PEOPLE’S CHOICE

What is Film Festival about?

This is not a dance contest—it’s a video contest. Our jury evaluates each entry as a complete film. Technique matters, but only as one ingredient in the overall cinematic impact.

Dance-on-film is its own art form. The camera, edit, sound, and setting shape how audiences experience the dance. Our awards honor entries that merge strong performance with strong filmmaking.

Sofiyeah – Népdal (Folk Song) feat. Nymph Oriental Dance Company

Synopsis:
This theatrical dance performance video was created as a collaboration of singer-songwriter Sofiyeah and choreographer-creative director Mercedes Nieto, to bring this very personal Hungarian “oriental folk” style song to life with the power of dance. The main element is the large red fabric that covers up the singer – who starts the song alone on stage, appearing out of smoke like a dreamy vision. The dancers then appear, who not just “become” the many faces and feelings of the singer but help unburden her by removing the fabric, followed by a choreography of gently flowing movements that reflect on the lyrics. The song ends with the sense of hope, shared pain and the caring love of a female community that surrounds the singer.

Category: Theater

Credits:
Songwriter and music production: Zsófi Balogh (Sofiyeah)
Mixing and mastering: Anna Elza Garay
Video: Balázs Lajti, Melinda Melis (AFILM)
Choreographer & creative producer: Mercedes Nieto
Singer: Zsófi Balogh
Dancers: Alexandra Varga, Anna Kajtár, Dalma Wittmann, Ágnes Simon, Georgina Kiss, Brigitta Mezei, Lina Ballabás
Event: Oriental Dance Show by Mercedes Nieto & NIMFEUM Dance Studio
Venue: 6szín Budapest, Hungary
Date of performance: 20th June 2025

Artist bio: 

Sofiyeah (Zsófi Balogh) is a Hungarian singer, songwriter, producer and dancer. Her latest song Népdal (Folk Song) is written in the style of a Hungarian folk song with an oriental twist. The harmonized vocals flow over a repetitive frame drum (riq) beat while the four verses tell the tale of a life full of loneliness, pain and sorrow, but also love, strength and growth. The idea of creating a dance performance for the song arose because at the time the song was written was also when Zsófi returned to oriental dance (after a decade of pause) in Mercedes Nieto’s Nimfeum Studio in Budapest. Mercedes is an internationally renowned oriental dance artist who took the song to another level as she created and directed this beautiful choreography with her dance company, the Nymphs. The video was filmed at Nimfeum Studio’s gala show by longtime collaborators Balázs Lajti and Melinda Melis. 

Ya Sayedati

“Ya Sayedati” arrived at Secret Garden like a whisper… and became a collective voice. This choreography was an act of presence, listening, and reverence for the feminine — in its strength, its delicacy, and its dignity. Each movement was an offering: to the remembering body, to the lineage that sustains us, and to the woman who knows herself as the owner of her own space.

This piece left us with something deeply meaningful: the certainty that when we dance from truth, the message reaches its destination. Gratitude to each dancer who held this work with commitment, sensitivity, and heart. This is also Secret Garden: dance with intention, beauty with depth. 🌿✨

Category: Contemporary

Dancers
Paola Rodriguez, Sara Osorio, Lida Suaza, Carolina Diazgranados

Direction & Choreography: Mara Angarita

📸 Video: Richard Palomares

Ghawazee Dance

“Love is a spark that dwells in the chest, a flame that does not go out, even when silence tries to cover it. Love is movement — a current that flows through the soul and makes it dance.” — Inspired by Fadwa Tuqan, Arab poet.

Dance was born among the people, among women who knew the rhythm of the earth and the pulse of the heart. They were the Ghawazee — plural of Ghaziyya, “she who conquers with her gaze and her dance.”

They lived and danced in caravans, carrying their art from village to village, from Upper Egypt (Sa‘id) to the Delta, weaving paths of music, percussion, and movement. They were the guardians of Egypt’s popular pulse, before theaters, studios, and the lights of Cairo existed. Their dance was — and still is — deeply feminine and grounded. Feet firm on the earth, strong elbows, living hips.
The torso breathes, the shoulders respond, and the heart leads.

Feminine movement here does not seek to please, but to exist. It is an affirmation: “I am here, I am body, I am history, I am root.”

The Ghawazee of Upper Egypt danced with sticks — asayas made of bamboo or palm — inheriting gestures from Tahtib, the men’s martial dance, and transforming them into strength and elegance. Those of the Delta, instead, embraced joy, playfulness, and ornamentation: spins, short steps, lively vibrations that made onlookers laugh.

