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<\/a><\/p>\nDolphin Dance Project\u2019s film Together: Dancing with Spinner Dolphins won Best Short Film in Animal Advocacy category by the Artivist Film Festival. The two-day festival begins Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
Together is a documentary by New York-based Japanese choreographer and filmmaker Chisa Hidaka, founder of Dolphin Dance Project. Beautifully shot in the Pacific Ocean, the film portrays how the language of dance creates \u201cunique works of interspecies art.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the most recent award for the well-received short. Together was named Best Experimental Film in its world premiere at the 2010 Big Apple Film Festival in New York and was an official selection at the Colorado Environmental Film Festival, where it was given an additional screening due to audience demand. The documentary was one of twenty finalists chosen to screen at the Ocean Inspiration Festival honoring the 100th anniversary of Jacques Cousteau last spring.<\/p>\n
The purpose of Dolphin Dance Project is to explore the relationships established between human dancers and wild dolphins and to create films about those encounters. Hidaka hopes the films will increase awareness of the dolphins in their natural habitat and inspire countries \u2013 especially her native Japan and her adoptive United States \u2013 to protect dolphins and the oceans in which they live.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the opening night of the Artivist Film Festival at Columbia, five award-winning short films \u2013 including Together \u2013 will be screened. These films demonstrate Artivist\u2019s dedication to raising awareness for humanity, animals, and the environment. Hidaka, an alumna of Columbia University who currently lectures in the Barnard Dance Department, will participate in a panel discussion.<\/p>\n