Sabine Krayenbühl

Zeva Oelbaum

OBSESSED WITH LIGHT pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller (1862-1928), a wildly original performer who pioneered modern dance though combining fabric and movement to develop a completely new kind of spectacle. Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, filmmakers Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum delve into the astonishing influence Fuller's work has had on contemporary culture including artists like Taylor Swift, Bill T. Jones, Shakira, William Kentridge, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others. “A rich tapestry of discoveries by a passionately devoted mover and transformer of light and shape,” (Eye On Dance) OBSESSED WITH LIGHT is a close study of a woman who became famous on her own terms – unapologetic about her body type, open about her sexuality, and protective of her signature, often mimicked, style.

DOC NYC

Rome Film Festival

Palm Springs Int. Film Festival

"This wondrous doc is most thrilling as an archival endeavor of all that Fuller created and inspired...a necessary watch for even those having a passing interest in dance, silent cinema, la Belle époque, lighting design, modern fashion and perhaps everything in between."

Manuel Betancourt

"[M]esmerizing and alluring and haunting...."

Alissa Wilkinson

"Named one of Hyperallergic's 25 Best Films of 2024... [A] lustrous tribute to the lesbian icon’s vision, Obsessed with Light juxtaposes archival footage with contemporary iterations of the Serpentine Dance, a genre she created. To see original footage of Fuller onstage, her whirring body a lambent flower, is to reconsider what makes dance — or any art form — 'modern.' "