Luisa Dantas
Brasilian-American filmmaker Luisa Dantas works at the intersection of storytelling, social justice, and cities and her work spans both fiction and non-fiction content. Her latest fiction short film, "Sacred", recently premiered at the New Orleans Film Festival. Luisa also wrote and directed the multi-platform documentary "Land of Opportunity." Luisa is Project Director for the Rise-Home Stories Project, an innovative storytelling initiative training organizers and advocates in cities across the U.S. to harness the power of narrative in the fight for housing, land, and racial justice. The project includes an animated web series, a children’s book, non-fiction podcasts, and video game.
Presentations from Facing Race 2022
Rise-Home: Seeding New Narratives for Housing & Racial Justice Through Artist/Organizer Collaboration
Deeply-entrenched toxic narratives such as scarcity, individualism, and the inevitability of inequality, are serious obstacles in the fight for land, housing, and racial justice. Five years ago, advocates and organizers from 16 racial and housing justice groups came together with renowned artists from all over the country to identify and deconstruct these harmful narratives, while creating visionary alternatives. Join members of our groundbreaking BIPOC-led collective, Rise-Home Stories, to learn how we created a body of award-winning multimedia projects that advance new narratives of abundance and collective action to support grassroots organizing.
-Alejandria Fights Back! / ¡La Lucha de Alejandria! - a bilingual, illustrated children’s book whose 9-year-old Afro-Latinx heroine fights evictions on her block.
-Dot’s Home - a time-travel video game that allows players to experience racist housing policies over decades, through the eyes of one Black family living in Detroit.
-But Next Time - a podcast lifting up community-led responses to climate-fueled disasters.
-MINE - The pilot of an animated web series set in a future utopia fueled by sentient water, whose protagonist is Blaze, a non-binary Black teenager.
-StealEstate - an interactive web experience featuring audio storytelling and dynamic illustration that makes the case against the financialization of housing.
In our breakout session, you’ll hear how advocates became storytellers and artists became advocates as they shared creative decision-making power. You’ll also learn how you can use this media to support your own organizing and narrative work. We’ll help you identify harmful narratives that affect your social justice work and brainstorm visionary alternatives.
Speakers: Luisa Dantas, Renee Willis, Paige Wood