BAMcinématek presents Space Is the Place: Afrofuturism on Film, Apr 3—15
“Are you ready to alter your destiny?”—Sun Ra in Space Is the Place
Afrika Bambaataa, Terence Nance, Greg Tate, and others in person!
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.
Brooklyn, NY/Mar 9, 2015—From Friday, April 3 through Wednesday, April 15, BAMcinématek presents Space Is the Place: Afrofuturism on Film, a kaleidoscopic, horizon-expanding exploration of alternate and imagined Black futures and pasts in science-fiction, genre-bending global cinema, unorthodox documentary, and innovative music videos.
Opening the series on Friday, April 3 is Dick Fontaine’s Beat This!: A Hip Hop History (1984), one of the earliest filmed documents of hip-hop culture along with Wild Style and Style Wars. Featuring cameos by DJ and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa, early hip-hop group the Cold Crush Brothers, DJ Jazzy Jay, renowned b-boy crew the Dynamic Rockers, and glimpses of DJ Kool Herc’s notorious dance parties, Beat This! is a sci-fi tinged time capsule of the early days of the movement, complete with rhyming narration by Imhotep Gary Byrd. Bambaataa will appear in person following the screening for a Q&A with cultural critic Greg Tate.
The series’ namesake is the only film starring legendary mystic and jazz musician Sun Ra, Space Is the Place (1974—Apr 9)—―a freaky and far-fetched blend of blaxploitation, sci-fi, and free jazz‖ (Phil Gallo, Variety). After populating a foreign planet with African American colonists, Sun Ra as cosmic pharaoh travels back to Earth to look for more recruits and is challenged to a card game against the evil Overseer to decide the fate of the Black race. Space Is the Place screens with Frances Bodomo’s Afronauts (2014), about a group of Zambian exiles who try to beat America in the space race to the moon. Other sci-fi narratives include John Sayles’ satire of the immigrant experience, The Brother from Another Planet (1984—Apr 10), screening with the post- apocalyptic Kenyan short Pumzi (2009); Haile Gerima’s Sankofa (1993—April 12), in which an African American model is transported back in time to an antebellum Southern plantation; and Stephen Norrington’s Blade (1998—Apr 10), starring Wesley Snipes in his iconic role as half-man, half-vampire.
Space Is the Place also showcases a number of rarities including Ngozi Onwurah’s dystopian evocation of a near-future Black history, Welcome II the Terrordome (1995—Apr 11), which screens with Kibwe Tavares’ Robots of Brixton (2011); Robert Mugge’s Sun Ra doc A Joyful Noise (1980—Apr 11), featuring rare archival footage of interviews and live performances; and iconic American independent filmmaker Shirley Clarke’s Ornette: Made in America (1985—Apr 11), ―an intricately knit series of riffs on free jazz giant Ornette Coleman, one of the greatest living artists 20th-century modernism produced‖ (Amy Taubin, Artforum).
On Tuesday, April 14, BAMcinématek presents The Last Angel of History (1997), directed by John Akomfrah of the Black Audio Film Collective—the subject of a BAM retrospective last year. This sci-fi ciné-essay features interviews with pan-African artists interspersed with a recurring Afrofuturist allegory highlighting their cultural alienation and displacement. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about the ever-evolving Afrofuturist movement with director
Terence Nance, writer and editor at The New Inquiry Derica Shields, and Associate Curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem Naima J. Keith, moderated by series curator Ashley Clark.
Additional highlights include Nance’s ―dense, organic, dazzling, and funny tapestry‖ (Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times) An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012—Apr 13); Lizzie Borden’s pseudo- documentary Born in Flames (1983—Apr 15), which imagines a lesbian-led feminist revolution and projects a dystopian future onto grimy Koch-era New York City; and Cosmic Slop (1994—Apr 13), a controversial, three-part HBO special that has drawn comparisons to The Twilight Zone and features George Clinton’s floating head as narrator.
