WildDogs International Screendance Festival
7th edition
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Wilddogs returns September 5–6, 2026, at Contemporary Calgary (Heather Edwards Theatre)! Come enjoy multiple programs across two exciting days, featuring bold, boundary-pushing films from the USA, Canada, Spain, France, South Korea, Italy, Lithuania, Japan, Brazil, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, and beyond.
Since its inception, Wilddogs has welcomed over 675 submissions from 60+ countries, bringing together a global community of artists who reimagine the moving body through the lens of cinema.
Alongside our in-person programs at Contemporary Calgary, we have our online festival until September 13th, extending access to audiences everywhere.
Join us in celebrating screendance that bites, stings, and soars.
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: PROGRAM 1
September 5, 2026 from 05:00PM to 06:15PM at the Heather Edwards Theatre, Contemporary Calgary
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: PROGRAM 2
September 5, 2026 from 06:30PM to 07:45PM at the Heather Edwards Theatre, Contemporary Calgary
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: PROGRAM 3
September 5, 2026 from 08:00PM to 09:00PM at the Heather Edwards Theatre, Contemporary Calgary
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: PROGRAM 4
September 6, 2026 from 02:00PM to 03:30PM at the Heather Edwards Theatre, Contemporary Calgary
2026 ONLINE ONLY
September 5, 2026 @ 05:00PM until September 13, 2026 @ 11:59PM at the WildDogs Website
WildDogs 2026 Jury
ALEKSANDRA MACHNIK (POLAND)
Aleksandra Machnik is a film director and producer whose work spans documentary, dance film, and live performance. In 2026 she directed the documentary “Edyta Górniak,” a portrait of one of Poland’s most celebrated singers. She has co-created high-profile documentary films with directors Krystian Kuczkowski and Michał Bandurski, including “Krzysztof Krawczyk – My Whole Life,” “Maryla. I Loved Like That,” and “ANIA,” and served as co-director and line producer on the feature documentaries “Sanah,” “Budda. Kid ’98,” and “We Are Zugajki.” Her producer credits also include the award-winning short films “UNFRAMED” (dir. Paweł Zawadzki) and “Silent Rage” (dir. Sebastien Goyon). Trained as a choreographer and director, Machnik managed the Silesian Dance Theatre and co-produced the International Contemporary Dance Conference and Dance Arts Festival in Bytom. In screendance, she is the creator and curator of “Film and Edit THE DANCE” and of “Mov(i)e Flow – Polish Dance Film Showcase & Mentoring,” which promotes and distributes Polish dance films worldwide.
RYSZARD KALINOWSKI (POLAND)
Ryszard Kalinowski is a dancer, choreographer, and curator, and Director of the National Choreographic Centre in Lublin. A longtime dancer with Lublin Dance Theatre (Lubelski Teatr Tańca), he has been programmer of the International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin since 1997, one of the most respected contemporary dance festivals in Central Europe. He has initiated and co-organized numerous contemporary dance and interdisciplinary projects across Poland and Europe, including “Tour d’Europe des chorégraphes” (2009–2011), “Choreographic Territories: Central and Eastern Europe” (2016, 2018), “Artil: Ukraine, Poland, Austria” (2019), “Spaces of Art – Dance in Poland” (2020–2025), and the Visiting Artists Programme (2025–27).
MELISSA MONTEROS (CANADA/USA)
Melissa Monteros is a choreographer, director, and filmmaker based in Calgary. She is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the WildDogs International Screendance Festival, which she curates with Wojciech Mochniej, and created the first Dance and the Camera course in Calgary, a subject she continues to teach in community settings. Professor Emerita at the University of Calgary, she holds an MA in Dance from UCLA and a BFA from the University of Utah, and trained in New York with Bill T. Jones, Risa Steinberg, Milton Myers, and Lynn Simonson. Since co-founding W&M Physical Theatre with Mochniej in Gdańsk in 1994, Monteros has created a substantial body of stage and screen work presented across Europe, Canada, and the United States, and is regarded as a pioneer of contemporary dance in Poland. A Fulbright Scholar, she has received honorary awards in Gdańsk and Lublin for her contribution to the field.
WOJCIECH MOCHNIEJ (CANADA/POLAND)
Wojciech Mochniej is a Polish-Canadian dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and educator based in Calgary. He is Co-Founder of the WildDogs International Screendance Festival, which he curates with Melissa Monteros. A full-time dance faculty member at the University of Calgary for over two decades, he teaches two levels of Dance and the Camera and is an active screendance creator, serving as the company’s videographer and visual designer, as well as Artistic Director and choreographer. Since co-founding W&M Physical Theatre with Monteros in Gdańsk in 1994, Mochniej has created work across Europe and North America, including for So You Think You Can Dance Poland. An original member of Silesian Dance Theatre (1991–1994), he has been artist in residence at the Bruckner Conservatory, Austria, and at festivals throughout Poland and abroad, and served on the jury of the Short Waves Festival’s Dance and the Camera section in 2021.