Carmel-based Ballet Theatre of Indiana’s short film “Absolution” will be shown at the world-famous Chinese Theater in Los Angeles as a part of the Dances With Films Festival. The film will be shown at 2:45 p.m. June 8. “Absolution” was choreographed by London-based Indiana native Sarah Farnsley and shot by Emmy-winning independent filmmaker Bryan Boyd in Oct. 2017. The film depicts a group of people in purgatory learning to cope with their regrets.
“The House of the Rising Sun is a place of transition in music and folklore. It’s a purgatory where travelers, vagabonds and lost souls cross paths before continuing toward their life after,” Farnsley stated in a news release. “‘Absolution’ is a snapshot of that purgatory, that waiting room, where souls must accept the regrets and disappointments in their lives before they can cross over. Personal struggles are highlighted in duets and solos throughout the piece. Some remorse is too difficult to let go, though, and while many find reprieve from their sins and escape the cycle of self-recrimination, others are doomed to stay and repeat it.”
“‘Absolution’ was really made with theatrical showing in mind, and it’s so indicative of the boundary-breaking ethos of BTI,” stated director Stirling Matheson, artistic director for Ballet Theatre of Indiana.
The film was shot at Holladay Park in Indianapolis with cooperation from the Indy Parks Dept. and generous sponsorship from French cinema optics company Angenieux and Indiana’s WFYI.
Dances With Films is a 21-year-old festival in Los Angeles that includes 11 days of programming.
