This week’s webdance showcases Duncan McDowall, a writer and director originally from Canada. Starting off in the factual filmmaking business, McDowall worked on shows such as Discovery Channel’s How it’s Made. Transitioning into a more narrative fiction category, McDowall began creating works that demonstrated art and its existence. Upon creating Painted, McDowall won the Best Dance Film at the 2012 Fastnet Short Film Festival and was also nominated for Best of Festival and Best Original Music.
In McDowall’s short film Painted, a female dancer explores the walls of a building as it decays. With the choreography and music score, both embody the building’s retreat from the surrounding physical world. With the entrance of the dancer, distressed surreal images of the building are projected across the screen. As the black bird comes into frame, the audience can then identify the dancer as a creature of nature. Showing the toll of nature on the building, the dancer progresses across the cement floor until her final steps of life.
Click here to view the embedded video.
In 2010, Duncan also won the 12th edition of the COURS ÉCRIRE TON COURT annual scriptwriting competition for his short film script, The Horse Latitudes.
