A kind and charming woman awakens to a cold and dangerous dystopia, and then must battle to survive and find her lost love. In the process, she discovers that the wreckage surrounding her is not destruction at all, but a cycle in perpetual transformation.
 
RUN, a short dance film, is a rhythmical journey set in the natural and urban outdoors and indoors. The goal is to provide a mimetic catharsis for the avoidance and denial of our hidden existential despair. (Make people feel better!… in a subliminal kind of way…) Despite its tragic theme, the performances have a detached element that never read melodramatic. “Dark City” meets “Pina“ and set to music by L. Subramaniam’s “Harmony of the Hearts,” directed by Delila Vallot and choreographed by Kitty McNamee, founder of the Los Angeles based dance company “Hysterica.”

The concept originated for this short film when I fell in love with the song “Harmony of the Hearts” traveling south from Big Sur on PCH, towards Los Angeles.
 
I believe we live in exceptional times, where grief, sadness and despair are overwhelmingly censured as a coping mechanism for seemingly insurmountable world issues such as sustainability, antiquated cultural division, economic crisis and war. Solutions at hand seem outmoded and overdone creating an unhealthy apathy which emerges as hidden stress as individuals concentrate on their daily lives.
That’s where the artists come in!!: Aristole said that “Tragedy (poetry/arts) can be a form of education that provides moral insight and fosters emotional growth” and I agree!
 
“Run,” through the eyes of one woman’s quest, aims to add a dose of comfort, stating that it is, as Siddartha’s Journey endeavored to find out, possible to be awake to that which is sombrous and still find happiness. MY take being, that this current state, and any type of destruction, is only a small piece of transformation, in that one can’t kill energy, it can only be metamorphosed. Life will survive, in some way, as it always has, in some manner, ad infinitum. So maybe we can all relax? Despite all the worldly drama. It’s a lot to bite off and chew, especially attempting to tell the story via a dance medium. But this journey, told thru dance, is timely and necessary so people don’t feel alone in these special trying economic/environmental challenged times. (It’s subliminal. And the treatment kind of reads that way, but it is there, the healing aspect. My goal anyway!)
 
I also have a passionate mission, being that I am a filmmaker of mixed descents (Black/Cherokee dad and Jewish mom,) I find that filmmakers of color are (generally!) making and receiving the most acclaim, on indie projects about the black experience rather than as storytellers first, and it is my ongoing mission to make art that is color free. (One wouldn’t think that is necessary but as a filmmaker of color, it is harder to get support when the subject matter is NOT about the black experience, yet the film, once made, in its historical context, will be about the black experience as told through the eyes of a filmmaker of color, regardless of the subject or skin color found in the movie.)
 
Lastly, myself and the choreographer, Kitty McNamee (who I admire so much) have challenged ourselves to push the envelope with camera and technology past the 2D wall that seems to plague dance more often than not in commercial (non-dancer directed) dance film. My being a Vaganova ballet trained, ex-professional “film and television” dancer (with Debbie Allen on the Academy Awards, Tyra Banks dance double in Coyote Ugly, Twyla Tharp on I’ll Do Anything, the movie Rent, etc.) turned director, I wholeheartedly want to give the viewer the experience of what it feels like to dance, to be “in” the dance, to be a dancer, in this story, equipped with the resources that can make that vision possible.
 
-Delila

Delila Vallot (Director) is an American stage, film and television actress, dancer and director born and raised in Hollywood, California. She is a winner of the Dorothy Chandler Spotlight Award at the Music Center. She has performed as a dancer on shows such as The Academy Awards, The Billboard Music Awards, Saturday Night Live with Janes Addiction and Rent. She was a two time series regular on Italian TV and has performed on stage venues in Tokyo, Martinique, Moscow, Hannover, New York, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo and performed in music videos for Miles Davis, Lenny Kravitz, Art of Noise, Hole, Weird Al, Tom Scott, Bonnie Rait, and Prince. She has most recently finished acting in a pilot, Always Night, directed by Carl Weathers opposite Harry Lennix. Inspired by the three dimensional lines of ballet, the soul altering nuances of acting, and plugged into music by way of a rock band dad and a music exec mom, Delila has gained an aptitude for the art of film and the skill to direct via years of self study and osmosis. She has characteristically directed several experimental short films exhibited at the Egyptian Theater and the Independent Feature Film Market New York. Her most recent project, Tunnel Vision, a suspense thriller, which premiered in 2012 at the Urban World Film Festival NY, is her debut as a feature length director.
 
Kitty McNamee (Choreographer) is a highly regarded choreographer, earning distinction from Dance Magazine as an artist with “an outsize talent for that most elusive gift, originality.” Ms. McNamee is the artistic director of Hysterica Dance Co., a consistently prolific and invigorating force in the LA dance community. Recent highlights with Hysterica include Minimalist Jukebox with The LA Philharmonic at Disney Hall, hysterica x (celebrating the company’s 10th anniversary) at the Ford Amphitheatre and performances at REDCAT, LACMA, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Highways. Kitty’s work includes original productions for LA Ballet, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and LA Philharmonic. She also brings her passion and unique voice to tv, film and live performances. Known for her ability to draw out sophisticated, engaging performances, she has coached and choreographed for Julianne Hough, Margaret Cho, Vanessa Williams, Vittorio Grigolo, Lily Tomlin, Anna Netrebko, Rolando Villazon, the boys of 90210 and the ladies of the L-Word.
 
Christopher Leggett (Producer) As a recent partner in Delirio Films; Leggett’s background comes from his role as a producer at NBC Universal Sports where he covered both the 2010 and 2012 Olympic games. Chris also lead the creation and production of Against the Tide, a docu-series featuring three Olympic athletes on their quest for the London games. 2012 was a successful year as Leggett’s released a full length narrative feature titled Tunnel Vision, a television pilot starring Elliott Gould, and a Music Video for Sigur Ros directed by Alma Har’el and starring Shia Labeouf that garnered much critical and popular acclaim after it’s debut online. Currently Chris is in production on a full-length feature hybrid documentary partnered with award winning Alma Har’el, Shia Labeouf and Rhea Scott. Leggett is also wrapping post-production on a short film featuring Elijah Wood and Alia Shawkat set to premier in 2013.
 
Rafael Marmor (Producer) is a producer of documentary, feature film and television, at Delirio Films. His feature documentary Blue Blood, dubbed by Variety as “one of the best sports films of all time”, was nominated by both the Evening Standard and London Critic’s Circle for Best British Film of 2007. The narrative remake is currently in development with Ed Pressman and BBC Films. After a short digression producing the comedy TV series Svetlanafor Marc Cuban’s HDnet, he returned to the feature documentary world as a producer on Alma Har’el’s award winning Bombay Beach. His most recent film No Place On Earth premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and will have a US theatrical release by Magnolia Pictures in April 2013.