Their garments were layers of color and sound: silks, cottons, sequins, scarves with coins that spoke as they danced. They wore facial tattoos — blue markings that told of their clan or history, small suns, triangles, dots on the chin or temples — and henna on their hands, a secret language of beauty and protection.

They danced at weddings, celebrations, and rites of passage. But they also danced to sustain their lives, their freedom, their identity. And although time pushed them to the margins, their influence remained: without the Ghawazee, Oriental dance as we know it today would not exist. Every undulation, every hip vibration, every smile offered to the audience carries their memory.

Today, as we move our bodies, we understand them as ancestral memory, as creative energy. The belly that gives life, the hips that support, the back that endures.

And when we dance together — in community, in circle, in shared gaze —
we revive something sacred: the certainty that movement can heal, that dance is a form of love, and that the wind that once moved the spirit and bodies of the Ghawazee still blows within us. 🌾

Category: Folkloric

🎶 Style: Ghawazee Dance (Egyptian Folklore)
🌺 With gratitude to the researcher-performers:
Maria Teresa Merchán, Carolina Diazgranados, Sara Osorio, Lida Suaza, Mónica Moreno, Liliana Gayón, Maria del Mar Sarria, Tibisay Molina, Patrick Andrea del Castillo

Directed by: Mara Angarita — @secretgardenrooh

📸 Video: Richard Palomares

Shik Shak Shok

There is a possibility of finding within ourselves the happiness, well-being, and abundance that we so often seek outside.
From self-love, inspiration is born to love others as well 💫

This was a journey we began with the longing to discover ourselves as women and dancers; to enjoy our differences, to accept one another, and simply to fall in love with ourselves. Because yes. Because we deserve it.

This project was born after the pandemic, at a time when we had not seen each other for a long while. We came together again to watch this video, to look at one another once more, to recognize ourselves. We celebrated life, friendship, dance, love, and the deep calm of breathing the same air together again ✨

Thank you for this Rugh Baladi 💓

Category: Raqs Sharqi

Dancers:
Sandra Gonzalez, Gloria Gonzalez, Erika Torres, Lida Suaza, Carolina Diazgranados, Diana García

Credits:
Direction and Choreography: Mara Angarita
Costume Design: Soley Duque
Video: Richard Palomares
A Secret Garden production.

Thank you to everyone who made this project possible 🤍

About:

Oriental dance performer and stage creator with over 12 years of experience. Her work focuses on the research of movement as a cultural, emotional, and symbolic vehicle, understanding dance as a living bridge between tradition, identity, and contemporary expression.

She is the director of Secret Garden, an artistic project that brings women together through discipline, sensitivity, and the pursuit of excellence (Ihsan), where dance is not only performed but deeply embodied with intention and depth. Her pedagogical and scenic approach invites audiences to experience culture through the body, beyond form.

Mara has developed creative, choreographic, and educational processes in artistic, educational, and community contexts, participating in stages, events, and projects that value Oriental dance as a living scenic art in constant dialogue with the present.

RAQSoul Spring Project – “Bloom” (Enta el Hob)

About you: Mercedes Nieto is an internationally renowned raqs sharki dancer, instructor, choreographer, organizer of the CAIRO! Fest Budapest since 2007, and director of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company since 2005. After teaching and performing in more than 50 countries worldwide her main passion remains working with other dancers, creating choreographies especially for groups and for theatre inspired performances.

Category: Raqs sharqi

Synopsis: Filmed in springtime Budapest, 21 dancers from 11 countries come together to celebrate the nurturing power of dance, love, renewal, and connection. Moving like a spring breeze, the dance reveals the invisible thread that binds us joyfully, collectively, and without borders.

This filming was a conclusion of a three days long dance journey where dancers explored emotional storytelling through the subtle details and nuances of a classic style Egyptian music – under the guidance of Mercedes Nieto, to a music especially composed for this project.

