In Dog Years I'm Dead von Kenji Ouellet
Young ballet dancers – not the typical poster children of ballet school, not the winners of the system – train and comment their exercises with quotes from known personalities ranging from the likes of Kim Kardashian, Sasha Grey, Therese of Avila to dancers and choreographers like Mikhail Baryschnikov and George Balanchine. Taking the ideology, body politics, hierarchy and fate facing children training in ballet as a starting point, the film raises issues that go beyond the dance world.
2018, HD, Stereo, 13 Min.
To what extent the children and adolescents who say those memorable, sometimes deeply philosophical phrases, humorous statements and seemingly banal truisms understand them remains unclear. Within that disconcerting contrast a full picture arises, which is as fascinating as it is contradictory- the work is about dance but is able to point far beyond it.
(Text: Ingo Clauss)
Kenji Ouellet. Born in Québec and based in Berlin, director Kenji Ouellet is also a pianist (MA Piano Performance, CUNY), graduated in Digital Art (University for Applied Arts, Vienna) and in Experimental Media Design (Film, University of the Arts, Berlin). His work consists mostly of films/videos and performances for the touch sense and has been shown internationally, including at the Media Forum (Moscow International Film Festival), the Zendai Museum of Modern Art (Shanghai), the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art (Bremen), Videologia (Volgograd), the Cologne Art Film Biennial, the Strange Screen Festival (Thessaloniki), Le Havre Biennial, Media Art Friesland (NL), the European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), Videoex (Zürich) and at the Mois Multi (Québec).




