She survived the system. Now she's walking back in to dismantle it from the inside.
Roxana follows a young mother’s return to the juvenile detention center she was once incarcerated in, now as a trained somatic therapist. Through an intimate look into the lives of incarcerated youth, we will see the consequences of childhood trauma.
Direction
Bella Graves lets silence do the screaming. Trusts viewers to connect dots.
Production
Roxana's actual workplace—no recreations, no distance, total vulnerability.
Director
Bella Graves
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Somatic therapy in carceral settings remains controversial—some advocates argue it pathologizes survival responses that kept kids alive.
Director Bella Graves spent three years embedded in California's juvenile facilities; this was her thesis film that accidentally became festival-circuit evidence.
US
