WILMINGTON – Cucalorus 25 is underway in downtown Wilmington, drawing near sell-out crowds of film lovers, dance enthusiasts and tech experts.

WRAL TechWire is covering the festival all week from multiple angles with Allan Maurer and Renee Wright on the scene. (Check back daily for more stories, photos and news.)

Numerous filmmakers are in town for the festival, crowding venues and adding a creative vibe to a city just beginning to recover its once-thriving film industry. The festival – now including both film and stage components as well as the tech-centric Connect conferences – runs through Sunday.

Cucalorus kicked off with a pre-party Tuesday night at the Mayfaire-area headquarters of tekMountain. The next night, Dance-a-lorus, the traditional first performance of the festival, featured ten collaborations between dancers and film at Thalian Hall. Visual/Sound/Walls, another annual event, followed, with a dance/video party headlined by Durham rapper G Yamazawa at the Brooklyn Arts Center that lasted well into the night.

Wilmington-based tekMountain, CastleBranch’s corporate innovation center, hosted the Tuesday night kick-off party for Cucalorus. Photo by R. Wright.

In “Une Nuit Comme Ca,” swing dancers perform as part of an original film by Patrick Ogelvie that evoked the jazz age. The piece, part of Dance-a-lorus, provided the perfect blend of dance and film and proved an audience favorite. Photo: R Wright.

In “immobilite dansant,” projected patterns create the costumes as the dancers themselves are the screen. Photo: R Wright

 

Portraying a mermaid/ ocean goddess in “Obscured Habitations,” dancer SheaRa Nichi performed her unique blend of choreography drawn from the folkloric traditions of the Congo, Haiti, Brazil, and Cuba against a film shot locally at Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and in downtown Wilmington. Photo: R Wright

Durham artists G Yamazawa, Shirlette Ammons and Kid Ethnic headlined the annual Visual/Sound/Walls party in Wilmingon’s Brooklyn Arts Center. Photo: R Wright.

A cucalorus light filter projects “Cucalorus” on the side of Wilmington’s Thalian Hall. Photo: R Wright.

Tickets to some Cucalorus events are still available at the online box office: cucalorus.org/boxoffice. For more information visit cucalorus.org or follow on social channels @cucalorus or using hashtags: #cucalorus #cuc25 #cucalorus25.