BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.4.6//EN TZID:America/New_York X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:158622@kingstonhappenings.org DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261101T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261101T183000 DTSTAMP:20261012T115029Z URL:https://kingstonhappenings.org/events/dance-on-film-her-magnum-opus/ SUMMARY:Dance on Film: Her Magnum Opus DESCRIPTION:Directed by Marta Renzi\n\nPresented by Jonathan Demme\nA Woode n Toy Production\nProduced by Paul Galando and And Dancers\, Inc.\n\nSynop sis\n\nA group of friends gather to celebrate their mentor and learn that what lasts is those you leave behind. A freewheeling narrative enacted alm ost entirely through movement and music\, Her Magnum Opus is an ode to cre ativity and community. A tantalizing mix of magic realism and improvised n aturalism\, the film unfolds in a bucolic setting– a beach\, a forest\, a country house which is a source of inspiration and solace. A remarkable feature debut for award-winning choreographer Renzi\, for whom dancers hav e always been people first.\n\nDirector’s Statement\n\nEveryone is conne cted. That connection can be expressed in movement\, without words. Everyo ne can dance. In fact\, we already are.\n\nWith Her Magnum Opus\, director Marta Renzi asks of her audience a quietly revolutionary act: keep compan y with a large and fluid gathering of folks\, let go of narrative expectat ions and fall into the rhythms of movement\, mood and music while carried along by the currents of time and the seasons.\n\nAward-winning director J onathan Demme had already been a long-time fan of neighbor Renzi’s dance film shorts. Perhaps what drew him to nurture Renzi’s vision in post-pr oduction of this\, her first feature\, was his sense that “this is a new way of entertaining”.\n\nJoanna Ney\, curator of Dance on Camera at the Film Society of Lincoln Center calls it “Altmanesque”\, singling out the variety of music that leads the action – into the forest\, onto the beach\, and back again and again to the little house that is the heart of the group.\n\nThe gray-haired force of nature who is the hub of this commu nity\, as portrayed by Aileen Passloff with earthy passion\, led independe nt filmmaker John Sayles to call Opus “a Grace Paley short story told in movement.”\n\nShot on a shoestring over the course of 4 seasons on an e xtraordinary property in Renzi’s backyard along the Hudson River\, Opus features a host of cinematographers\, including Kal Toth\, Cari Ann Shim S ham\, Charles Caster-Dudzick and Paul Galando\, whose hyphenated contribut ions also include producer-performer-father. Galando and his daughter Gigi \, long-time Renzi collaborator Deborah Tacon and her daughter Maya\, Renz i’s own two grown sons Amos and Lorenzo Wolff – and baby Aya born (off -screen!) to Tina Vasquez – improvise their visits to the cottage with t he ebb and flow of an extended family\, erasing the borders between real l ife and fantasy.\n\nToth\, Cari Ann Shim Sham\, Charles Caster-Dudzick and Paul Galando\, whose hyphenated contributions also include producer-perfo rmer-father. Galando and his daughter Gigi\, long-time Renzi collaborator Deborah Tacon and her daughter Maya\, Renzi’s own two grown sons Amos an d Lorenzo Wolff – and baby Aya born (off-screen!) to Tina Vasquez – im provise their visits to the cottage with the ebb and flow of an extended f amily\, erasing the borders between real life and fantasy. Although the en semble also includes performers with memorable careers in major modern dan ce companies such as Bill T Jones / Arnie Zane (Arthur Avilés) and Martha Graham (Blakeley White-McGuire) their movement is understated\, tuned to a very human scale that avoids bravura or pretension. Other performers inc lude those with experience on Broadway (Max Kumangai\, Amos Wolff) and on tv and film (Jim Desmond).\n\nThe score\, a constant presence in Her Magnu m Opus\, comes from a wide range of sources – professional and amateur\, classical and folk\, with original music composed by Ljova threaded throu ghout. From Romanian singer Maria Tanase\, to music by Tchaikovsky and Dvo rak\, the cottage in the woods might be inhabited by Baba Yaga – except for the distinctly American flavor of David Pulkingham’s acoustic versio n of Working on the Railroad\, or Lorenzo Wolff’s rocking Flowers. About the sound design\, created with Caleb Townsend in the studios of Oscarwin ner Skip Lievsay\, Renzi says: “After a decade of making DIY films\, thi s kind of painstaking\, world-making sound editing is a complete revelatio n.”\n\nRenzi also notes\, “the wooden toys that come alive in Opus ref lect my love of art that is home-made\, hand-made: something crafted anony mously that calls to us across generations\, and cultures.” Just as\, sh e hopes\, will Her Magnum Opus.\n\nAbout the Director\n\nMarta Renzi is an independent filmmaker and choreographer whose work bridges dance and film in deeply human\, community-centered narratives. She has made more than 7 5 dances for her Project Company\, including her BESSIE-award-winning Vita l Signs. Her site-specific pieces in locations such as the Guggenheim Muse um\, Union Station and the Staten Island Ferry\, led naturally to her work in video and film. Since 2005\, she has directed\, edited and produced ov er 30 short films and documentaries\, often working with non-professional performers in real-world settings. Her award-winning films have screened a t over 300 festivals across the US and internationally. Renzi was the firs t recipient of a Dancing in the Streets award\, and has received support f rom the National Endowment for the Arts\, the Jerome Foundation\, and the NY State Council on the Arts. Her debut feature film\, HER MAGNUM OPUS\, w as released in 2017. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://kingstonhappenings.org/wp-content/upload s/2026/10/Her-Magnum-Opus-sm.jpg CATEGORIES:@Featured,Movies LOCATION:Rosendale Theater\, 408 Main St\, Rosendale\, New York\, 12472\, U nited States GEO:41.8441401;-74.0821133 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=408 Main St\, Rosendale\, N ew York\, 12472\, United States;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Rosendale Theat er:geo:41.8441401,-74.0821133 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York X-LIC-LOCATION:America/New_York BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20261101T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0500 TZNAME:EST END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR