The “Local Gems” film block, including short film ‘The Field’ directed by and starring dancer and choreographer Sadi Mosko, was part of a combined Filmfort and Artfort event at the March 2022 Treefort Music Festival held in Boise, Idaho.
‘The Field’ came to life thanks to a grant from the Covid Cultural Commissioning Fund, a collaborative partnership between Treefort Music Fest, the Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, and the Boise City Department of Arts & History. But the idea began to take root in April of 2020 when Mosko found herself back in Boise during the pandemic-related New York City arts scene shut down.
From a window in her parents’ home, she watched Idaho plants both native and invasive move and develop in response to warmer, longer days. Her fascination with nature was nothing new. In fact, her paper “Stepping Sustainably: The Potential Partnership Between Dance and Sustainable Development” makes a case for the connection between art, dance, and environmental science, and she’d already been posting site-specific improv shorts in natural spaces to her Instagram account.
A short film was the next logical thing to do, so she teamed up with videographer, editor, and fellow dancer William Bowers to create a 6 minute and 33 second film described as: “From sunrise to sunset, a dancer interacts with a desert setting, exploring themes of decay, renewal, connection, and isolation while exposing the brilliance of environmental systems as they transition and regenerate.”
The filmmaking team selected three shooting locations in the Boise foothills, and Mosko wove three choreographed dance phrases together with improvisations inspired by each location and its feel in the moment.
During the post-screening Q&A, William described the film editing process. As he spoke, he moved his body in a way that naturally reflected the journey of finding the film’s rhythm and the mood of each moment, a skill every editor must possess. The result of this first-time collaboration between dancer-filmmakers is a short film that introduces the uninitiated to Boise’s topography and plant life and shows how our minds and bodies cannot help but be influenced by and interact with our environments.
Watch the official film trailer on YouTube.
Header and ‘The Field’ promo images by William Bowers
Sadi Mosko and William Bowers photo by Terry Welch