For press information, please contact Lisa Thomas at 718.724.8023 / [email protected] Hannah Thomas at 718.724.8002 / [email protected]
Space Is the Place: Afrofuturism on Film Schedule
Fri, Apr 3 7pm*: Beat This!: A Hip Hop History
Thu, Apr 9 7pm: Space Is the Place + Afronauts 9:15pm: A Joyful Noise
Fri, Apr 10 2pm: The Brother from Another Planet 4:15, 9:45pm: Blade 7pm: The Brother from Another Planet + Pumzi
Sat, Apr 11 2, 4:30, 7pm: Ornette: Made in America 9:30pm: Welcome II the Terrordome + Robots of Brixton
Sun, Apr 12 5, 8pm: Sankofa
Mon, Apr 13 5:15, 9:15pm: An Oversimplification of Her Beauty 7:15pm: Cosmic Slop
Tue, Apr 14 7:30pm**: The Last Angel of History
Wed, Apr 15 7:30pm: Born in Flames
*Q&A with Afrika Bambaataa moderated by Greg Tate *Followed by a panel discussion
Film Descriptions
Afronauts (2014) 14min Dir. Frances Bodomo. With Diandra Forrest, Yolonda Ross, Hoji Fortuna. This beguiling monochrome short tracks the Zambia Space Academy’s attempts to beat America to the moon. DCP. Screens with Space Is the Place Dir. John Coney (1974) 85min. Thu, Apr 9 at 7pm
Beat This!: A Hip Hop-History (1984) 60min Dir. Dick Fontaine. Filmmaker Dick Fontaine’s hugely entertaining documentary was one of the first examinations of hip-hop culture, just as it entered its golden age. Full of wit and edited with style, Beat This features out-there sci- fi imagery and reams of terrific archival material, including live performances by Afrika Bambaataa and Kool Herc and incredible footage from Herc’s original dance parties. DigiBeta. Fri, Apr 3 at 7pm Q&A with Afrika Bambaataa moderated by Greg Tate
Blade (1998) 120min Dir. Stephen Norrington. With Wesley Snipes, Stephen Dorff, Kris Kristofferson. Wesley Snipes delivers one of his most iconic roles as an ice-cool half-vampire, half-mortal who becomes a protector of the mortal race by slaying evil vampires in increasingly spectacular fashion. This gripping sci-fi-horror hybrid launched a franchise, but the original remains the most entertaining. 35mm. Fri, Apr 10 at 4:15, 9:45pm
Born in Flames (1983) 80min. Dir. Lizzie Borden. With Honey, Adele Bertei, Jean Satterfield. This dizzying feminist sci-fi doc takes place in an imaginary New York a decade after a socialist revolution has rendered all men equal, leaving women—organized by two rival pirate radio stations—to pick up the battle. Borden tackles issues of class, racism, and sexism with confidence and post-punk swagger. 16mm. Wed, Apr 15 at 7:30pm
The Brother from Another Planet (1984) 108min Dir. John Sayles. With Joe Morton, Daryl Edwards, Rosanna Carter. In Sayles’ witty urban spin on the runaway slave narrative, a mute extraterrestrial (Joe Morton, in a remarkably expressive performance) crash-lands in Harlem after a spaceship accident and finds himself on the run from two mysterious white hunters. Stylishly shot by Spike Lee collaborator Ernest Dickerson, The Brother from Another Planet offers a thought-provoking spin on the use of the black image in science fiction. 35mm. *Screens with Pumzi Dir. Wanuri Kahiu (2009) 21min Fri, Apr 10 at 2, 7pm*
Cosmic Slop (1994) 83min Dirs. Reginald Hudlin, Warrington Hudlin, Kevin Rodney Sullivan. With Robert Guillaume, Jorge Ameer, Larry Anderson, Noëlle Balfour. With frequent nods to The Twilight Zone, this psychedelic trilogy takes its title from the 1973 album by Afrofuturist pioneers Funkadelic and features the recurring presence of George Clinton’s floating head as narrator. Cosmic Slop stoked controversy for its provocative depictions of class and racial tensions when it aired on HBO in 1994. DCP. Mon, Apr 13 at 7:15pm
A Joyful Noise (1980) 60min Dir. Robert Mugge. This rare, revealing documentary presents jazz legend and mystic Sun Ra as both philosopher and inspired leader of his most famous band, the Intergalactic Arkestra. Testimonials from colleagues are intercut with concert footage in Baltimore and Philadelphia, as well as sessions with Ra himself, filmed in the Egyptian room of a museum, where he looks intently into the camera as he expands on his Afrocentrist worldview. 16mm. Thu, Apr 9 at 9:15pm
The Last Angel of History (1997) 45min Dir. John Akomfrah. 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. Interviews with esteemed musicians, writers, and cultural critics are interwoven with the fictional story of
the ―data thief,‖ who must travel through time and space in search of the code that holds the key to his future. DCP. Tue, Apr 14 at 7:30pm Panel follows screening
Ornette: Made in America (1985) 85min Dir. Shirley Clarke. The great experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke painted this portrait of avant-garde jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman—who was once asked by NASA to compose music to coincide with their space program. Clarke blends thrilling performance excerpts, futuristic music videos, and imaginative reenactments of Coleman’s childhood, resulting in an invigorating document of a unique artist and original thinker. 35mm. Sun, Apr 11 at 2, 4:30, 7pm
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty (2012) 84min Dir. Terence Nance. With Alisa Becher, Jc Cain, Dexter Jones. This remarkable debut feature charts the relationship between director and star Nance and a beautiful young woman as it teeters on the line between romantic and platonic. Weaving an alluring tapestry of live action, home video, and Afrofuturistic animation, Nance boldly explores the fantasies, memories, and emotions that race through his mind during a singular moment in time. DCP. Mon, Apr 13 at 5:15, 9:15pm
