In BodyPoetry, filmmaker Zandashé Brown documents the work of paris cyan cian, a New Orleans–based practitioner of “ethereal and otherworldly” movement sessions. “paris has an excellent way of seamlessly connecting bodily awareness and experimentation to time, space, desire, and wellness,” Brown explains. “She does this with the land in mind, taking into account New Orleans’s cultural, geographical, and historical specificity.”

This original nonfiction short was produced in conjunction with the Oxford American’s 2023 Film Issue, which is devoted to the impact and intricacies of Southern cinema.