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.
Directed by Adirley Queirós • 2017 • Brazil
Starring Wellington Abreu, Marquim do Tropa, Andreia Vieira
Described by director Adirley Queirós as a work of “futurist ethnography,” this sci-fi head trip charts the odyssey of an intergalactic traveler who goes on a mission to assassinate former Bra...
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.
Directed by Likarion Wainaina • 2018 • Germany, Kenya
Starring Stycie Waweru, Marrianne Nungo, Nyawara Ndambia
Obsessed with Jackie Chan and action films, nine-year-old Jo (Stycie Waweru) dreams of being a superhero—but time is not on her side. When the doctors reveal that she is terminally ill,...
Directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon • 2019 • United States
Starring Koko Zauditu-Selassie, Kherby Jean, Jesus Mitchell
A film crew follows three grieving participants in Miami’s annual T Ball, where folks assemble to model RIP T-shirts and innovative costumes designed in honor of their dead.
Directed by Lonnie Holley and Cyrus Moussavi • 2019 • United States
Starring Lonnie Holley, Theotis Taylor
Visionary folk artist Lonnie Holley choreographs an ecstatic Afrofuturist tone poem to his own music in an assemblage of his encounters with the slave ship “America” and a testament to imag...
