Sending Up the Timber

Lansing, MI

December 2025

Director: Alexandria Davis

In collaboration with dancers Heather Mitchell, Akilah Moore, and Amaya Skeene, with creative input from Antonio Disla (University of Michigan Drama professor and co-founder of A2D2 Theatre), the dance film Sending Up the Timber was devised during a two-day dance intensive on November 29 & 30, 2025, at Michigan State University. During the collaborative process, Davis used the Dancing Back to Self creative methodology to work with each dancer, cataloging memory and conversation as tools for embodying ancestral knowledge as a technology. Through movement, voice, and ritual, the film Sending Up the Timber explores the juxtaposition of dance, memory, and imagination as tools for inter-dimensional placemaking using embodied prayer as a form of ancient black technology for healing, resilience, and self-examination.

https://www.alexandriadavis.org/

The French Dukes: Rhythm, Roots, and Legacy

Ann Arbor, MI

2024

Director: Frederic M. Culpepper 

The story of Ann Arbor's legendary drill team, The French Dukes. Told through the memories of members and those who watched in awe, the rise of the Dukes from an idea to an internationally-known team is accompanied by photographs and articles from the time.

The Sea

Toronto, ON

November 2025

Director: Son Roberts

This experimental short film is a "Jazz Monologue" presented by an elusive oracle. Through rage and reflection, incendiary prose and inspirational poetry, he reminds us of the legacy of lies that define our human journey. And he insists that we embrace the redemptive power of truth, from generation to generation.

https://thejazzmonologues.com/

A Ripple in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI

Director: Aliyah Mitchell

Originated and produced by Ann Arbor City Council Member Cynthia Harrison, the short documentary film A Ripple in Ann Arbor tells the story of the search for a serial rapist in Ann Arbor in the 1990s, the unfocused and invasive tactics used by police to find the perpetrator, and the innocent man who took the city to court to expose these tactics and reclaim his dignity, weaving interviews with people who lived these events with primary source materials.