Search Results for: 97

Get ready to be moved, inspired and engaged! Join us for the 15th Annual Fist Up Film Festival for a world of thought-provoking cinema, carefully curated. 

We’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with Fist Up Film Festival for October 2024! Presenting contemporary films that leave a lasting impact, inspire meaningful discussions, promote awareness, and encourage empathy.

This film festival uniquely bridges the gap between global and local communities, weaving together shared experiences from diverse backgrounds. These curated films amplify the voices of historically marginalized communities, honoring their stories and lived experiences. We invite you to be a part of this meaningful evening through our screenings and engaging Q&A sessions!

Admission is donation-based, with a suggested $15 contribution. Join us in celebrating the power of film and storytelling! You can also sign up to volunteer and come for free!

FIRST NIGHT: Culture Keepers (A Night of Short Films)

FILMS:

• AscenDance (17min) – Directed by Spencer Wilkinson As the pandemic shuts down Oakland’s streets in the midst of the BLM Protests and fight for racial justice, artists attempt their largest mural yet determined to use their artistic expression to amplify the cause. “We are honored to present ‘AscenDance,’ a film that inspires communities to use the power of art to address social justice issues and to celebrate our cultural diversity.” – Consuelo Alba https://www.instagram.com/alicestreet_ascendance/
• Home (5min) – Directed by Jason Nichols What is home? What does it feel like to be home? How do you care for your home?
• Becoming Her (23min) Directed by Arshley Tony Emile Becoming her is a portrait documentary that takes the audience on a journey that navigates through insecurity, self discovery, tragedy and purpose. The film is meant to inspire little black and brown girls around the world to relentlessly pursue their dreams. https://www.instagram.com/timberhousefilms
• Anansi the Spider (5min) – Directed by Jared Hall Despite his small size, Anansi the Spider has gotten into some big trouble. Will he be able to talk his way out? Or will someone shut Anansi up… permanently. https://www.instagram.com/thatishall/
• Ceiba Y Sus Raíces Taínas (4min) – Directed by Brithney Rivera Disaster strikes the island of Puerto Rico as Guabancex, Spirit of Chaos, leads a Hurricane. Ceiba, a disabled young woman in a wheelchair, calls upon the Spirit of Protection , Yúcahu, to prevent catastrophic doom. Ceiba realizes that only she has the power to stop the storm from destroying her beautiful island.https://www.instagram.com/ceibaysusraicestainas_thesis/
• Son of Samoa (10min) – Directored by Laman Time Son of Samoa takes you through the journey of Tatau. Identity is explored in a way physically, spiritually and mentally that most have not endured. https://filmfreeway.com/LamanTime
• Sol in the Garden (21min) Directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez & Débora Souza Silva After 16 years of incarceration, Sol is released from prison, when she discovers that coming into her own freedom can be as challenging as living behind bars. Through a community gardening collective of formerly incarcerated horticulturalists in East Oakland, Sol strives to recover her humanity and sense of self.
• Canoe Connections (4min) Directed by Reeva Billy An essential element of maintaining culture in First Nations communities is nurturing the practice of knowledge keepers passing on their cultural wisdom. An example of the transference of knowledge from one generation of Squamish Nation War Canoe builders to the next.
• Paddle Tribal Waters – (4min) Directed by Rush Sturges When the largest dam removal project in history begins, a group of indigenous youth learn to whitewater kayak in hopes of becoming the first people to paddle the restored river from source to sea. https://www.riostorivers.org/paddle-tribal-waters

Get ready to be moved, inspired and engaged! Join us for the 15th Annual Fist Up Film Festival for a world of thought-provoking cinema, carefully curated. 

We’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with Fist Up Film Festival for October 2024! Presenting contemporary films that leave a lasting impact, inspire meaningful discussions, promote awareness, and encourage empathy.

This film festival uniquely bridges the gap between global and local communities, weaving together shared experiences from diverse backgrounds. These curated films amplify the voices of historically marginalized communities, honoring their stories and lived experiences. We invite you to be a part of this meaningful evening through our screenings and engaging Q&A sessions!

Admission is donation-based, with a suggested $15 contribution. Join us in celebrating the power of film and storytelling! You can also sign up to volunteer and come for free!

THIRD NIGHT: Helena de Sarayaku w/ Q&A from filmmaker + Report back from the Amazon

Helena from Sarayaku traces the Sarayaku Kichwa people’s struggle to protect their lives, cultures and their territories from oil extraction in the period 2002 to 2021. It is both an anthropological study conducted by indigenous people for indigenous people, and for the world, and a vehicle to demonstrate the contribution of indigenous peoples to protecting the planet.

Helena’s elders encourage her in her quest to convey the indigenous message to the urban citizens of the world that their lives have to change for the protection of all of us. “Take these voices to other countries so they will listen, speak this message in their language when you get there.”

“We defend our territory so the great destroyers of the ​E​arth do not come,” explains one of the elders. Thanks to the struggle of the Sarayaku, “everything that our elders left us is intact,” but “others lost their cultures, and they will never get them back…[the companies] will build the road, the rainforest will be destroyed. They will contaminate the rivers. The world is coming to an end as our ancestors predicted… they destroy it without being aware of it. We cannot go on like this.”

Come join us at our Empowering Women of Color Open Mic!! This Open Mic event provides a space to celebrate the voices of women of color that enact and highlight the beauty of our cultural diversity. We welcome ALL who experience life through the lens of women in body, spirit, identity – past, present, future, and fluid. Come support local Bay Area talent or get ready to perform yourself!

In collaboration with the UC Berkeley Women of Color Initiative.

Come dance Cuban popular music old and new, including Son, Danzón, Timba and Cha-Cha-Cha! Come early at 7:15pm to take a mini Son lesson with legendary Cuban musician, dancer and teacher, Roberto Borrell! Stay all night to dance to the music of DJ’s Roberto Borrell and Garry Johnson.

You can save some money and really help give us an idea of how many people to expect by purchasing an advance ticket for only $10 (plus small Eventbrite fee). If you are NOT going, you can still purchase a ticket, just to mess with us and give us false hope of seeing you in person.

There will also be $15 tickets available at the door for folks who like to procrastinate.

The Son Party will be in The Lounge at La Peña in Berkeley. The Lounge shares a space with a Mexican Restaurant, Los Cilantros, so maybe come early and have 2 Shrimp Tacos and a Negro Modelo before Roberto’s Mini Son Lesson, then one more Negro Modelo with lime 15 minutes into the party.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me (Garry Johnson). Email me at emailforgarry@gmail.com or call at (415) 297-7212. I pride myself on getting back to people, so just try me!!!

If you have been feeling sad lately, it is probably from not dancing enough Son, Danzón, Timba and Cha-Cha-Cha, which is conveniently what we will be playing all night long at The Son Party.