Search
Account
Search
Account
Directed by John Coney, Space is the Place is a 1974 Afrofuturist sci-fi film starring the legendary jazz musician Sun Ra and his Arkestra. The film follows Sun Ra as he travels through time and space, seeking to transport Black people to a new utopian planet where they can thrive free from oppression. Blending surreal visuals, philosophical musings, and Sun Ra's signature music, this avant-garde masterpiece is part cosmic odyssey, part social commentary, and wholly unique. It's a kaleidoscopic exploration of liberation, identity, and the boundless power of imagination.
Lewis Music Library will be hosting a screening of Space Is the Place on Friday, March 7, from 12:00-2:00pm, as part of its Afrofuturism programming for Artfinity 2025. Please register at this link to attend the screening.
(Color lithograph poster for the musical film Space Is the Place from the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture).
Afronauts by
16th July 1969: America prepares to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of kilometers away, a ragtag group of Zambian exiles is trying to beat America to the Moon.
Black Panther by
King T'Challa returns home to the isolated, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as new leader. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from divisions within his own country. When two enemies conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must join forces with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Wakandan Special Forces, to prevent Wakanda from being drawn into a world war.
Blade by
When the bloodthirsty Immortals' lord, Deacon Frost, declares war on the human race, Blade is humanity's last hope for survival.
Crumbs by
Dormant for decades, a mothership hovering over post-apocalypse Ethiopia awakens. Resolved to board the craft, a collector of late-20th century pop memorabilia embarks on a surreal journey to uncover its secrets. Heralding the era of post-modern Afro-futurism in the US, Miguel Llanso's feature film debut, is an ahead-of-its-time commentary on American consumer culture and the wastefulness of idolatry.
Daughters of the Dust by
At the dawn of the 20th century, a multi-generational family in the Gullah community on the Sea Islands off of South Carolina - former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors - Yoruba traditions - struggle to maintain their cultural heritage and folklore while contemplating a migration to the mainland, even further from their roots. The first wide release by a black female filmmaker, Daughters of the Dust was met with wild critical acclaim and rapturous audience response when it initially opened in 1991. Casting a long legacy, the film still resonates today, most recently as a major in influence on Beyonce's video album 'Lemonade.'
The Last Angel of History by
John Akomfrah, director of Seven Songs of Malcolm X, returns with an engaging and searing examination of the hitherto unexplored relationships between Pan-African culture, science fiction, intergalactic travel, and rapidly progressing computer technology. This cinematic essay posits science fiction (with tropes such as alien abduction, estrangement, and genetic engineering) as a metaphor for the Pan-African experience of forced displacement, cultural alienation, and otherness. Akomfrah's analysis is rooted in an exploration of the cultural works of Pan-African artists, such as funkmaster George Clinton and his Mothership Connection , Sun Ra's use of extraterrestrial iconography, and the very explicit connection drawn between these issues in the writings of black science fiction authors Samuel R. Delaney and Octavia Butler.
The Polymath, or the Life and Opinions of Samuel R. Delany, Gentleman by
Science fiction writer Samuel R. Delany talks about his books and his experience growing up in New York City as a gay African-American author. Bonus disc includes additional interviews and the author's movie The orchid.
Space Is the Place by
This 40th Anniversary Edition of Space is the Place contains both known versions of the film, a new producer commentary, copious notes from cast, crew, and Arkestra members, a CD of the soundtrack- including two previously unreleased tracks- and dozens of never-before-seen photographs.
Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise by
Originally released in 1980. Filmmaker Robert Mugge and his crew spent two years (1978 to 1980) shooting Sun Ra and members of his distinctive jazz Arkestra at various locations in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. ... Songs performed include such Sun Ra classics as Astro Black, Mister Mystery, We travel the spaceways, Along came Ra/The living myth, Spaceship Earth (destination unknown), Requiem for Trevor Johnson, and many more.
Touki Bouki by
Originally released in 1973. Former cowherd Mory drives a motorbike with a cow's skull on the handlebars, and he and his girlfriend Anta are riding away--from their families, their home, and their future--at least as far as Dakar. They dream of a mythic and romanticized France, and set about scavenging and hustling the funds for the steam liner to Paris. Mory finds that the West, while seductive, cannot compete with the challenges posed by Dakar and his own country. Mambety's juxtaposition of premodern, pastoral, and modern sights and sounds vividly captures the hybridity of postcolonial African society, while his story grapples with the difficulties that society faces in constructing a usable African culture.
A Wrinkle in Time by
Although he has been missing for several years and the entire town thinks her father has abandoned her family, Meg steadfastly believes the best and protects her younger brother, Charles Wallace, from the brunt of the rumors and taunting. It is he, however, who convinces her to join him, the school sports star Calvin, and three unusual women on an interplanetary voyage to rescue their father from a vast evil.
Yeelen by
Originally released in 1987. A film adaptation of one of the great oral epics of the Bambara people, set during the powerful Mali Empire of the 13th century. Tells the story of Nianankoro, a young Bambara warrior destined to destroy a corrupt older society, the secret Komo cult, and with it his father, and, inevitably, himself. The climactic flash of light which floods the screen at the film's end ushers in a new purified world order and captures the Bambara belief in time as circular, not linear, always returning to that initial "brightness" which created the world.