director of Nohbords: Homero Fernández Segura
Dancers Advisors: Rogelio Arrañaga, Fernando Guez, Diego Vertíz, Juan Carlos Shocker
Production: Telescope
Producers: Samuel Caron, Élise Lardinois, Félix Cayer
Production Coordinator: Marjorie Gauvin
Special Thanks: Ivan Hughes, Nancy Grant, Cineground, Félix Cayer, Clara Milo, Brin Schoellkopf, Vallery Rousseau (Le Beam)

Films.Dance

Produced by Jacob Jonas The Company

Executive Producer/Creative Director: Jacob Jonas
Producers: Jill Wilson, Emma Rosenzweig-Bock, Mathieu Wothke
AssociateProducers: Joy Isabella Brown, Francisco Cruz, Steve Hackman, Emily Kikta, Rubberlegz, Anibal Sandoval, Mike Tyus, Peter Walker

In partnership with Somewhere Magazine

Co-presented by Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts, Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts