Afro Algorithms

Space Is the Place

Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the black race.

Neptune Frost

In the hilltops of Burundi, a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region's natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.

HARLEM FRAGMENTS

Harlem Fragments is an Afro-futurist scrapbook storytelling of a Harlem Black family's beautiful destruction during the 2008 recession. A natural disaster so mesmerizing you can't look away from the tragedy. Based on true events- The film explores the haunting societal pressures of achieving the Black American dream, told in the POV of 10 year old TJ revisiting his family's home that's up for sale. By empowering this Black boy in this film with the agency to imagine, TJ, through his own journey, finds a way to process and come to terms with his family's divorce. It's important for every Black child out there enduring the same foreign emotions to know that it's okay to feel them, and affirm that there is a future trajectory forward out of the initial destruction.

The Woman at the End of the World

The Woman at the End of the World, inspired by the album "A Mulher do Fim do Mundo (2015)" by singer Elza Soares, tells the story of Benedita and the girl Lua, two black women who saw the old world succumb and are now the only ones survivors. In this post-apocalyptic scenario, the short film portrays a journey through the search for breaking the silence, thinking about the innumerable processes of silence passed by the characters in the old world. In this sense, the end of the world is also a character, being the personification of a state of mind that permeates the loneliness of the black woman. The short film reveres female power, rescues memories, discusses affection and thinks about paths to be followed.

O Disco das Histórias

After a flying saucer containing all the stories of humanity crashes in his backyard, a young artist seeks help to interpret its messages.

White Mirror

A young Black game designer comes face to face with covert racism after he’s transformed to look like a white man.

Departure

An alien couple named Addem and Efa live on Earth as human beings in order to determine if it has proper living conditions for their race. They are suddenly called back to their mothership and must face a disgruntled Special Agent and growing, uncontrollable human urges to stay on Earth before it's too late to return.

Mulika

An 'afronaut' emerges from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he descends into the city below, encountering the people of present-day Goma, he begins to understand what he must do to change the future for his people.

Tecnoismo

Clipping: Splendor & Misery

A surreal post-apocalyptic drama by Patrick Kennelly inspired by the clipping. album “Splendor & Misery”

The Burden

When culture vultures apply for citizenship on a new planet colonized by Black people, three judges must decide how to deal with folks who want everything but the burden.

They Charge for the Sun

In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.

Sugar Walls Teardom

Sugar Walls Teardom reveals the contributions of Black womxn’s wombs to the advancement of modern medical science and technology.

Claustrophobia

A young black man wakes up chained in a dark room and is hypnotized by the static of a TV.

Dark Matter: A History of the Afrofuture

An exploration – from Jean-Michel Basquiat to Grace Jones – of how black artists use the sci-fi genre to examine black history and imagine new, alternative futures.

Outside the Aquarium

"Outside the Aquarium" is the new exhibition of protagonist Jonas. In his paintings he portrays his experiences as a black immigrant and part of the LGBT Community expressing his fears, loneliness and dreams for the future.

Mother of the Closet

A closeted college student and her optimistic girlfriend are transported to an alternate universe led by a mystical house mother who runs a pride boot camp.

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise

Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.

Good Stock On The Dimension Floor: An Opera

A collectively made filmic opera in 35 parts. The Black and predominantly queer art collective, an evolving line up of poets and artists from across the world, abstracts and reimagines opera in any traditional conception. Set to hip-hop, blues, noise, R&B and electronica, the piece uses the voice (chanting, singing, screaming; written by poet and activist Dawn Lundy Martin) as its primary tool, verbalising centuries of alienation, vulnerability and protest in the global African diaspora through its disruptive libretto.