Afrofuturism

Afrofuturism

25 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.

Afrofuturism
  • Introducing Afrofuturism

    Episode 1

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

  • 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...

  • Ornette: Made in America

    Episode 3

    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

    Episode 4

    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...

  • The Upsetter: The Life and Music of Lee Scratch Perry

    Episode 5

    Directed by Ethan Higbee and Adam Bhala Lough • 2008 • United States
    Starring Lee “Scratch” Perry, Peter Tosh, Benicio Del Toro

    Visionary record producer and dub innovator Lee “Scratch” Perry—who defined the sound of reggae through his pioneering work with artists like Bob Marley and the Wailers...

  • 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

    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

    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 ...

  • The Changing Same

    Episode 9

    Directed by Cauleen Smith • 2001 • United States

    In this experimental hybrid between science fiction and noir, Cauleen Smith explores Black alienation and outsiderhood via the story of two aliens stationed on Earth searching for kinship and a sense of purpose.

  • Planet X

    Episode 10

    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

    Episode 11

    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

    Episode 12

    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.

  • Hasaki Ya Suda

    Episode 13

    Directed by Cédric Ido • 2011 • France
    Starring Jacky Ido, Cédric Ido, Min Man Ma

    In an all-too-plausible future ravaged by climate change, rival clans must fight for the remaining natural resources in this striking Burkinabé blend of samurai adventure, spaghetti western, and doomsday science-fi...

  • Native Sun

    Episode 14

    Directed by Terence Nance and Blitz Bazawule • 2011 • United States
    Starring Edward Dankwa, Marcus Quarshie, Helena Yaboah

    A young boy embarks on a journey through Accra, Ghana, to find his estranged father in this fable-like short made to accompany an album by hip-hop artist Blitz the Ambassador.

  • Twaaga
    31:44
    Episode 15

    Twaaga

    Episode 15

    Directed by Cédric Ido • 2013 • France, Burkina Faso
    Starring Sabourou Bamogo, Harouna Ouedraogo, Sidiki Diarra

    Burkina Faso in 1985 is a country in the throes of revolution. Manu, a young boy who loves comics, tags along with his big brother, Albert. When Albert decides to undergo a magic ritua...

  • Public Service Announcement

    Episode 16

    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.

  • You and I and You

    Episode 17

    Directed by Terence Nance • 2015 • United States

    This hypnotically surreal dance film is set to a single by the psychedelic rock band the Dig.

  • The Golden Chain

    Episode 18

    Directed by Adebukola Bodunrin and Ezra Claytan Daniels • 2016 • United States

    Experimental cinema meets the aesthetics of the graphic novel in this surreal outer-space odyssey to the edge of consciousness and the cosmos.

  • Relic 0

    Episode 19

    Directed by Larry Achiampong • 2017 • United Kingdom

    The prelude to Larry Achiampong’s RELIC series moves between African and Western vistas as it ruminates on time, history, and colonialism.

  • Relic 1

    Episode 20

    Directed by Larry Achiampong • 2017 • United Kingdom

    A Relic Traveller apparates in sites across a desolate United Kingdom, uncovering fragments of audible data that present clue-like testimonies to a forgotten empire.

  • Relic 2

    Episode 21

    Directed by Larry Achiampong • 2017 • United Kingdom

    The third RELIC film in what is currently a quadrilogy considers the rise of nationalism in the global West and imagines a future in which a united Africa ascends to prosperity, harmony, and independence.

  • Relic 3

    Episode 22

    Directed by Larry Achiampong • 2017 • United Kingdom

    Detailing the struggles of a migrant worker trying to make a life in a hostile, alien environment, RELIC 3 sets aural tales of sexual manipulation, violence, and exploitation to striking images of landscapes across the UK.

  • 1968 < 2018 > 2068

    Episode 23

    Directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon • 2018 • United States

    Drawing on literary excerpts from the book “Black Quantum Futurism: Theory and Practice,” 1968 < 2018 > 2068 is a meditation on cyclical and linear time theory, memory, and trauma.

  • Zombies

    Episode 24

    Directed by Baloji • 2019 • Belgium, The Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Starring Popaul Amisi, Gaelle Kibikonda

    Belgian-Congolese rapper Baloji directs this hallucinatory tour through the streets, hair salons, and underground clubs of Kinshasa.