BAM Moves, LLC is proud to announce BELLA’s qualification for the Oscars in the Documentary Feature Film category. A film by Bridget Murnane, BELLA had its World Premiere at the 2022 Madrid International Film Festival and screened at over fifty festivals world-wide, including the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film won seventeen awards including Best Documentary at Dance Camera West. BELLA had its US Theatrical Premiere at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles, November 10-16, 2023. Film Week, KPCC reviewed it as “…a riveting documentary.” BELLA was featured in the Los Angeles Times and LA Weekly. For full press go to: https://www.bellasfilm.com/press.
BELLA is a feature-length documentary about the life, work, influence, and impact of Los Angeles-based dancer, choreographer, and arts activist Bella Lewitzky, who was referred by dance critic Walter Terry as "one of the greatest American dancers of our age.” The film incorporates rare archival footage of Lewitzky’s performances and interviews with Lewitzky’s former students and dancers, and it demonstrates how a “uniquely Californian” artist with vision and tenacity influenced the lives of her fellow citizens. Bella Lewitzky joined Lester Horton’s multi-racial modern dance company in 1934, became his lead dancer, and helped develop the Horton Technique. She formed her own dance company in 1966 and continued to dance at the age of 62. Lewitzky was as famous off stage as on, thanks to her battles for freedom of expression against the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990. She was designated one of America’s Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition and awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Clinton.
University of Oregon School of Music and Dance (SOMD) associate professor Walter Kennedy worked tirelessly for years on the award-winning film about Lewitzky’s life as the associate producer, alongside director and producer Bridget Murnane.