Choreography: Mercedes Nieto

Dancers: Anastasiia Soroka, Angélique Provost, Betina Hocke, Brigitta Mezei, Camila Wolter, Ditte Paludan, Georgina Kiss, Helle Nørgård Petersen, Julie Yallar, Kathreen Derouet, Linnea Færch, Luca Hajagos, Margarita Litvinenko, Marianne Elbæk Jull, Marie Machacova, Mateja Mikulan, Róisín Crosse, Sanja Voica, Vanessa Pihl, Zsófia Bánhidi & Mercedes Nieto

Director: Mercedes Nieto

Camera operators: Balázs Lajti & Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Editor: Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Music: composed by Nader Zakaria for the album “El Hawa” of Mercedes Nieto

Christmas From East to West

Dancer: Anjela
Camera operator and editor: Jared Ringold
Category: Raqs Sharqi

Shimmies & Sequins (’70s Style)

Dancer: Anjela
Camera operator and editor: Jared Ringold
Category: Vintage

Anjela’s Aziza Moment

Dancer: Anjela
Choreographer: Aziza of Montreal
Camera operator and editor: Jared Ringold

About: Anjela is a dancer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Since 2009, she has shared her expressive, lyrical style and joyful stage presence with audiences in person and online. Her work centers on human connection: using dance to lift spirits, spark delight, and remind viewers of the universal emotions we share. Through her films and performances, Anjela aims to create moments of beauty, presence, and joy that stay with audiences long after the music ends.

Soul Garden Project – “I’ll Meet You in My Dreams” (Bel Ahlam)

About you: Mercedes Nieto is an internationally renowned raqs sharki dancer, instructor, choreographer, organizer of the CAIRO! Fest Budapest since 2007, and director of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company since 2005. After teaching and performing in more than 50 countries worldwide her main passion remains working with other dancers, creating choreographies especially for groups and for theatre inspired performances.

Film title: Soul Garden Project – “I’ll Meet You in My Dreams” (Bel Ahlam)

Category: Contemporary

Synopsis: The touch of grass beneath our feet, the reflection of ourselves in one another, a world we can fill with our own colors. The clip paints an intimate world of dreams where we always find each other. Experimenting with space and time, feelings and moods, the dance is inspired by the airy, tender music of Nassif Zeytoun.

Directed by Mercedes Nieto, the film follows a creative experimental process of an international group of dancers during the Soul Garden Summer Bellydance Camp. It was filmed by Afilm on the shores of Lake Balaton, Hungary.

Choreography: Mercedes Nieto

Dancers: Anbjørg Kolaas, Anita Marosi-Kiss, Betina Hocke, Christina Delebekk, Ditte Paludan, Katalin Szeberényi, Lina Aleksejunaite, Linnea Færch, Maria Bonita Basco Fernandez, Róisín Crosse, Sara Cheikhani, Serenay Christina Sanchez, Szilvia Pandur, Vanessa Pihl & Mercedes Nieto

Director: Mercedes Nieto

Camera operators: Balázs Lajti & Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Editor: Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Music: Bel Ahlam by Nassif Zeytoun 

Hayarti Albi Maak

Music: Hayarti Albi Maak (The Cairo Orchestra)
Video & edit: aFilm.hu
Show of Cairo Festival Budapest 2022

Category: Raqs Sharqi

Bye Bye, Little Angel 

TITLE: Bye Bye, Little Angel
Some angels stay, some fly away. I am immensely grateful for the birth of my second daughter. This dance opens a theme of silent farewell, and I lovingly dedicate it to all moms out there. I hope it can bring some relief…
DIRECTOR, DANCER & CHOREO: Katka “Kathreen” Derouet
CAMERA: Lukáš Dave Prokop
EDIT: Katka “Kathreen” Derouet
MAKEUP: Karla Skalová
MUSIC: Youm Wara Youm by ‪@Elyanna‬

Category: Contemporary

About: Katka “Kathreen” Derouet is an internationally recognized dancer and choreographer who will celebrate 25 years of her career in 2026. She is the creator of numerous dance projects both at home and abroad and has performed in more than 20 countries worldwide. She directed the dance performance Dreams Come True, created the Czech-Slovak project Oriental Dance Connects, produced several dance projects in places such as Hong Kong and Denmark, and is the author of the dance film 7 Elements. She is also the winner of the 2009 Nile Group Festival in Egypt and the 2009 Bellydancer of the World comeptition in Germany.

She is the creator of a unique accredited teaching program for Oriental Dance instructors, supported by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Within 150 hours of training, she teaches her specialized methodology, including technique, styles, history, musical interpretation, choreography creation, and more.

She is currently a full-time mother and focuses primarily on online teaching. She is the founder of the inspiring online membership AHOJ! (Artistic Harmonious Oriental Journey), which introduces oriental dance, cultural contexts, and the basics of Arabic in an easy and accessible way.

