Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, September 22:
BOBBI JENE
Director:
Elvira Lind
Premiere:
Tribeca 2017
Select Festivals:
Hot Docs, Camden, Docaviv, Docs Against Gravity, Biografilm, Melbourne, Helsinki
About:
An American dancer leaves a position with Israel’s premier dance company to return to the US to begin a solo career.
Bobbi Jene left Juilliard to join Ohad Naharin’s internationally acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv a decade ago. On the eve of turning 30, she makes the difficult decision to move on, sharing the news that she’s relocating to San Francisco with both her mentor (and past lover), Naharin, and her current partner, Or. The latter, a fellow dancer ten years her junior, agrees to maintain a long-distance relationship, though it’s increasingly clear Bobbi Jene wants him to come to America. Lind keeps the focus on Bobbie Jene as she starts over in the Bay Area, teaching and working on a very personal, vulnerable, and sexually-charged piece that is shown in snippets here. While praised by friends and fellow dancers as revelatory, viewers not particularly attuned to modern dance may be left scratching their heads at what all the fuss is about. Similarly, while the handsomely shot observational film itself has clearly resonated with some for its intimacy, claiming multiple accolades upon its debut, it frankly doesn’t feel that particularly different from other portraits of young artists and their creative process.
what (not) to doc 