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Move Ya Body: The Birth of House Sydney Film Festival

8 June 2025

In the Playhouse

Cinema

United States | 2025 | English | Music Documentary | U15+

Raising the roof at Sundance, this doc unearths the Black, queer roots of house music in Chicago – born in underground clubs as a radical refuge from repression and segregation.

Bratton’s film blends civic and music history effortlessly while also having a truly banging soundtrack.

Marya E. Gates, RogerEbert.com

Useful information:

How house music was born the late 70s

Long before it hit the mainstream, house music pulsed through the walls of underground Chicago clubs like The Warehouse and The Power Plant, rising out of disco’s dust. In Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, director Elegance Bratton (The Inspection) traces the roots of this now-global sound, weaving rich archival footage and first-hand accounts to spotlight the Black, queer originators of a revolutionary musical movement. Telling the story of pioneering artists like Frankie Knuckles, Marshall Jefferson and Vince Lawrence, Move Ya Body forges a lively, celebratory social history of house, brimming with a standout selection of tracks and elevated by the voices of those who lived – and danced – it into being.

Presented by Sydney Opera House and Sydney Film Festival

Credits

Elegance Bratton
Director

Chester Algernal Gordon, Elegance Bratton
Producers

Lisa Rinzler
Cinematographer

Kristan William Prague, Jeremy Stulberg
Editor

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