10/12/2018 - The groundbreaking multiplatform initiative, directed by Stéphane Hueber-Blies and Nicolas Blies, is being produced by a cluster of Luxembourgish and Canadian partners

Following the creation of a joint co-development and co-production incentive, the Film Fund Luxembourg and the Canada Media Fund have recently granted financial support to the new project by the so-called “Blies Brothers” (Stéphane Hueber-Blies and Nicolas Blies), entitled Ghostdance. It comprises the making of a 90-minute animated feature intended for both a theatrical and a television release, a digital documentary series and a citizen platform. Each component has been conceived as a tool for civic and creative resistance against the worldwide phenomenon of femicide, with the main purpose being to raise awareness and educate viewers about gender equality.

The animated feature will touch on intimacy and move the audience, the documentary series will alert viewers to the subject of systematic femicide around the world, and the citizen platform will mobilise and engage them, using dance as a therapeutic and universal language. In particular, the documentary series will consist of six episodes, filmed at different locations on several continents, such as Russia, South Africa and Argentina. For these episodes, the producers will cooperate closely with local filmmakers, activists, musicians and choreographers who are committed to making the public more aware of the project's themes.

The project as a whole, currently in development, is being directed and penned by the Blies Brothers, the creators and authors of the social impact film Zero Impunity [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], which deals with the theme of sexual violence in wartime, and was supported by the Film Fund Luxembourg and the CNC. Furthermore, the Blies Brothers availed themselves of the services of filmmaker of Abenaki descent Kim O'Bomsawin, who has previously worked on the production of several documentary series and one-offs for Canal D, Radio-Canada and APTN, and recently scripted the documentary feature Quiet Killing, about murdered indigenous women in Canada, which was screened at the latest edition of the Vancouver International Film Festival in October.

Produced by Marion Guth and François Le Gall for a_BAHN, Stephan Roelants for Mélusine Productions, Kim O’Bomsawin, Josée Rock, Francine Allaire and Andrée-Anne Frenette for Maliotenam-based Terre Innue (Canada), and Philippe Lamarre and Raphaëlle Huysman for Montreal-based Urbania Media (Canada), Ghostdance will be released in 2020.