Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism

12 Episodes

Coined in 1994 by critic Mark Dery, the term “Afrofuturism” has become an essential framework for art about imagined and alternative Black experiences. As the author Ytasha Womack writes, “Afrofuturism combines elements of science fiction, historical fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, Afrocentricity, and magic realism with non-Western beliefs.” Afrofuturist ideas have found fertile ground in film, and this expansive series takes viewers on an international, intergalactic journey that stretches back long before the term existed, and far into the future. Spanning animation, documentary, and genre spectacle, these exuberant visions of Black creativity, resistance, and freedom zigzag across the African diaspora from New York to Brasilia to Kinshasa to worlds unknown. Curated by Ashley Clark, the series draws together films from Space is the Place: Afrofuturism on Film, which took place at Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015; a sequel planned for 2020 that was canceled due to the pandemic; and a selection of all-new titles, many of them available for streaming for the first time.

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Afrofuturism

12 Episodes

  • Introducing Afrofuturism
    16:49
    Introducing Afrofuturism
    Episode 1

    Introducing Afrofuturism

    Episode 1

    This introduction by Criterion curatorial director Ashley Clark was recorded in 2020.

  • Space Is the Place
    1:21:41
    Space Is the Place
    Episode 2

    Space Is the Place

    Episode 2

    Directed by John Coney • 1974 • United States
    Starring Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond Johnson

    Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social comment...

  • Born in Flames
    1:20:39
    Born in Flames
    Episode 3

    Born in Flames

    Episode 3

    Directed by Lizzie Borden • 1983 • United States
    Starring Honey, Adele Bertei, Jean Satterfield

    The film that rocked the foundations of the 1980s underground, this postpunk provocation is a DIY fantasia of female rebellion set in America ten years after a social-democratic cultural revolution. W...

  • Ornette: Made in America
    1:17:26
    Ornette: Made in America
    Episode 4

    Ornette: Made in America

    Episode 4

    Directed by Shirley Clarke • 1985 • United States
    Starring Ornette Coleman

    This freewheeling documentary captures Ornette Coleman’s evolution over three decades. Documentary footage, dramatic scenes, and some of the first music-video-style segments ever made chronicle his boyhood in segregated T...

  • Welcome II the Terrordome
    1:30:01
    Welcome II the Terrordome
    Episode 5

    Welcome II the Terrordome

    Episode 5

    Directed by Ngozi Onwurah • 1995 • United Kingdom
    Starring Suzette Llewellyn, Saffron Burrows, Felix Joseph

    Ngozi Onwurah’s radically ahead-of-its-time Afrofuturist vision WELCOME II THE TERRORDOME made history as the first theatrically distributed British feature directed by a Black woman. Neve...

  • Milford Graves Full Mantis
    1:32:47
    Milford Graves Full Mantis
    Episode 6

    Milford Graves Full Mantis

    Episode 6

    Directed by Jake Meginsky with Neil Young • 2018 • United States
    Starring Milford Graves

    This portrait of renowned percussionist and founding pioneer of avant-garde jazz Milford Graves finds him exploring his kaleidoscopic creativity and relentless curiosity. The film draws the viewer through th...

  • Neptune Frost
    1:49:45
    Neptune Frost
    Episode 7

    Neptune Frost

    Episode 7

    Directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman • 2021 • United States, Rwanda
    Starring Cheryl Isheja, Bertrand Ninteretse, Eliane Umuhire

    Codirected by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, this visually wondrous sci-fi punk musical takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped colt...

  • Odds and Ends
    27:46
    Odds and Ends
    Episode 8

    Odds and Ends

    Episode 8

    Directed by Michelle Parkerson • 1993 • United States

    In the year 2096, Black women warriors wage a battle against racial and gender annihilation. In this devastated universe, a fable unfolds on the interplanetary frontlines. Lieutenant Loz Wayard, a courageous young Amazon, learns the price of ...

  • Planet X
    06:34
    Planet X
    Episode 9

    Planet X

    Episode 9

    Directed by Ulysses Jenkins • 2006 • United States

    Ulysses Jenkins looks at the Katrina catastrophe in New Orleans through the lens of the Planet X doomsday myth and a proclamation of coming disaster to African Americans issued by avant-garde jazz prophet Sun Ra.

  • Dark Matters
    07:27
    Dark Matters
    Episode 10

    Dark Matters

    Episode 10

    Directed by Monique Walton • 2010 • United States
    Starring Sade Jones

    A woman obsessed with extraterrestrials and UFO sightings begins to question her own ethnic, cultural, and planetary origins.

  • The Becoming Box
    16:04
    The Becoming Box
    Episode 11

    The Becoming Box

    Episode 11

    Directed by Monique Walton • 2011 • United States

    In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a mysterious box appears in the backyard of three siblings—a portal that may offer an escape from their surroundings.

  • Public Service Announcement
    15:25
    Public Service Announcement
    Episode 12

    Public Service Announcement

    Episode 12

    Directed by Athi-Patra Ruga • 2014 • South Africa

    A stunning cosmic kaleidoscope of fluorescent, pixelated nature imagery is set to a dryly satirical lesson on the totalitarian, matriarchal political structure of the fictional republic of Azania.

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