Bijou Film Festival and Elements Oakland celebrate Black and queer roots of house music with Juneteenth event series

This Juneteenth, the Black and queer roots of house music will be celebrated with a series of events in Oakland, California.

Across June 17th-18th, the series – which will take place both virtually and in in-person – will celebrate what organisers Bijou Film Festival (BFF) and the Elements Oakland crew call “Black Fantastic Otherness, a term that highlights the unique otherness that we possess as Black people around the globe.”

Pairing up with DJ Nina Sol and dancer-turned-DJ Patrick Wilson, aka the Elements crew, Bijou Film Festival will host a conversation about the Black and queer roots of house on Friday, 17th June. Featuring Bay Area veteran house DJs David Harness, Wilson, DJ Lamont “Fingersnaps” and Anita Lofton, the conversation will be moderated by Sol and hosted by Khalil Anthony of BFF. According to organisers, it will take a look back at how “our past allows us to move firmly into the future with both eyes open, and hearts big and wide as the possibilities on the horizon”.  

As well as being streamed online, the event is also open to the public, taking place at new, Black-owned Oakland vinyl bar, Sessions.

The following night – Saturday, June 18th – sees the Juneteenth party and official BFF afterparty in Oakland, featuring DJ and producer Timmy Regisford, Rimarkable, and Elements residents Sol and Wilson. Tickets are on sale now via RA, and the venue is to be revealed.