Raising Voices 2024

SFDFF’s 6th annual Raising Voices shorts program spotlights the work of traditionally under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of social justice and belonging.

Experience provocative and moving stories told through movement, poetry, and music in nine short films from a range of artists who harness dance as a means of cultural expression, self-empowerment, and community activism. Dancers deepen into self-knowledge and forge connections to support physical well-being, heal from trauma, confront urgent social issues, and engage with intergenerational cultural memory.

This screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the artists, hosted by Laura Elaine Ellis.

Venue Accessibility: Brava Theater is located at 2781 24th Street. Curb cuts for the sidewalk to the Brava Theater Center are located on the corner of York and 24th Street. The entrance of the theater is on the ground floor and there is an elevator to seating in the upper level of the theater.

Program Info

Runtime: 69 minutes

Sunday, October 20 @ 3:30PM

Venue: Brava Theater

$15 GA / $40 Arts Patron

This program contains a film that discusses sexual violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Program Films

A person with a long braided ponytail is turning away from the camera. They wear an orange jacket with lots of long fringe that hang in the air, the result of movement. They stand in the desert in front of red rocks.
In “We Belong Here,” contemporary, hip-hop, and Indigenous dance traditions merge into an act of remembering and resilience: a land dance set on the occupied Tewa Lands of Abiquiu, New Mexico.
Wade Adakai
Raven Bright
(United States, 2023) 4:30 minutes

We Belong Here

A dancer in a yellow knitted top leans to the side slightly, her hands in front of her chest, elbows out to the side and her eyes closed. She stands outside in between cement walls, and in the sky behind her puffy white clouds.
In “Being in this Body,” dancer Jaimee Kadish uses movement and her own words to share the mental, physical, psychological and spiritual impact of a life-altering diagnosis.
Liz Curtis
Jaimee Kadish, Liz Curtis
(United States, 2023) 5:15 minutes

Being in this Body

A greyscale image of a young black person staring intensely into the camera lens.
The stigma of criminality haunts a young Black man in “FREE,” a poignant short film narrated from inside his mind and brought to life through his body.
Yoram Joseph Savion
(United States) 11:05 minutes

FREE

View from below of a silhouetted dancer hanging upside down on a large pole. He holds the pole with both arms, one leg resting above his hands and one leg outstretched to the side in a split in the air. The sun shines brightly behind him.
In “A State of Thirst,” a young man strives with creative athleticism to grasp a bottle of water just out of his reach.
Vajrasara Ashavari Majumdar
Vajrasara Ashavari Majumdar
(India, 2023) 7:39 minutes

A State of Thirst

A blonde dancer wearing all yellow moves backwards in a blur, one hand reaching towards their throat.
In the powerful short film “seCURE,” sexual violence and its aftermath are explored through the captivating words and movements of four survivors.
Zoé Kugler, Jana Dünner
Jana Dünner
(Switzerland, 2023) 7:48 minutes

seCURE

A girl sits on a boat in the sand in the bright sun, her legs dangling off the edge of the boat. She is wearing a brightly patterned shirt and skirt, and black slides that are hanging off her feet. She looks into the distance, her face contemplative.
In “Lettre à ma fille,” a mother’s letter to her future daughter prepares her for the challenges she might encounter in her life.
Michael Maurissens
(Benin, 2024) 4:09 minutes

Lettre à ma fille

A black dancer with long locks in a ponytail kneels with one knee and a hand resting on the ground, and the other leg extending out to the side. His other arm reaches towards the sky, and he grist his teeth, eyes squinting. He wears blacks jeans, a black t-shirt and black beanie.
“Every Second” is a poignant short film that delves into the life of a man who has just been released from prison but finds himself struggling with the reality that he will never be free from his experience of prison.
Antwan Williams, Maurice Reed, Reyna Brown
Antwan Williams, Amie Dowling, Maurice Reed, Reyna Brown
(United States, 2023) 9:31 minutes

Every Second

Older adults with Parkinson's Disease dance in an outdoor lot. In the foreground, a woman in a yellow shirt reaches her arms upwards.
“Rewilding” features the dancers of Berkeley Ballet Theater's Dance for PD® program, which uses movement to benefit people with Parkinson’s disease and their partners.
Robin Dekkers
Robin Dekkers
(United States, 2023) 4:20 minutes

Rewilding

Andrew "3D Dance Fever" Jones yells into the camera with lots of emotion, his hair flying around his face. He is a black man wearing a white sleeveless shirt and stands in front of a pink wall.
Bakersfield native Andrew “3D Dance Fever” Jones is the subject of “F3VER,” an inspiring documentary about the transformative power of dance.
Irishia Hubbard Romaine
(United States, 2024) 14:58 minutes

F3VER

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