14 October 2026
Part of the Clair Obscur programme at l’Arvor LES CORPS ÉLECTRIQUES — Raphaël Stora Raphaël Stora learned to dance in hip hop battles, alongside his film studies. He...
Cinema: watching bodies
Big screen: bodies beyond the frame
Those who dance, those who film, those who watch: UNDER/GROUND’s film series turns viewing into an experience in its own right. Three screenings at Cinéma Arvor and the TNB Cinema bring together films that document, explore and question dance cultures and the communities that shape them.
Filming dance is never a neutral act. Who frames, who shows, who looks: each film responds to these questions in its own way. The series offers situated perspectives, from hip hop cultures to the ballroom scene, and brings together narratives through archives, testimonies, artistic creation and collective memory.
Dear Mother + Kiki — 5 October at TNB Cinema
On 5 October, a double screening brings together Dear Mother, by Kiddy Smile and Anne Cutaia, and Kiki, by Sara Jordenö. Through two films centred on communities and practices that have developed at the margins of dominant narratives, the screening opens a dialogue between the French ballroom scene and New York’s kiki scene. Dear Mother explores the trajectories, legacies and spaces of resistance connected to ballroom culture in France. Kiki immerses us in the New York scene and the racialised LGBTQIA+ communities that sustain it. Together, the films invite us to look at ballroom as a culture, a history and a space of transmission, while also questioning what cinema chooses to show, preserve and pass on.
Style Wars — 4 October at Arvor Cinema
On 4 October at 6pm, Style Wars by Tony Silver opens the series. Shot in New York in the early 1980s, this now cult documentary captures emerging hip hop cultures, graffiti and breaking, at the very moment they were developing their own codes, between affirmation and confrontation with the city’s dominant narratives.
Les corps électriques + Sous le béton — 14 October at Arvor Cinema
On 14 October at 8:15pm, a double screening brings together Les corps électriques by Raphaël Stora and Sous le béton by Gabriel Naghmouchi. Raphaël Stora films from within: a hip hop dancer turned filmmaker, he returns to movement after years behind the camera, eventually joining the cast of Témoin by Saïdo Lehlouh, presented on 13 October at the TNB. His film traces this journey, the healing power of movement, lineage, and the search for one’s place within a culture. The evening directly echoes the stage: seeing the film before or after the performance reshapes how both are perceived.
Each screening is followed by a discussion with artists featured in the programme, so that the act of looking, precisely, never remains one-way.
Arvor Cinema, tickets from €3.50 to €10.20. Tickets available directly from the cinema / TNB Cinema, tickets from €4.50 to €10.80. Tickets available through the TNB.
