Phoenix Dance

Phoenix Dance

(USA 2005 16 minutes)
Directed by Karina Epperlein

This documentary shows us the beauty and strength of one individual who defies our expectations of what it means to be “disabled.”

In March 2001, Homer Avila - who had been dancing with Twyla Tharp,Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris and Momix among others - discovered that the pain in his hip was cancer. One month later, his right leg and most of his hip were amputated. What unfolds is the story that leads to the pas de deux called “Pas”, which the renowned Alonzo King choreographed for Homer, now missing one leg, and Andrea Flores.

Phoenix Dance has been short-listed as an Academy Award-nominee in the Best Short Documentary category.

A native of Germany, Karina Epperlein has worked in Europe and the U.S. for the past thirty years as a filmmaker, theater artist and teacher. Her earlier video pieces Labyrinthian (1984) and i.e.Deutschland (1988) were followed by Voices From Inside (1996), a documentary about women in prison and their children which won the PASS Media Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency; Women's Rites (2000) about Anna Halprin's Expressive Arts Therapy; I Will Not Be Sad In This World (2001), a portrait of a 94-year-old Armenian woman who survived the genocide of her people in 1915. Karina directed and co-produced (with John Knoop) We Are Here Together (2003), a film about the tempestuous first year of an alternative charter high school in Alameda, California, chronicling the young peoples’ growth.

Still from Blue by Elif Isikozlu.

© Moving Pictures Festival 2006
info@movingpicturesfestival.com

(USA 2005 16 minutes)
Directed by Karina Epperlein

This documentary shows us the beauty and strength of one individual who defies our expectations of what it means to be “disabled.”

In March 2001, Homer Avila - who had been dancing with Twyla Tharp,Bill T. Jones, Mark Morris and Momix among others - discovered that the pain in his hip was cancer. One month later, his right leg and most of his hip were amputated. What unfolds is the story that leads to the pas de deux called “Pas”, which the renowned Alonzo King choreographed for Homer, now missing one leg, and Andrea Flores.

Phoenix Dance has been short-listed as an Academy Award-nominee in the Best Short Documentary category.

A native of Germany, Karina Epperlein has worked in Europe and the U.S. for the past thirty years as a filmmaker, theater artist and teacher. Her earlier video pieces Labyrinthian (1984) and i.e.Deutschland (1988) were followed by Voices From Inside (1996), a documentary about women in prison and their children which won the PASS Media Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency; Women's Rites (2000) about Anna Halprin's Expressive Arts Therapy; I Will Not Be Sad In This World (2001), a portrait of a 94-year-old Armenian woman who survived the genocide of her people in 1915. Karina directed and co-produced (with John Knoop) We Are Here Together (2003), a film about the tempestuous first year of an alternative charter high school in Alameda, California, chronicling the young peoples’ growth.