Dreaming requires practice. Flying Lesson is a sweet sail one foot above Brooklyn, conceived and performed by Rosane Chamecki and Andrea Lerner, known for their fantasy and raw movement. Jury Prize, 2008 Dance on Camera Film Festival, Lincoln Center (NYC); Best Experimental Film, 2008 Brooklyn International Film Festival (NYC)
Rosane Chamecki and Andrea Lerner are natives of Curitiba, Brazil. They moved to New York in 1989 and founded their dance company Chameckilerner in 1993. Since then they have created numerous critically acclaimed choreographies that were presented in New York and toured around the world. In 2007, they premiered Exit at the Kitchen in New York. This piece was a good-bye to their dance career. Flying Lesson is their first attempt at making films and a collaboration with award winning filmmaker and cinematographer Phil Harder.
Philip Harder has directed more than 200 music videos, numerous short films, and commercial projects. He has earned several top distinctions including an MVPA award for Best Alternative Video, MTV Awards video nomination, an AICP Video, SXSW short film award, and a nomination for MVPA’s Director of the Year. "Flying Lesson" won the jury prize at the 2008 Dance on Camera Film Festival at Lincoln Center, New York. The team is now in pre-production of their next project The Collection.
What inspired you to make this piece?
While we were working on a performance piece about an "artistic suicide ", we were dealing with the subject of aging and relevance. We felt the future and the possibilities narrowing in front of our eyes, and really wanted to proof ourselves wrong. So we thought of an impossible dream and made it happened: We wanted to fly!
Briefly tell us about how you made your film or video: what camera and format did you use to shoot your piece, and what system did you use to edit it? What is your working process? Did you use any special techniques to make this work?
Flying Lesson was a truly collaborative process, between Phil Harder, and us from creation to execution. As we came up with the idea of flying, Phil showed us the film technique of jump/flying. It is very simple and can be done with any still camera. Our film was mostly shot on High Definition, but some of the flying scenes were shot with a Canon Powershot..
Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this particular work?
Flying Lesson was made for a life performance, a piece called EXIT that premiered at The Kitchen in New York. It was a dance piece about the end of chaemckilerner’s dance career. (chameckilerner was the name of our dance company). At first we did not think of Flying Lesson as a stand alone film - but that once we did, the film "took off". So, it kind of came to fruition the metaphor that it represented in the live performance: the transition to a new beginning.
What is the relationship between your work as a video/filmmaker and life in the New York metropolitan area?
We arrived from Brazil, the late 1980's, to find our place in the arts scene in New York. And not only the city, but its people and its art have been and continue to be a constant inspiration..
What films/videos and makers have inspired you or influenced your work? And why?
This particular short film was partially inspired by Takashi Miike’s “The Bird People of China”. In general though our life’s work has been influenced by so many artists, filmmakers, choreographers and musicians that it is hard to just pick a few to list it here.
If viewers are interested in obtaining copies of your work for rental or purchase, whom should they contact and at what address and phone number?
Flying Lesson is available in a limited edition as a video art piece through
Roebling Hall Gallery, NY.
To purchase a DVD copy, please send an email :
rosane@gibiteca.com
