TICKETS

2026 San Francisco Dance Film Festival

Bay Area Shorts

A closing night celebration of local artistry and community, featuring the world premiere of “Griot”

Sunday, November 8 at 7:30PM

Brava Theater

Runtime: 72 minutes

General Admission $25 / Arts Patron $45

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The grand finale to our 2026 Festival, Bay Area Shorts is an annual tradition honoring the depth and range of Northern California’s dance film community. This year’s dynamic program moves from the elemental to the surreal — a solo dancer answers the rhythm of crashing waves, a love story is told entirely through animation, office workers mistake a mysterious map for a covert mission, and much more. With choreography from acclaimed artists including Brenda Way (ODC/Dance), Adji Cissoko (LINES Ballet), Natasha Adorlee (concept o4), plus a closing reception, this evening is your chance to celebrate our homegrown talent and send off the festival in style.

Bay Area Shorts includes the world premiere of Griot, a film commissioned by Dance Film SF’s SIGHTLINE initiative. Griot stars LINES Ballet dancer Adji Cissoko with direction by Oakland-based filmmaker Yoram Savion, both of whom will participate in a live Q&A.

All ticket holders are invited to attend a post-screening reception in the lobby to celebrate the end of the 2026 Festival.

Program Films:

A man in a black-and-white outfit plays a Kora while sitting on a truck bed. A woman in a cream-and-black patterned outfit dances with a long stick on a sandy beach, with mountains in the distance.
A ballerina and a kora player listen for the call of their storytelling ancestors, only to discover the music lives within.
Yoram Savion
Adji Cissoko
(United States, 2026)

Griot

A dancer in light jeans and a matching denim jacket poses confidently, framing their face with their hands as they crosses one foot over the other in a large grassy field with wind turbines beneath a blue sky. Oversized versions of the dancer appear on either side, with only their legs visible as they dance alongside them, creating the illusion of enormous figures.
Three different dancers move through San Francisco, dancing with their Giant twins.
Matt Zolly
Diarra Anderson
(United States, 2026) 1:24 minutes

Gawd Body – Music Video Series

A person in a long white dress and white face makeup runs down a colorful hallway with red decorations hanging from the ceiling. The hall features framed art on the walls and a combination of brick and wood details.
In every mirror, another version of her is waiting to be met.
Jia Wu
Jia Wu
(United States, 2026) 8:30 minutes

The Other Within（一身万物）

A dancer poses on one leg, lifting the other leg as they arch far backward. They stand in a field of tall dry grass and wear a brown shirt, bronze skirt, and tall laced boots.
A found community of dreamers dances toward the promise, and the complicated truth, of the American Dream.
Natasha Adorlee, Max Sachar
Natasha Adorlee
(United States, ) 15:00 minutes

Dromer

Two women, mirrored against each other, stand outside under a clear blue sky, raising their hands and pointing upwards. The sun is bright, casting a glow around them.
Drawing on the inspiring verse of 13th-century Sufi poet Shams of Tabriz, this short dance film weaves Odissi dance with an original music composition to explore resilience — not as endurance, but as transformation.
Lindsay Gauthier, Satya Gontcho A Gontcho
Satya Gontcho A Gontcho
(United States, 2025) 4:41 minutes

Joy ~ Sorrow ~ Hope

Two simplified, black and white animated figures lean in to share a kiss with one another in a vibrant green meadow of pink, blue, and purple wildflowers. A large tree with purple blossoms frames the scene, creating a peaceful romantic atmosphere.
A visual love letter in motion, this dance animation explores the joy, spontaneity, and head-spinning excitement of love’s first spark.
Peter Litwinowicz
Pete Litwinowicz, Miche Wong, Nol Simonse
(United States, 2025) 5:42 minutes

Love Unfolding

In this black and white photo, a dancer in a flowing black dress spins dramatically, elevated on a rocky shoreline as their skirt billows outward towards the left side of the photo, partially obscuring their body. In the background, waves and rocks lay below a hazy overcast sky.
Against the rhythm of the sea, a dancer answers vastness with strength, and stillness with sudden, powerful motion.
Fred Aube
Fanny Ara
(United States, 2025) 1:55 minutes

Drift

Two dancers dressed in grey in a bright studio space perform a close, intimate lift, with one dancer cradling the other against their chest and the other wrapping their hands around their head. They stand on a large white worktable surrounded by artwork, tools, and industrial studio furnishings.
A short film by ODC/Dance artists.
Natalia Roberts
Brenda Way
(United States, 2026) 10:10 minutes

Long Story Short

Two hands reach towards eachother across a colorful surface covered with intricate, coiled rope-like patterns in blue, green, orange, and pink. The hands barely touch and trace the textured shapes.
Two sisters navigate the ache and joy of reconnection, and the complicated history it takes to get there.
Clarissa K. Ko, Joseph Morales
Clarissa K. Ko
(United States, 2026) 6:00 minutes

The Things That Bind

Two people stand in front of a dark metal wall; one, wearing a white hoodie and yellow bucket hat, raises a small, hand-drawn card overhead while looking up at it, as the other, in a yellow T-shirt, looks and gestures toward the card. A bright blue wall frames the right side of the image.
A found map, an imagined mission, and a growing crew who dance their way toward something they can't quite name.
Aiwei Wu
Christian Jemera
(United States, 2026) 4:25 minutes

Mission : ???

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