Directed by Souleymane Cissé • 1987 • Mali
Starring Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare
This adaptation of an ancient oral legend from Mali is one the most acclaimed and widely seen African films ever made. An Oedipal story infused with magic, YEELEN is as visually stunning as anything from Hollywood. Set in the powerful Mali Empire of the thirteenth century, the film follows the journey of Nianankoro, a young warrior who must battle the powerful Komo cult. Nianankoro’s greatest enemy is his own father, a dangerous and corrupt wizard who uses his dark magic to try and destroy his son. Traveling over the arid Bambara, Fulani, and Dogan lands of ancient West Africa, Nianankoro eventually comes face to face with his father in a fatal showdown. Cissé’s extraordinary use of landscapes and light produces a unique and striking cinematic style.
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...
Directed by John Akomfrah • 1996 • United Kingdom
John Akomfrah, cofounder of the influential Black Audio Film Collective, crafted this experimental blend of sci-fi parable and essay film, which also serves as an essential primer on the aesthetics and dynamics of contemporary Afrofuturism. Inter...
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.
