SFDFF’s 4th annual Raising Voices shorts program creates a platform for the work of under-represented artists and amplifies their powerful messages of activism. Delve into moving stories of immigration, colonialism, and the search for cultural identity as makers from diverse backgrounds champion their causes through a provocative collision of dance, storytelling, poetry and music. Enjoy films like Neon Phantom (Brazil, 2021), where Brazilian delivery drivers take center stage as they fantasize about new lives in an exuberant Broadway musical style. Or Ghost Labor: A Dance Film (USA, 2022), by Bay Area filmmaker/choreographer collaborators John Jota Leaños and Vanessa Sanchez, which highlights the contributions of Mexican farmworkers through tap dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and music.
Program followed by an artist talk moderated by Laura Elaine Ellis, Raising Voices co-curator and co-founder of the Black Choreographers Festival. Bay Area artists in conversation include Gabriel Diamond, Sarah Crowell, Keith Hennessy, John Jota Leaños, Vanessa Sanchez, and Deborah Slater.
