Elysa WENDI is a dance artist, curator and filmmaker based in Hong Kong. After dancing professionally for a decade, she began experimenting on the notion of choreography through film, performances and curatorial projects since 2008. Integrating choreographic and performative approach in her filmic creation, her short film 1958 Delivery won the Best Experimental Film Award at the 2018 South Taiwan Film Festival, and her film Forgive or Not to Forgive won Best Documentary at Hong Kong ArtHouse Film Festival 2020. Her recent film As I Imagine My Body Moving received Gold Awards (Open Category) at the 28th ifva Film Award Hong Kong 2023.

Wendi co-founded Cinemovement – a platform for inter-disciplinary film creation together with Film Producer Jeremy Chua in 2015. Since then, she has been actively involved in producing, directing, and programming dance films. As one of the key drivers of such hybrid arts form in Asia, she has initiated many dance film collaborative projects, alongside facilitating six dance film laboratories in different Asian cities. Notable projects include Faraway My Shadow Wandered, a hybrid documentary feature which premiered in IFFR 2021 and went on to show in other festivals, such as Cinéma du Réel 2021.

The experience to be invited as a member of the jury in film festivals such as South Taiwan Film Festival 2019, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020, and Fifth Wall Fest Dance Film Festival Philippines 2020 has expanded Wendi’s exposure to festival making. In 2022 Elysa was appointed as festival director of Jumping Frames – Hong Kong International Movement-image Festival after her curatorial involvement with the festival since 2018.

As festival director, Wendi aspires to re-examine the boundaries of performance from an audio-visual perspective and experiment its fluidities. She anticipates to broaden Jumping Frames’ future possibilities as a platform to develop emerging voices in the fields of expanded media between somatic practices and image-making, cine-choreography and cinematic operations, as well as digital performance and technology.

策展人、舞蹈及影像創作者，現居香港。從事舞蹈專業十載，2008年起開始嘗試將編舞概念糅合於影像、表演性創作以至策展項目當中。她的短片作品《慢遞1958》備受注目，榮獲2018年南方影展最佳實驗片獎；另一作品《原諒》，在2020年香港電影藝術館榮獲最佳紀錄片獎。最新作品《海坐下來時沒有風》獲2023年第28屆ifva公開組金獎。

2015年，她與電影製作人蔡紹勇創辦了Cinemovement平台，提供創作實驗室，促成跨界影像創作。她從此積極投入舞蹈影像製作及策展的工作，其中衍生的《徊影》，一部混合了紀錄片與劇情片元素的電影，獲荷蘭鹿特丹影展首映，並在其他重要的電影節上放映，包括法國真實電影節2021。

她曾受邀為2019 年台灣南方影展、2020年法國克萊蒙費朗國際短片電影節、2020年菲律賓「Fifth Wall Fest」等等國際舞蹈影像競賽的評審團成員，從中對於電影節的競賽製作有更深入的了解。

2018年，葉奕蕾受邀參與「跳格」國際舞蹈影像節的策展項目，並於 2022年獲任為影像節總監。作為影像節總監，她渴望從更開放的視聽角度重新審視表演藝術的局限，並實驗其可塑性。她希望拓寬「跳格」未來作為發展新銳藝術類型的平台，在身體實踐、影像製作和數碼表演之間，持續探索。

Elysa WENDI 葉奕蕾

Singapore / Hong Kong