''Only When I Dance'' is a 2009

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

directed by Beadie Finzi.

Synopsis

''Only When I Dance'' tells the story of two teenagers, Irlan and Isabela, who pursue their dreams of becoming professional ballet dancers as a way to escape the violent slums of Rio de Janeiro.

Release

The film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

in April 2009. It was subsequently shown at several other major film festivals, including the

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...

, the San Francisco International DocFest, the

Rio Film Festival The Festival do Rio is an international film festival in Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populou ...

Guadalajara Film Festival The Guadalajara International Film Festival () is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other important festivals from around t ...

and

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary Film festival, festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festiv ...

. It was broadcast on television in the United Kingdom on

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

2009. It was released in USA in summer 2010. Prior to release it was pitched at the 2007

MeetMarket.

Production

The producers spent over three years trying to find the candidates to be filmed, and the film took around ten months to film.

Reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' awarding it four out of five stars and calling it a "moving, if rather shallow documentary". The website Eye for Film awarded the film three and a half out of five stars, saying the film "shows how an artistic calling can be imbued with life-and-death determination."

References

External links

* 2009 films Documentary films about ballet Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city) 2000s Portuguese-language films 2009 documentary films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films British musical documentary films English-language documentary films {{arts-documentary-film-stub