As a celebration of her 25-year career, she is preparing a major new dance project. Starting in September 2026, she will launch The Silver Raqs Story, a large-scale artistic production connected to her anniversary year, with its official premiere planned for 2027.

www.katkaderouet.com
@kathreenderouet

Wild Woman

A dancer embarks on a mesmerising journey as she connects with the power of nature. With each step, water, air, earth, and fire shape her movements, revealing the profound harmony between the elements, the body and the soul.

Category: Theatre

Kirk Mason – Director, Cinematography, Editor
Casey Scott-Songin – Dancer and Choreographer
Denise Dehka Desmond – Costume Design
Sarah Scott – Costume Design
Original Music – Wild Woman by Anna Diorio (feat. Medusa the Gangsta Goddess & Grandmother Kaariina)
Music Remixed by Alexei Ekkel

A special note from Casey: This film was created to help my family through a difficult time. Made entirely by family when we came together to support my mother through her cancer treatment. Developed and filmed on my mother and father’s land, costumes by my mother Denise and sister Sarah, music remixed by my husband Alexei, and film directed, filmed and edited by my talented brother in law, Kirk. This film is dedicated to Denise Dekha Desmond, my mother, who taught me how to dance.

Casey is a Bellydance and Roma dancer based in Bristol UK. She has performed with dance companies across Canada, the United States and the UK and specialises in Egyptian Folkloric dances and Raqs Sharki. She also performs and teaches Eastern European and Russian Roma dancing across the UK and Europe as part of Balarom, an Eastern European folkloric and Roma band.

Nymph Oriental Dance Company – A Garden of Love (El Hob Koullu)

Stage name: Mercedes Nieto & the Nymph Oriental Dance Company

About you: Mercedes Nieto is an internationally renowned raqs sharki dancer, instructor, choreographer, organizer of the CAIRO! Fest Budapest since 2007, and director of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company since 2005. After teaching and performing in more than 50 countries worldwide her main passion remains working with other dancers, creating choreographies especially for groups and for theatre inspired performances.

Where are you from: Hungary

Film title: Nymph Oriental Dance Company – A Garden of Love (El Hob Koullu)

Category: Raqs sharqi

Synopsis: A lyrical piece in which dancers indulge in Raqs Sharqi like in a living, lush garden. They breathe with it and are nurtured by its pulses of joy and passion. Filmed in the botanical garden of Budapest just after a long period of quarantine, the clip (choreographed and directed by Mercedes Nieto and filmed by Afilm) arises from the thirst to dance together again and from a shared love of art. The dancers of the Nymph Oriental Dance Company, bonded for many years, bloom like petals of the same flower, moving as one body, as one heartbeat – to Oum Kalthoum’s eternal love song, El Hob Koullu.

“Life is all about, oh life is all about love, love and nothing else.”

Choreography: Mercedes Nieto

Dancers: Alexandra Varga, Anna Dalma Kajtár, Anita Makács, Ágnes Simon, Carmen Aguilar, Lina Ballabás, Orsolya Hegedűs & Mercedes Nieto

Director: Mercedes Nieto

Camera operators: Balázs Lajti & Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Editor: Melinda Melis (Afilm)

Music: Oum Kalthoum, re-arranged by Nader Zakaria for the album “Zikrayet” of Mercedes Nieto

California (music by Shawn Mullins “Lullaby”)

Just an ordinary girl who loves to create unique dances….

Category:Contemporary

Msafer

Msafer
Dancer: Kenzie
Music: Ya Msafer Wahdak performed by Nihal Mobasher
Director: Kenzie
Camera operator: Jacob Cavinee
Editing: Kenzie & Jacob Cavinee

Category: Contemporary

Kenzie is a second-generation dancer from Buffalo, NY who grew up in the studio studying Western dance forms and watching her mother learn and perform Raqs Sharqi and folkloric dance. Through her mother’s classes, Kenzie found her artistic home in Raqs Sharqi during her early teen years. She went on to earn her BFA in dance and subsequently stepped away from contemporary dance in favor of pursuing Raqs Sharqi and SWANA dance forms.

In more recent years, Kenzie has begun to let those contemporary influences return, allowing her two movement worlds to intermingle when appropriate.

Kenzie has had the honor of sharing dance with students and audiences around the world through classes, workshops, and performances and serves as assistant director of her mother’s studio, Oasis Dance Center.

