Evolving Screen
An international workshop and film festival on Gotland for screendance, art film, performance, installation and new forms of moving image.

In 2026, the first edition was launched as Evolving Screendance Gotland — a week of workshops, public screenings, artist talks and site-specific practices in Visby and on Fårö. The event brought together filmmakers and mentors from different parts of the world, creating a space for artistic exchange, experimentation and new encounters between film, movement, performance and place.

The first edition has now come to an end, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who helped bring it to life: the filmmakers, mentors, audience, partners and supporters who shared this first journey with us on Gotland.

2026 First Edition in Numbers: 

1 international workshop week 

2 public screening events 

1 feature-length film 

7 short films

Artists and filmmakers from Sweden, Poland, the USA and China, Public screenings at Folkets Bio Betty, Workshop sessions in Visby and on Fårö, Lectures, mentoring, artist talks, Q&A sessions and hands-on filming exercises

What began as Evolving Screendance Gotland will now continue as Evolving Screen — a broader platform for screendance, art film, performance, installation and new hybrid forms of moving image. We are already developing the next edition: Evolving Screen 2027. Submissions will open later this fall via FilmFreeway.

Thank you for being part of the beginning. See you in 2027.

Partners:
Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026

Program

The following feature-length and short films were screened for a live audience at Folkets Bio Betty, a cinema venue in Visby.

The Sea

64 min /2025/USA, SWEDEN/Dir: Douglas Rosenberg. A poetic exploration of aging, intimacy and camaraderie, set against the evocative backdrop of the Baltic Sea.

Hoods

10 min /2026/SWEDEN/Dir: Ami Skånberg. Hoods is based on Ami Skånberg’s earlier choreographic material and on-site improvisation. The film takes place in environments shaped by a history that predates industrial forestry.

Kingdom

8:30 min /2024/POLAND/Dir: Jagoda Turlik. Kingdom is a poetic dance film about memory, fate and the choice between remaining frozen in the past or moving forward into the future.

A Torch in the Machine

14 min /2024/USA/Dir: Janessa Clark. Two women, raised underground in a bunker, are forced into an unexpected journey when their society collapses.

Echo

8:20 min /2025/CHINA/Dir: Ma Kang. Echo is a screendance work in which a group of figures move through a corridor that seems to exist both in the past and the future.

In silence is the offering presented

7:30 min /2025/USA/Dir: Li Chiao-Ping. Looking out across the water, memories of homeland and feelings of displacement merge as the two protagonists, a mother and son, find themselves as refugees.

What's Bred in the Blood and Bone

5:30 min /2024/USA/Dir: Robin Gee. Based on the idea of "blood memory", the film reflects on how collective history continues to bind, strengthen and sustain African American life.

Witnessing Time

13:45 min /2024/USA/Dir: Sandhiya Kalyanasundaram. Witnessing Time is a screendance work that reimagines the myth of Pūtana — the demoness sent by Kamsa to kill the infant Krishna — through a contemporary, movement-centered expression.

Exploring Art Through Movement and Screen

Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026 was the first edition of an international workshop and film festival dedicated to screendance — a field where film, choreography, movement, place and visual storytelling meet.

The event took place in Visby and on Fårö, Gotland, bringing together filmmakers, artists and participants from Sweden, Poland, the USA and China. Over the course of one intensive week, the project combined lectures, artistic conversations, practical exercises, screenings and public meetings with audiences.

The workshop was led by Douglas Rosenberg, with Paul Wu as co-instructor and Ami Skånberg as guest mentor. Together, they offered different perspectives on how screendance can be created, developed and understood — from the director’s point of view, the cinematographer’s point of view, the performer’s experience, and the producer’s role in developing film projects.

The week included lectures and discussions on screendance as an art form, the relationship between camera and movement, the use of place and landscape, and how film projects can grow from artistic ideas into finished works. Participants also took part in hands-on exercises, working practically with camera, movement, framing, rhythm, collaboration and site-specific filming.

Practical sessions took place both indoors at Kulturum/La Scala in Visby and outdoors at locations such as S:t Clemens ruin and Fårö. The Fårö field trip became an important part of the workshop, where participants explored the island’s landscape through filming exercises, reflection and artistic experimentation at locations including Langhammars and other iconic sites connected to film history and the Gotland landscape.

The public festival programme took place at Folkets Bio Betty in Visby and presented both a feature-length screendance work and a curated international short film programme. Screenings were followed by moderated talks and Q&A sessions with participating filmmakers, creating a direct meeting between artists, audiences and the local community.

At its core, Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026 was about creating a meeting place: between film and dance, between local and international artists, between theory and practice, and between Gotland’s unique landscape and new forms of moving image.

The first edition became both a workshop, a festival and a pilot for something larger — a platform for future artistic exchange, education, screenings and new collaborations on Gotland.
ABOUT

Douglas Rosenberg

“Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026 was conceived as a space to elevate the practice of screendance, to deepen the conversation and to provide participants within engaged mentoring in the magical environment of Visby and Bergman’s island of Fårö.” 

Douglas Rosenberg - Director, Artist, and Leading Scholar in Screendance. Co-founder of Evolving Screendance Gotland.

