The dance mockumentary The Bentfootes–for which Illustration Alum and Part-time Faculty member Robert Sikoryak contributed archival animation, design and illustration–won second place in the Narrative Feature category at the Landlocked Film Festival in Iowa City. Here’s the official description of the movie:
Writer Todd Alcott and choreographer Kriota Willberg team up to direct their first feature film, a loving skewering of 200 years of American dance. Funny, touching and irreverent, The Bentfootes tells the story of a fictitious every-choreographer, Susan Bentfoote (1966-2005) (Nina Hellman) and her quasi-illustrious family, who managed to keep their demented muse alive through all of American history. We follow Jim Raritan (James Urbaniak), Susan’s boyfriend, as he takes us on a wide-eyed, enthusiastic, exasperating journey of discovery into a forgotten tributary in the river of American dance culture and watch as he goes from being the lover of a dead choreographer to becoming a producer of American Modern Dance. A ‘mockumentary’ melange of Spinal Tap and Ken Burns, The Bentfootes includes a memorial concert of Bentfoote dances, interviews with family and friends, historical photos, film and family memorabilia. In its own tongue-in-cheek way it explores the American dancer’s artistic aesthetic from post-revolutionary times to the present.
Congratulations to Bob, the filmmakers, and everyone involved!