Avant

In Uruguay, a forgotten national ballet company is shaken into life by the arrival of one of the best ballet dancers of all time.

Film Signature Image
Series
Global Voices
Premiere Date
June 26, 2016
Length
60 minutes
Funding Initiative
International
Producer/Director

Juan Alvarez Neme

Uruguayan filmmaker Juan Alvarez Neme studied at the Film School of Uruguay in 1999. He is an independent producer of documentaries and television programming, specializing in directing, editing, and script writing.

Producer

Virginia Bogliolo

Virginia Bogliolo earned a degree in Social Communication from the Uruguayan Republic University in 2000. She taught film production at the Uruguayan School of Cinema until 2009 and today is at the Bios School of Communications. Between 2003 and 2008 she was an executive at Lavorágine Films, and is now a producer for Tarkiofilm, developing and producing… Show more films with international distribution potential. Show less

Executive Producer

Pablo Ratto

Born in Argentina in 1969, Pablo Ratto received a degree in physics at the Faculty of Sciences of the UBA. He decided in 2002 to abandon science to devote himself exclusively to movies. With his production company Trivial Media he produced the documentary M, which won the Best Latin American Feature film and the FIPRESCI Award at the Festival Internacional… Show more de Cine de Mar del Plata. He was the first Latin American producer that won a prize at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival in Yamagata, Japan. Show less

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The Film

After retiring as a professional dancer, Julio Bocca, one of the most famous ballet dancers of modern times, accepts the challenge to direct a forgotten national ballet in Uruguay, which is based out of an unfinished theater.

A group of young dancers from varied backgrounds leave everything behind to audition for the resurrected national dance company.

Avant explores the contrast between the Argentine Bocca's quest for excellence and the daily life of this company, set in a changing scenery that frames the lives of dancers, workers, cleaners, and technicians. The film explores a dance company as it evolves, providing a view on who we are through what we do.

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