Films That Move
Films That Move is a free screening series designed to bring independent, solutions-focused films straight to your inbox. Subscribers can enjoy one to two free virtual screenings of solutions-focused films per month, including timely calls to action to help you and your community get involved.
-
Raising Aniya tells the story of Aniya Wingate, a 16-year-old dancer, who sets out on a creative journey to choreograph and produce a performance in response to the destruction of Hurricane Harvey and the legacy of environmental pollution in her Houston neighborhood. The film is a coming-of-age story that combines cinematically filmed dance sequences with observational cinematography of a young artist striving to make sense of her world.
Raising Aniya premiered in 2025 and has screened at the Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (hosted at the National Academy of Sciences), Ashland Independent Film Festival, Climate Film Festival (New York City), Buffalo International Film Festival, and Houston Cinema Arts Festival.
-
The film has also been featured in special screenings and community-centered events such as the Cucalorus Film Festival’s Dance-a-lorus program—a cinema/dance collaboration with Aniya Wingate, as well as at Texas Southern University’s Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, the University Film and Video Association Conference, The Marketplace of the Future in Washington, D.C., and Yale University’s School of the Environment.
Since filming, Aniya Wingate graduated from college and has been dancing professionally for the Urban Souls Dance Company.