Dreams of Raqs Sharqi

Synopsis: A modern homage to the iconic Raqs Shari dream sequences seen in films of the Golden Era. Director/Choreographer/Editor: Hilary Morvoren, Videographer: Jasmine Ryelle, Filming Assistant: Rukshana Raks

Category: Raqs Sharqi

Hilary Morvoren is an award-winning Raqs Sharqi dancer, known for her Fusion performances and elegant, emotional style. Based in Phoenix, Arizona, she travels nationally as a performer and instructor, sharing her passion for Raqs Sharqi and cross-cultural fusion dances.

A Melody for What is Lost

“Melody for What Is Lost” is a collaborative music video by Palestinian-American dancer Crystal Silmi and Armenian-Greek American composer and pianist Niko Michalopoulos. Inspired by Niko’s composition responding to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, the film blends dance and live piano to evoke Palestine’s beauty, history, and resilience under occupation. Through symbolic costume, masked figures, and expressive movement, Silmi’s performance reflects loss, faith, and an enduring desire for freedom and dignity. Directed by Palestinian-American filmmaker Ilana Alazzeh, the video is an intimate portrait of artistry, resistance, and remembrance.

CAST:
Niko Michalopoulos featured piano player
Crystal Silmi featured dancer
Paul Arafat Masked man # 3
Zachary Mahroum Masked man # 2
Abel Barakat Masked Man #1

CREW
Niko Michalopoulos Executive Producer
Zak Forrest Cinematographer or Director of Photography
Zak Forrest 2nd Assistant Director
Ilana Alazzeh Director
Omar Pitras Waqar 1st Assistant Director
Omar Pitras Waqar Unit Production Manager
Niko Michalopoulos Composer
Erik Sleight Lighting & Sound Technician
Edith Belmont Editor
Edith Belmont Digital Imaging Technician
Anokhi Shah Behind the Scenes Photographer
Edith Belmont Production Sound
Jasmine Wilks Archival Researcher
Glen D. Brown Art Dept
Parker Wood Stage Manager
Paul Arafat Key Grip
Erik Sleight Grip
Parker Wood Chief Lighting Technician
Paul Arafat Gaffer
Parker Wood
Gaffer Marco
Negrete Venue Coordinator
Grace Singer Grip
Fatimeh Asi Craft Services
Brandon Moses Key Grip
Brandon Moses Set Dresser
Brandon Moses Gaffer

Category: Theatre

Crystal Silmi is a Palestinian American belly dance and fusion artist based in Washington, DC. She has been performing and teaching internationally for over 25 years, sharing her love of movement through dance with a blend of tradition, creativity, and cultural expression.

The Swan

It is said that that towards the end of a Swan’s life it has one final beautiful song. This piece written by Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns and performed by Kathryn Stott and Yo-Yo Ma, speaks to me on a visceral level. There is beauty, joy and sadness longing to be expressed. Fan veils were the obvious choice to convey the cyclical nature of the song. I love the melody that builds and then returns to the simple haunting melody.

Director, camera operator and editor (the very talented) Cherie Julander

Category: Contemporary

Halima lives in Utah and has run Desert Goddess Dance Co. for 21 years. I love dancing with veil and fan veils. My passion is creating large group numbers for DGDC.

To Life!

Produce by GLO Unlimited
Dancers: Gloria Lanuza, Jayna Manoushe, and Angela Zambrano of Ayoon of Paradise
Music: Zeyne “7arrir 3aqlak”, Elyanna “Al Sham”, Dana “Bent Bladak”
Associate producers: Cynthia Morales and Fredrick Lanuza
Videography: Jorge Atempa and Joshua Tjan
Editors: Gloria Lanuza and Joshua Tjan
Costumes: Carlos Ramirez, Gloria Lanuza, and Cynthia Morales
Director: Gloria Lanuza

Category: Contemporary, Theatre

Gloria Lanuza, Performance artist, educator and producer, dedicated to the importance of global arts as a unifying medium to promote peace and understanding. Since childhood Ms. Lanuza has been empowered by dynamic arts experiences that drive her conviction to pursue excellent craft, authentic representation, and engaging creative esthetic. She knows that a well-crafted performing arts experience can open people’s minds and hearts to begin a dialogue. Gloria believes that the power of creative expression can change the world.
Ms. Lanuza is currently focused on event and concert bookings with her production company “GLO Unlimited” and continues to collaborate with diverse local dance and performance artists. She is excited to begin the revival of “The WAO Experience”, her community building arts collaborative. Gloria teaches private classes, workshops, masterclasses and presents lectures on world art and arts empowerment. Ms. Lanuza is dedicated to developing engaging and unique approaches of fusing genres and cultures together to create an exhilarating experience in her classes, collaborations, and artistic productions.