SOMA is an experimental film that uses movement and dance as its primary medium for story-telling. A contemporary myth on the genesis of the human body, the piece unfolds in two parallel dimensions: an infinite black hole where entities exist outside linear space and time; and a labyrinthine house where an uncanny gathering is taking place. As the free-associative, dreamlike narrative unfolds, different characters go through visceral experiences of pleasure, enchantment, pain and death.

Director Biography – Arturo Bandinelli

Arturo Bandinelli is an Italian, London-based award-winning filmmaker, researcher and psychoanalyst in formation. He holds a BA in Film and Television (London College of Communication) and an MA in Psychosocial Studies (Birkbeck, University of London).

His graduation sci-fi short film Otto Floss: Freelance Watcher (2014) acquired international recognition, including international screenings and awards at ECU European Independent Film Festival (France), London Sci-Fi Film Festival (UK), Lago Film Festival (Italy), Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France), Vigik Film Festival (Russia), Festival Utopiales (France) and Young Cuts Fest (Canada).

In the last years, Arturo started experimenting with non-fictional film formats in collaboration with choreographers, dancers, visual and performance artists. His recent experimental dance films, Walls of Limerick (2018) and Viscera: Autopsy of a (non)human Body (2021) received international acclaim.

SOMA was produced and choreographed by KWAM Collective, a London-based artist-led group (co-directed by Klaudia Wittmann, Esme Benjamin and Ana Beatriz Meireles), that brings together dance theatre, film and therapeutic bodily practices. KWAM Collective’s work has been supported by various UK art organisations including The Place, East London Dance, ECHO, the Abderrahim Crickmay Charitable Settlement and the Arts Council England.