RESISTANCE, LIBERATION , AND RITUALS
RESISTANCE, LIBERATION , AND RITUALS
FREE TO THE PUBLIC - RSVP REQUIRED
Nova Frontier Film Festival and The Billie Holiday Theatre present Nova Frontier Arts!
A day of films, panels, live performances, music, and more, centered around themes and metaphors of liberation, black joy, rituals, and family and social bonds. The entire day’s program shines a spotlight on the invisible and intimate stories of our society's overlooked people; places, challenging perceived ideas around them through dance, rituals, and everyday existence.
The program is a reflection and a celebration, as there is no better time than now to commemorate all of the joy and light we have experienced through these uncertain times.
AFFINITY
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AFFINITY 〰️
A special selection of understated short films curated by Film Programmer and Filmmaker Rendah Haj exploring the nuances within relationships, spoken and unspoken. The portraits in Affinity are raw, idiosyncratic and tender, reflected by the young individuals who push against their own boundaries, and begin to realize the freedom and power of self-expression, love and understanding through their familial, romantic and platonic bonds.
PostScreening conversation to follow with Rendah Haj and multi-disciplinary artist and NFFF co-founder Billy Gerard Frank.
Direrected by Ebele Tate
Drama | 14 Mins | UK
When eleven-year-old Nadine is left out in a game of kiss chase, she realizes the image is currency and her value is low. On a quest to feminize herself, she finds herself in an unexpected situation she is not prepared for.
Directed by Katherine Propper
Drama | 13 Mins | USA
Moments in the lives of Austin teenagers in the heat of Texas summer.
Double Cultura
Directed by Yessenia Sanchez
Drama | 8 Mins | USA
As the only English speaker of the house, twelve-year-old Marisol takes on the overwhelming responsibility of being her immigrant mothers translator. Much of her own life is disrupted to aid her Spanish-speaking mother, Gloria, navigate an English-speaking world. From fully translating medical terminology and being the bearer of bad news, Marisol is thrown into an anxiety-inducing situation being the sole channel of communication between Gloria and her doctor.
Baby Brother
Directed by Kamau Bilal
Documentary | 14 Mins | USA
A look at a young man experiencing a summer impasse after moving back in with his parents.
Child Runaways
Director Adriane McCray
Narrative | 13 Mins | USA
When their parents leave town for the weekend, two sisters first defy their eldest sister's authority, then convince her to join their mischief by spilling the family secrets.
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 68 MINS
PROGRAM . 2 — 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
RSVP FOR TICKETS HERE
RESISTANCE, RITUAL, AND LIBERATION.
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RESISTANCE, RITUAL, AND LIBERATION. 〰️
A selection of elevated films that range from experimental to documentary, exploring boxing, rituals, dreams, and empowerment, imagining ways diasporic people inhabit and celebrate spaces, push against limitations, and their bodies as the ultimate vessel to liberation.
Daughter of The Sea
Director Alexis Garcia
Drama | Experimental | 19:05Mins | Puerto Rico
After the death of her grandfather, a young woman experiences a spiritual awakening when she is called by Yemaya, the orisha Goddess of the Sea.
Phoenix
Directed by Lukas Tielke
Doc/Drama | 6:08 Mins
Sohaila, Zahra and Zeinab train every day. Their dream is to become professional fighters and to show the world that all people are equal. We spent a week in and around the Malakasa refugee camp outside Athens getting to know these inspirational young Afghan women, documenting their grueling commitment to fitness and their raging passion for equality.
Directed by Meeto
Documentary |15 Mins | Denmark
Uprooted from the Ivory Coast and sent to live in Denmark as a child, professional boxing champion Landry “Hardkore” Kore tells the story of his eighteen-year journey from homelessness and family breakdown to international success in an elevated documentary..
Rejoice Resist
Directed by Elisha Smith-Leverock
Experimental | Drama | 5 Mins | UK
Rejoice Resist is a film that celebrates and shows Black Joy and Black pleasure as the ultimate form of resistance. It highlights the importance of allowing yourself to feel joy, especially in the face of adversity…
TOTAL RUNNING TIME: 52:00 MINS
SPOKEN WORD AND PERFORMANCE - 2 PM
RSVP FOR TICKETS HERE
Shades of MEANING
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Shades of MEANING 〰️
Shades Of Meaning
Celebrating black Joy and resistance, featuring Cito Blanko, a Bronx New York native, Spoken Word Artist, and published Poet, and Zania Cummings.
DANCE PERFORMANCE - 3:30 PM
Ronald K. BROWN, DANCE COMPANY EVIDENCE
Presents, IFE: My Heart performed by Dancer and Choreographer Demetrius Burns
CENTERPIECE FILM & CONVERSATIONS - 4 PM
RSVP FOR TICKETS HERE
Directed by Rebecca Murray
Documentary | 5 Mins | UK
In this unfiltered documentary profile comprised of prose and pirouettes, Marie-Astrid Mence narrates her uncomfortable journey from adolescent to ballerina and her struggles in an industry that fails to see past her skin colour.
Documentary | 1 H 27 M | USA
Filmed over ten years, LIFT shines a spotlight on the invisible story of homelessness in America through the eyes of a group of young homeless and home-insecure ballet dancers in New York City. After performing all over the world, ballet dancer Steven Melendez returns to the Bronx shelter where he grew up to give back to his community, offering a New York Theatre Ballet workshop to children. His traumatic reaction to the shelter from his childhood sends him on an unexpected journey with three kids to reckon with a past he had escaped from through ballet. As young dance students, Victor, Yolanssie and Sharia face the same chasm of home insecurity that long separated Steven from his audience and makes the arts inaccessible to so many kids who share his background. The children he mentors offer him insight into turning a hidden trauma into dance, and together they make an aristocratic art form into an expression all their own.
Post-Screening Conversation - 5:30 PM
A conversation with Steven Melendez, Ballet Dancer, Choreographer, and Artist Director of New York Theatre Ballet; Mary Recine, Producer of Lift, Ronald K. Brown, Choreographer and founder of EVIDENCE, Arcell Cabuag, Dancer/Associate Artistic Director of Evidence, and moderated by Actress Dancer, and Tony Award Nominee Karine Plantadit.
The conversation amongst seasoned peers in the field of dance, theatre, and education explores the power and necessity of the arts, (personally and collectively) programs such as NYCBT Lift and The Billie Holiday Theatre Youth Arts Academy to inspire, teach, and demonstrates the power of the arts to bridge barriers.
7:30 - 10:00 PM, MUSIC, DANCE, CELEBRATION
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7:30 - 10:00 PM, MUSIC, DANCE, CELEBRATION 〰️
Grove and awaken the body, senses and mind to the elevated global sounds and music by D J Serge Negri.
RSVP FOR TICKETS HERE