Festival Season:
October 2026
EUTIERRIA
Directors:
Writers:
Adam Witmer, Sophie Witmer
Producers:
Run Time:
0:05:46
Awarded for the following Category(s):
Awarded Category(s)
A dancer explores the nature of Earth, Sun, and the corporeal space between.
Submitter Statement
We are born of this Earth and to Earth we return. Sun breathes life into us; water makes and maintains us. Hanging in the space between dirt and the heavens, neither animals nor gods, humanity is both profoundly consequential and insignificant.
Through movement our film poses the questions: what is our place on this planet? Can we elevate beyond our mammalian origins without forgetting from where we came?
In the end, all return home and become one with the Earth.
Filmed in George Washington National Forest in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, EUTIERRIA examines the liminality of humanity and nature. It is the siblings' first collaboration as filmmakers: a contemporary dance film about human existence in nature, rebirth, and death. It is a choreographic expression of eutierria: the feeling of oneness with the Earth.
Adam Witmer is a North Carolina-based independent director, cinematographer and editor specializing in dance and documentary.
He has collaborated on dance films with the Merce Cunningham Trust, Dance Theatre of Harlem, GXA Creative and others, with his dance films being aired on PBS, featured in Dance Magazine’s Friday Film Break series and officially selected at San Fransisco Dance Film Festival, Austin Dance Festival, Los Angeles Dance Film Festival, CineVox Dance Film Festival, Dance Camera West Festival, Dance For Life Festival, FilmFest by Rogue Dancer, Flatlands Dance Film Festival, Rethink Dance Festival, American Dance Festival’s Movies By Movers, Opine Dance Film Festival, Dance Camera North Festival, DanceFilmmaking.com, RiverRun International Film Festival and more.
He currently teaches CineDance at his alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he received a BFA in filmmaking in 2016.
He began his career as a film archivist and projectionist, specializing in 16mm, 35mm and 70mm film preservation and projection for the Telluride International Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival, as well as the 70mm theatrical releases of THE HATEFUL EIGHT, DUNKIRK, OPPENHEIMER, DISCLOSURE DAY and THE ODYSSEY.
Driven by lifelong fascination with film, Adam Witmer pushes boundaries and explores new ways of manipulating form and aesthetic through the cinematic gaze.
Sophie Witmer is a dance artist, choreographer, and performer based in the DC–Metro area. She holds a B.A. in Dance Education from James Madison University, where she developed her foundation in modern dance, choreography, and embodied practice.
As a performer, Sophie has appeared in works by UpRooted Dance, j&c dance project, Cynthia Thompson, Jess Burgess, Stephanie Liapis, and Christopher K. Morgan, performing at festivals and venues including Atlas Intersections Festival, Richmond Dance Festival, Echo Arts Festival, and the Women Arts Exchange (WAX). Her choreographic practice is rooted in collaboration, experimentation, and curiosity, spanning contemporary dance, interdisciplinary work, site-specific performance, and dance film.
Sophie is particularly drawn to the relationship between movement, environment, and the inner landscape of the body. Her work explores connection, perception, and the spaces between the physical and the intangible, often using natural environments and the camera as collaborators in the choreographic process. Her movement practice is informed by improvisation, Pilates, and somatic exploration, cultivating an approach grounded in embodied awareness, play, and discovery.
Through dance and film, Sophie seeks to create work that invites audiences into a sensory experience—one that lingers somewhere between the seen and unseen, the earthly and the ethereal.
Key Cast
Other Credits
Cinematography and Editing: Adam Witmer
Choreography and Dance Performance: Sophie Witmer