Douglas Rosenberg is the director of the award-winning screendance feature The Sea, filmed on Fårö/Gotland and currently touring international festivals. He is also a major voice in the field of dance film, having authored several foundational books, including Screendance: Inscribing the Ephemeral Image (2012), The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies (2016) - recipient of the Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize - and Staring at the Sky: Essays on Art and Culture (2024). Rosenberg is the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Art at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an artist and a theorist working with performance, video, installation whose work has been exhibited internationally for over 30 years in museums, festivals, galleries and elsewhere. He is a founding editor of The International Journal of Screendance and his work has been supported by numerous grants and awards including, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Soros Foundation, the MAP Fund in New York and the James D. Phelan Art Award in Video. He is most recently the recipient of the Creative Arts Award. Recent exhibitions and screenings of his films include Dance Film Festival, Prague, Berlin Kiez Film Festival (Best Feature Film), and Choreoscope-Barcelona Dance Film Festival. His most recent feature-length film, The Sea, shot on the Island of Fårö in Sweden is currently screening at film festivals internationally and for which he is the recipient of the KNOWBOX Dance Film Festival's Visionary Award. Rosenberg served for more than a decade as Director of the American Dance Festival’s video archival program and was the founding director of ADF’s International Festival of Screendance.

Team Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026

Andreas Nordblom

Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026 Founder and Festival director. Andreas Nordblom is a producer, filmmaker and festival director based in Visby, Gotland. He is the founder of Hjärta Nikki Filmproduction and Evolving Screen, where he develops film projects, workshops and international collaborations within art film, screendance and hybrid moving image. He is the producer of the award winning screendance feature The Sea.

Douglas Rosenberg

Workshop instructor and co-founder of Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026. Douglas Rosenberg is the director of the award-winning screendance feature The Sea, filmed on Fårö/Gotland and currently touring international festivals. He is also a major voice in the field of dance film, having authored several foundational books, including Screendance: Inscribing the Ephemeral Image (2012), The Oxford Handbook of Screendance Studies (2016)—recipient of the Oscar G. Brockett Book Prize—and Staring at the Sky: Essays on Art and Culture (2024). 

Paul Wu

Cinematographer and co-instructor. Paul Wu has called Gotland home since 2019. A former professional dancer with a decade-long career, he later transitioned into journalism and filmmaking. As a cinematographer and editor, he has created numerous dance films and documentaries. Paul is the director of photography on The Sea.

Ami Skånberg

Guest-instructor. PhD in Dance from University of Roehampton, performer, choreographer, filmmaker and teacher. Ami Skånberg is the current Head of the Master’s programme in Contemporary Dance Education at the Stockholm University of the Arts, and also works at Academy of Music and Drama at University of Gothenburg. Her 90 min solo performance A Particular Act of Survival received a performing arts award at Scenkonstgalan in Sweden in 2015.

What Participants Are Saying

Hear from those who experienced Evolving Screendance Gotland 2026:
Robin Gee

Award-winning choreographer, filmmaker and UNCG Professor working across African diasporic dance, screendance and choreopolitics

I’ve been thinking a lot about the notion of magic and the coming together of energies that create it. I am so grateful to have been a part of this incredible week, and for all the ways in which each of you shared parts of yourselves and the things that matter to you.
Sandhiya Kalyanasundaram

Doctoral researcher, poet and dance artist, working across Bharatanatyam, Butoh, Flamenco and screendance

The workshop was unique in the way we all received individual mentoring, shared our ideas and were able to be ourselves. We had the opportunity to film landscapes, architecture and people - a unique challenge, as each offered completely different but equally rich aspects to explore. I liked that there was a clear structure, while still leaving room for experimentation and everyone’s ideas.
Jagoda Turlik

Filmmaker and script supervisor with 50+ film and television credits, working across film and screendance

It was an incredible experience for me. I didn’t expect it to be this great, and I definitely know that I want more. I wouldn’t change anything, except perhaps that the workshop could have lasted longer.
Janessa Clark

MIT Lecturer and BESSIE-nominated artist working across dance, screen and technology

I felt that this week had a special alchemy, with each of us bringing something unique - and yes, magical. Being on Gotland and Fårö gave me energy, inspiration and motivation to deepen my practice: to make, to discuss, to offer, to witness and to hold space.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your queries about Evolving Screen 2027 answered here.

What is Evolving Screen 2027?

Evolving Screen 2027 is an international workshop and film festival dedicated to contemporary art film and moving-image practices.

Who can participate in the workshops?

Workshops are open to filmmakers, artists, performers, and creative practitioners from around the world.

What activities can I expect?

Participants can engage in workshops, screenings, talks, and artistic exchanges that explore the interplay of body, camera, place, and technology.

Where is the event held?

Evolving Screen 2027 takes place on Gotland, Sweden, amidst its stunning landscapes and rich cinematic history.

How do I register for the event?

Submissions open via FilmFreeway in autumn 2026.

Is there any fee to participate?

Details about participation fees will be provided upon submission. We aim to make the experience accessible to diverse participants.
ABOUT

Evolving Screen 2027

Founded and produced by Andreas Nordblom / Hjärta Nikki AB

Evolving Screen is initiated by Gotland-based producer and filmmaker Andreas Nordblom through Hjärta Nikki AB, with the aim of creating a recurring international platform for film, movement, art and new moving-image practices on Gotland. It is a workshop / lab for selected artists and filmmakers. It is also a public festival with screenings, talks and artist presentations.

Partner with Evolving Screen 2027.

Evolving Screen offers partners visibility in an international cultural context, local presence on Gotland, access to artists and audiences, and association with an emerging platform for film, movement, art and technology.

Become a partner and request the 2027 partner deck!

Specksrum 6, 621 55 Visby, Sweden

+4670 247 01 01

info@evolvingscreen.com

Join Us at Evolving Screen 2027

Be part of a transformative creative journey! Submissions via FilmFreeway will open this autumn.