Date: Saturday, April 20, 2013
Time: 9:30pm
Venue: Howard Gilman Theater (144 West 65th Street, New York, NY 10023, 212-875-5610))
Ticket: buy tickets

USA | ENGLISH AND KHMER WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 88 MINUTES

Directed by Anne Bass

Sy Sar dances to a piece written and performed by Phillip Glass as seen in DANCING ACROSS BORDERS (photo by Erin Baiano)

In conjunction with the citywide Season of  Cambodia Arts Festival, Film Society Lincoln Center presents a survey of new and recent films from Cambodia programmed with Rithy Panh, including in-person appearances for S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine, A River Changes Course, Where I Go, Dancing Across Borders and more!

Dancing Across Borders chronicles the intimate and triumphant story of Sy Sar, who was discovered by Anne Bass on a trip to Angkor Wat, Cambodia, in 2000 and brought to the ballet stage in America. A longtime patron of dance in the U.S., Bass arranged for Sy to visit New York and audition for the prestigious School of the American Ballet (SAB). What unfolds is a tentative negotiation between Sy and the world of American ballet and culture—from the serene countryside of Southeast Asia to the halls of SAB, to the stage of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle. The film follows Sy’s unusual development as a dancer and offers a remarkable behind-the-scenes look into the world of American ballet. At its heart, Dancing Across Borders is a story of growth, adaptation, and belonging as well as of the development of talent and the mastery of an art form.