earthly beings

Earthly Beings is a film by directed byJody Oberfelder, music by Missy Mazzoli, cinematography by Christian Scheider and editing Nate Reininga, devised with young people from the theater company:  “Our Fabulous Variety Show”  In this poetic cinematic world, we ask: how can our embodied presence as humans yield a gentle impact on the future? How do we collaborate with each other and the earth?.

Rube G

‘Rube G’ created by Jody Oberfelder in collaboration with Eric Siegel is inspired by American cartoonist Rube Goldberg’s machines designed to perform a simple task in an indirect way. The film compiles numerous video submissions of people performing simple physical tasks.

Winner of Jury’s Citation Award at 41st annual Thomas Edison Film Festival; awarded“Best Movie Filmed In Quarantine Short Film” in 2021 Five Continents International Film Festival.

Amphitheater

An improv during Covid
Part of a simultaneous event "Dance Rising" where hundreds of NYC professionals dancers all danced from 5-5:30 October 1, 2020 Performers and camera:
Emily Giovine, Jade Manns, Jody Oberfelder, and Sally Silvers Music: Carlos de Seixas
Editing: Jody Oberfelder Footage of dancers in bandshell: Bruce Matthews

X and O

A human tic tac toe game with 26 players, this short film seeks connections on and off the grid.
Concept and direction: Jody Oberfelder
Editing and animation: Eric Siegel
Music: Andy Akiho
Performers:
Kyla Barkin, Cara Brooke, Simon Burrill, Lyla Forest Butler, Nigel Butler, Syd Butler, Amy Carlson, Janessa Clark, Emmarose Cohen, Jane Comfort, Aditi Dhruv, Emily Giovine, Pierre Guilbault, Misuzu Hara, Marie Christine Katz, Malcolm Low, Mary Madsen, Jana Oberfelder-Riehm, Jody Oberfelder, Maya Orchin, Lonnie Poupard, Jule Jo Rameriz, Mark Sanderlin, Amanda Sommers, Hannah Wendel, Mark Willis, Mei Yamanaka

Dance Where Things Grow

Performer: Jody Oberfelder a garden dance  

Back. Float. Drift.

Performer: Jody Oberfelder Camera: Jasper Oberfelder-Riehm

Having a Ball During Covid

Performer: Jody Oberfelder Created April 2020

if i were in the room with you

Created from Zoom rehearsals in April 2020 Directed by Jody Oberfelder Performance by Mei Yamanaka, Mark Willis, Emily Giovine, and Maya Orchin

Dance Of The Neurons

Co-Directed by Jody Oberfelder and Eric Siegel
Edited By Eric Siegel.

4Chambers Film

A film Inspired by the heroics of the heart.
Director: Jody Oberfelder
Cinematography and Editing: Jason Bahling
Dancers: ChristinaNoel Reaves, Lonnie Poupard, Jake Szczypek, Jessica Weiss

COME SIT STAY 

Running Time: 6 minutes
Writer / Director: Jody Oberfelder
Cinematography: Clarissa de los Reyes
Editor: Daniel Garcia
Composer/Sound Design: Brendan Berry
Performers: Rebekah Morin, Carlton Ward, and Bailey the dog

Special Thanks to Eleanor Burke, Edwina von Gal, Juergen Riehm, Jillian Patterson, Clare Cook, Megan Madorin
© C with a circle productions 2011 screened at Dance on Camera Festival (2012) Diamond Award, California Film  Award (2012) Athens Film Festival (2011) Cape Fear Film Festival (2011) Fear No Film Festival (2011) No Limits Festival (2011)

HEAD FIRST 2010

Running Time 3 minutes  
Director / Choreographer: Jody Oberfelder
Cinematography: Sam Heesen
Editing: Design Brooklyn
Music: Bagdads (Steve Housepian/Jody Oberfelder)
Assistant to Director: Meg Madorin
Dancers:  Abby Block, Clare Cook, Jessica Cosentino, Angelica Kushi, Megan Madorin, Rebekah Morin, ChristinaNoel Reaves, Jody Oberfelder, Jule Jo Ramirez, Ed Rice, Sarah Rodak, Nancy M. Schwartz, Julie Segall, Jake Szczypek, Kerry Paige Teamey, Hayley Waters, Ilana Webber
Skateboarders: Dan Torres, Tennessee Nunez

