Space to Breathe

Space to Breathe is an Afrofuturist science fiction hybrid documentary, in a future where there are no prisons or police. The year is 2070 and Sojourner is a young nonbinary filmmaker who sets out to understand how abolition came to be, through history's archives on the movements of the early 21st century.
by Juicebox P. Burton202521 mins
Space to Breathe
Space to Breathe is an Afrofuturist science fiction hybrid documentary, a future where there are no prisons or police. The year is 2070 and Sojourner is a young nonbinary filmmaker who sets out to understand how abolition came to be, through history's archives on the movements of the early 21st century.
Synopsis
Space to Breathe is a hybrid of science fiction and documentary. It is a documentary about today's movements to abolish prisons and police from the perspective of the utopian future we are creating. Documentary footage from today is intercut with future scripted scenes, using actors. Sojourner (Sojo), a Black gender non-conforming youth in the year 2070, is making a documentary about how the work of today’s activists (in 2025) led to the end of prisons and police. The film is simultaneously about mass movements of people shaping change today (A documentary shot with real activists on the street) and a future world where today’s movements, demanding to defund the police and abolish prisons, have been successful.
Features and Languages

Construct values here, including languages, citation, other resources, etc.

Citation

The New Day Collection site only licenses this film as part of the New Day collection. If you are interested in licensing just this title for your institution, view this film on the main New Day site.