Celia Rowlson-Hall
Celia Rowlson-Hall is a multi-talent. A model, filmmaker, dancer and choreographer, Celia's in town for the festival premiere of her short-film Prom Night. She stopped by the store yesterday, told us about her movie, and let us talk her into showing off her dance moves in the alley.
Tell us about Prom Night.
It’s in the narrative shorts section of the SXSW film festival. It’s basically a dance film, and I play your date to prom. The camera is your point of view, as my date, and we come into prom and nobody’s there, so right away you know something is a little funny.
In a continuous take, I transform into iconic women, from Virgin Mary to Pamela Anderson and then Lolita, and then into Madonna and end in Carrie, which sort of sends you out of the room with fear. Then you turn back around and watch me do a dance by myself. That dance is a mash-up of dance moves that we already know, like the electric slide and things from Grease. It's to the song "Be My Baby," and it just keeps repeating over and over.
How's the festival been for you thus far?
This is my first festival I have ever been to or been in, so it has been very overwhelming! I saw the new Mike Mills’ film, Beginners, and Miranda July’s film, The Future, which was great. I’ve seen a lot of shorts, and I’m going to go see the Spike Jonze short.
What about music?
I have a couple of friends in the band Brahms, and I just came from their show. I’m going to see TV on the Radio, and I’ve choreographed a couple of videos for Chromeo, and they’re playing Friday. Sondre Lerche is playing Friday, so I'm going to see him because I've directed a video for him. There is so much to do, and we’re getting lost all the time! So we haven’t seen half the things we wanted to see.
What have you liked about Austin?
We’ve done a couple of BBQ places that are off the beaten path. We did some thrift store shopping and I got this shirt! And a friend of mine who lives in Austin is going to take us to the rock quarry tomorrow. And then where we’re staying has a pool, so we need to hang out at the pool, too! But time is slowly running away!