Special thanks to Spin City Cycle, Bicycles, Susan Morris, Samantha Dunsdon, Yana Oberfelder-Riehm, Juergen Riehm, Malik Houari, Jimmy Carbone, Meg Madorin, Sydney Skybetter, Clare Cook, Design Brooklyn

© C with a circle productions 2010
Screened at Rover (2011), Kinetic Cinema (2012)

SNEW

Synopsis: Snew suggests connections via language that is not yet tangible: the life that happens in between bits of information in a media saturated world.
Running Time 3 minutes
Co-directors: Jody Oberfelder and David Lachman
Cinematography David Lachman
Sound design and Editing: Will Arnold
Performers: Luke Gutgsell, Elise Knudson, Rebekah Morin, Jody Oberfelder, Brandin Stephenson, Carlton Ward

© C with a circle productions 2008
Jody Oberfelder / David Lachman / Will Arnold win the first ever Move the Frame Videodance Contest (Week One) June 5, 2009

RAPT  

Synopsis: A very pregnant woman rolls into water, into the world of her unborn child.
Running Time 7 minutes
Co Directed and choreographed by: Sara Joel and Jody Oberfelder
Performed by Sara Joel
Composer: Komsta Jylha
Cinematography: Lesley Avery Gould
Costume: Costume Realization by Jessica Delia
Edited by Lesley Avery Gould, Sara Joel and Jody Oberfelder
© 2007

Screened at Visonfest Independent Film Festival (2007) Dance Camera Instanbul (2008) Dance on Camera Festival (2007)

LineAge  

Synopsis: LineAge, directed by choreographer Jody Oberfelder, contrasts the lines of our bodies with lines in landscape--imprints of time in nature and human nature. Martha Myers, 80 years old, breathes with the lineage of our dance community. Shot by Bessie Award winning cinematographer Ronald K. Gray, and edited by Janice Ahn, we are the heroes of the lines of our lives.

Running Time 7 minutes
DVD format (original format is digital (24p))
Choreographer/Director : Jody Oberfelder
Cinematography: Ronald K. Gray,
Editing by Janice Ahn
Featuring (in order of appearance) Martha Myers, Audrey Winslow, Jody Oberfelder, Rebekah Morin, Carlton Ward, Elise Knudson
Composer: Malina Rauschenfels
Camera Operators; Eleanor Burke, Janice Ahn
Running Time: 7 minutes
© 2005

BRAVE NEW WORLD

(Best Director, Best Art Direction) Starring Robert Krulwich and Ted Koppel Directed by Eric Siegel and Art Direction by Liz Keating. Jody Oberfelder choreographed the 1:30 minute opening for each of the eight episodes in addition to transitional bumpers. 

"Nightline in Primtime Brave New World" © 1999

CHANCE ENCOUNTERS

a six and a half minute B/W experimental film, is a collaboration between director/choreographer Jody Oberfelder, cinematographer Ben Speth and editor Aileen Buller. Through in-camera effects, experimentation and improvisation, "CHANCE ENCOUNTERS" explores the moment when film and dance meet. By eschewing a technocratic approach to filmmaking and preset choreography the dance and film spring from a tangential logic wherein an image spurs movement and movement spurs image.

This film is a unique result of three professionals: a choreographer, cinematographer, and editor. Most of the film/dance encounters were unplanned. The double exposures came out of a chance backwinding in the camera. Although non-narrative, the film's energy and flow is organized by images colliding in evocative clusters. A strong sense of human spirit and mutual support seeps into this uplifting, dream-like collage. The everpresent grit in the city is softened by dancers tumbling and rolling to the ground, appearing to be diving under oncoming cars on a Brooklyn steeet. The camera roams through stained glass corridors as dancers carry one another ceremoniously. In this poetic collage of images, the heart and nature of people creates an undertow of gentle humanity. 

This film was funded by the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Film Program .

Duet 

To a score of fetal heartbeats, Jody Oberfelder's award winning 16 mm Black/White film "Duet" (made in collaboration with cinematographer Ben Speth) is an intimate view of a woman and her unborn child. The piece captures the temporal aspects of pregnancy, its luscious physicality, and animal qualities.

1990
Running Time 10 minutes
Choreographed and Performed by: Jody Oberfelder
Cinematographer: Ben Speth
Sound: Florian Michel

This piece has won prizes from The Dance on Camera Festival, The New York Film Expo, and the Festival Internacional de Video Dance.