Pumzi (2009) 21min Dir. Wanuri Kahiu. With Chantelle Burger, Freddy Djanabia, Anton David Jeftha. Kenya’s first sci-fi film shows a post-apocalyptic world in which water has almost run out. Digital. Screens with The Brother from Another Planet Dir. John Sayles (1984) 108min Fri, Apr 10 at 7pm
Robots of Brixton (2011) 6min Dir. Kibwe Tavares. With Yung Swizz'Agg, Kibwe Tavares. Tensions erupt among a group of young robots attempting to survive the daily grind. DCP. Screens with Welcome II the Terrordome Dir. Ngozi Onwurah (1995) 90min Sat, Apr 11 at 9:30pm
Sankofa (1993) 124min Dir. Haile Gerima. With Kofi Ghanaba, Oyafunmike Ogunlano, Alexandra Duah. Haile Gerima’s blistering parable tells the story of a self-absorbed African American fashion model who, while on a photo shoot in Ghana, is spiritually transported to a plantation in the antebellum South. Here, she experiences the horrors of slavery—and ultimately, the redemptive power of community and rebellion. Sankofa is a beautiful and disturbing Afrocentric interrogation of the past through a contemporary lens. Digital. Sun, Apr 12 at 5, 8pm
Space Is the Place (1974) 85min Dir. John Coney. With Sun Ra, Barbara Deloney, Raymond Johnson. The movie version of Sun Ra’s concept album features the legendary avant-garde jazz musician and mystic in his only fictional film appearance. Rejecting a linear plot in favor of a mélange of interplanetary travel, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-Blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, this kaleidoscopic, brilliantly eccentric adventure is a wild ride. 35mm. Screens with Afronauts Dir. Frances Bodomo (2014) 14min. Thu, Apr 9 at 7pm
Welcome II the Terrordome (1995) 90min Dir. Ngozi Onwurah. With Suzette Llewellyn, Saffron Burrows, Felix Joseph. The first narrative feature ever directed by a Black British woman is this ferocious, ambitious, dystopian nightmare influenced by African mythology, the films of Spike Lee, and the music of Public Enemy. A near-future inner-city ghetto implodes under the pressure of racial tensions, poverty, and police brutality. 35mm. Screens with Robots of Brixton Dir. Kibwe Tavares (2011) 6min
Sat, Apr 11 at 9:30pm
About BAMcinématek The four-screen BAM Rose Cinemas (BRC) opened in 1998 to offer Brooklyn audiences alternative and independent films that might not play in the borough otherwise, making BAM the only performing arts center in the country with two mainstage theaters and a multiplex cinema. In July 1999, beginning with a series celebrating the work of Spike Lee, BAMcinématek was born as Brooklyn’s only daily, year-round repertory film program. BAMcinématek presents new and rarely seen contemporary films, classics, work by local artists, and festivals of films from around the world, often with special appearances by directors, actors, and other guests. BAMcinématek has not only presented major retrospectives by major filmmakers such as Michelangelo Antonioni, Manoel de Oliveira, Shohei Imamura, Vincente Minnelli (winning a National Film Critics’ Circle Award prize for the retrospective), Kaneto Shindo, Luchino Visconti, and William Friedkin, but it has also introduced New York audiences to contemporary artists such as Pedro Costa and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In addition, BAMcinématek programmed the first US retrospectives of directors Arnaud Desplechin, Nicolas Winding Refn, Hong Sang-soo, and Andrzej Zulawski. From 2006 to 2008, BAMcinématek partnered with the Sundance Institute and in June 2009 launched BAMcinemaFest, a 16-day festival of new independent films and repertory favorites with 15 NY feature film premieres; the seventh annual BAMcinemaFest runs from June 17—28, 2015.
Credits
The Wall Street Journal is the title sponsor of BAM Rose Cinemas and BAMcinématek.
Steinberg Screen at the BAM Harvey Theater is made possible by The Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Charitable Trust.
Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM.
Brooklyn Brewery is the preferred beer of BAMcinématek.
BAM Rose Cinemas are named in recognition of a major gift in honor of Jonathan F.P. and Diana Calthorpe Rose. BAM Rose Cinemas would also like to acknowledge the generous support of The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Bloomberg, and Time Warner Inc. Additional support for BAMcinématek is provided by The Grodzins Fund, The Liman Foundation, and Summit Rock Advisors.
Space Is the Place: Afrofuturism on Film is curated by Ashley Clark. BAMcinématek is programmed by Nellie Killian and David Reilly with assistance from Gabriele Caroti and Jesse Trussell. Additional programming by Ryan Werner.
Special thanks to Ruza Blue/KLB Productions; Kristie Nakamura/Warner Bros. Classics; Justin DiPietro/IFC Films; Dennis Doros & Amy Heller Doros/Milestone Films; Livia Bloom/Icarus Films; Paul Marchant & Marc Mauceri/First Run Features; Gugulethu Mseleku; Jim Newman; Shereen S. Khan/Focus Features; Simon Onwurah; The Factory; Makala Gerima; Charlie Bligh/British Film Institute; Dylan Marchetti/Amplify Releasing.
General Information
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a bar menu and dinner entrées prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a bar menu available starting at 6pm.
Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM
For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.