Bay Area Shorts 2024

SFDFF continues its annual tradition of supporting Bay Area artists with this closing night celebration of dance, film, and community, including the world premiere of SFDFF's new Co-Laboratory film "Chair Deconstruction"

The Bay Area’s natural beauty takes the spotlight in this selection of screendance shorts by Northern California artists. Drawn from a broad swath of the local dance community, these films put ballet, contemporary, Afro-Brazilian, and aerial dance into dialogue with modern issues and identities. With these artists, audiences are invited to embark on an Afrofuturist expedition, probe an enigmatic mythology, explore the purest beauty of movement, and delve into moving stories of intergenerational memory and cultural expression.

Included in the program is the world premiere of SFDFF’s new Co-Laboratory film “Chair Deconstruction” directed by Oakland filmmaker Amanda Beane in collaboration with choreographer Nicole Klaymoon and Embodiment Project.

This program includes a live performance by Embodiment Project and will be followed by Closing Reception (open to all).

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: 113 minutes, with an intermission

Sunday, October 20 @ 6:30PM

Venue: Brava Theater

$20 GA / $40 Arts Patron

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Program Films

PART ONE

A man smiles at a person in front of him, whose back is to the camera and their hair intricately braided into a bun. The ocean fades into the gray sky in the distance.
Produced by Jettison Creative, “Passing By" is an exploration of the human body and memory told through a playful duet that traverses dreams and reality.
Terez Dean Orr
Terez Dean Orr
(United States, 2023) 2:44 minutes

Passing By

Two dancers sit on a heavily graffitied wall at a skate park, their legs hanging off the edge. They are looking towards each other and laughing.
“wildflower” merges poetry and dance to tell coming of age stories of identity and self expression.
Yoram Joseph Savion-Royant
(United States, 2024) 5:09 minutes

wildflower

Two dancers wear beige colored outfits. One dancer hangs on the shoulders of the other in a hug, her legs just touching the ground behind her. She wears blue makeup in a line across her eyes. There are snow-capped mountains in the distance.
“Out of the Dust” is a danced homage to Japanese American poet and activist Janice Mirikitani’s poetry book about World War II Japanese American incarceration.
Yayoi Kambara, Brian Staufenbiel
Yayoi Kambara & Cast
(United States, 2023) 17:36 minutes

Out of the Dust

A colorful puppet show display, involing a dancer in an all white outfit and miscellaneous round shapes with various patterns (zigzags, stripes, dots, etc.). Behind the scene are real white and purple flowers.
In “Lack of Certainty,” a magic spell dances away from her spell caster to explore nature and the surreal through a journey full of imaginative movement and filmmaking.
lovage sharrock
Jeanette Delgado
(Canada, 2022) 5:24 minutes

Lack of Certainty

A white woman with wavy dark red hair poses on the shoreline with her upper limbs curved above her head. She gazes down as gold velvet dress and hair blow in the breeze.
In “Assola D’oro,” a lone dancer channels a windswept Northern California beach with balletic grace.
Matthew Boyd
Ellen Rose Hummel
(United States, 2023) 4:43 minutes

Assolo D’oro

A black dancer in a long dress faces upwards and away from the camera, their arms gently reaching upwards. They stand in the grass under a concrete overpass.
Urban and natural landscapes converge in “Lizard Song,” a short film that darts and skitters across genres and languages.
Jonah Belsky, ArVejon Jones, Ames Tierney, David Rosenthal, Sarah R Rosenthal
ArVejon Jones
(United States, 2024) 6:35 minutes

Lizard Song

As the sunlight streams through the branches of the foreest, a woman with dark-rooted bleached hair embraces another woman with braids in a white tank top from behind.
An untold love story comes to life through dance in “Faithfully Yours,” based on World War II-era letters between two secret lovers.
Joi Marchetti, Jakob Karr
Jakob Karr
(United States, 2023) 5:01 minutes

Faithfully Yours

PART TWO

Part Two opens with a short live performance.
A dancer wearing every day street clothes and sneakers spins in the air, their jacket twirling behind them. The sun shines into the camera, creating a star-shaped flare. A metal railing obstructs the view of their feet in the foreground.
In a moving portrait of the dances of everyday life, “MACIO” explores a collection of moments and relationships that reveal the core of a person.
Max Sachar, Natasha Adorlee
(United States, 2023) 4:35 minutes

Macio

Two people wear bright blue clothing that matches the clear sky behind them. One rests his arm on the other's shoulders, and they look intently towards the same spot in the distance. One of them wears swim goggles pushed up to his forehead.
“EMME YA: The Final Expedition” depicts a group of intrepid Afronauts who have traveled light years to find EMME YA, the black planet.
Raissa Simpson, Jabreel Green
Raissa Simpson
(United States, 2022) 14:47 minutes

EMME YA: The Final Expedition

A man in a pink shirt and jeans holds a woman in a red tank top and flowing back skirt close to the ground in a dip. His free arm extends up and to the side, and her free arm is extended in the opposite direction, resting on her leg. She smiles up at him, her long hair flowing behind her. They stand on the sidewalk in front of a building with three blue doors that arch at the top.
“Beyond One Life” transcends time to capture the magic and destiny of a chance encounter.
Marcos Vedovetto
Bruno Quieroz, Marcos Vedovetto, Kelly Gouveia
(United States) 8:31 minutes

Beyond One Life

A dancer in a woodwork shop crouches down, only her head, shoulders, chest and part of her legs in sight. Out of focus in the foreground of the image and covering about half of her body from view is a small, unidentifiable wooden structure.
Set in a sunlit workshop, “Simple Pursuits” draws parallels between the craft of woodworking and the art of dance.
Tara Pilbrow
Tara Pilbrow
(United States) 2:04 minutes

Simple Pursuits

Four dancers in beige and white satin outfits stand in the same pose with their arms twisted around one another, one arm coming up towards their face and the other reaching down towards their waist. Their motion is heavily blurred. The background is flat and completely white. Four dancers in beige and white satin outfits stand in the same pose with their arms twisted around one another, one arm coming up towards their face and the other reaching down towards their waist. Their motion is heavily blurred. The background is flat and completely white.
In a brilliant white void, “Sonder” explores the multifaceted lives of passersby through individual and collective expression.
RJ Muna
Mia J Chong
(United States, 2024) 6:02 minutes

Sonder

A dancer stands on a beach, looking towards the ocean. They are shirtless, wearing a silk, green skirt that extends far behind them. They hold their arms back behind them, with their elbows backwards and chest out.
Poetry, dance, and stop-motion film techniques merge in “Organized Hope,” a moving meditation on how we fall, break, and mend ourselves and each other through vulnerability and grace.
Amy Seiwert
Amy Seiwert
(United States, 2024) 6:24 minutes

Organized Hope

Two dancers look intently at something off camera as one clutches the other. They wear loose blue shirts and stand on the wooden floor of a basketball gym. In a semi-circle around them, dancers sit in splayed positions in metal folding chairs.
Dance Film SF's latest Co-Lab film, directed by Amanda Beane.
Amanda Beane
Nicole Klaymoon with Embodiment Project
(United States, 2024)

Chair Deconstruction: Co-Lab Film

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