Black Future Month:: THE GIFTED (1993), Feb 25, 7pm, AfroFuturist Cinema::

THE GIFTED USA, 1993, 101 min
Directed by Audrey King Lewis
Post-film Skype Interview with the Director
Feb. 25, 7:00 pm, Admission: $6.00
SMG Chatham 14
210 W 87th St.
Free Parking

“THE GIFTED” is an award winning sci-fi thriller about a Southern family possessing supernatural abilities. The “Gift” was handed down from their West African ancestors 5000 years ago when the earth was in danger of being taken over by an evil alien force from the star Sirius.

Psychic descendents of an African tribe reunite to save Earth. 5000 years ago certain members of the Dogon tribe in West Africa were granted psychic powers by good aliens to counterbalance the effects of Ogo, a bad alien intent on taking over Earth and killing all life to remake the planet for his own purposes. Descendents of the tribe who inherit the psychic powers are given an ancient book to read and pass on. Every 32 years, in connection with the orbiting of the star Sirius B, Ogo returns to kill a few more of the psychics in his ongoing bid for power. In this way, a Southern black community that was founded by a Dogon slave has experienced mysterious deaths among those citizens who have learned to not talk about their abilities to see auras, travel astrally, and move objects with their minds. Ogo killed the parents of one particularly psychic family and is returning 32 years later to attack the two brothers and their sister. But this time, the last remaining Dogon shaman has come from Africa to find his relatives, and with his anonymous psychic help, plus instructions from the book, the family is able to finally defeat Ogo.

with
MY AFRICA IS, 2015, 20 minutes
My Africa – Starting with Kenya, My Africa Is peers into the soul and spirit of Nairobi through three stories of innovation. We will meet game developers who create African superheroes to inspire Kenyan youth; a self-taught engineer who builds drones as a solution to Kenya’s poaching problem and trains youth in the technology to build human capacity; and two Punk Rock bands that are part of a growing rock scene in Nairobi.  And, finally, we will be introduced to the city, a restless and bustling metropolis with a musicality and energy that only locals can fathom.   Meet the Africa that we don’t know but is the reality of millions.