Black Future Month:: Explorations in Afrofuturism 2016:: Feb 4, 11, 18, 25
by
Crumbs 2014, Spain/Ethiopia
Thurs, Feb 4, 7pm
210 W 87th St
FREE PARKING
Candy, a strange-looking scrap collector embarks on a surreal epic journey through the post apocalyptic Ethiopian landscape. There, he confronts himself, his fears and witches, Santa Claus and second generation Nazis.
Tired of picking up the crumbs of gone-by civilizations, Candy dreams his life away when not living in a state of perpetual fear. When the spaceship in the sky begins to turn on and after a series of freak incidents, our miniature-sized hero will be forced to embark on a surreal epic journey that will lead him through the post-apocalyptic Ethiopian landscape as he confronts himself, his fears and witches, Santa Claus and second generation Nazis: only to discover that was he had long believed is not what he expected.
Thur, Feb 11, “Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it”, 2015, 75 min
Black World Cinema
Feb 11, 7pm, Adm: $6.00
Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai
( “Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it”), 2015, 75 min
directed by Christopher Kirkley in collaboration with Mdou Moctar and Jerome Fino
A revolutionary story of one musicians struggle to make it, against all odds, in the winner takes all Tuareg guitar scene of Niger. Akounak is the first feature fiction film in the Tamashek language. The title translates to “Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it,”a literal translation of Purple Rain (the Tuareg language has no word for Purple) – a nod to its unlikely orgins and the difficulties of translating ideas across cultures. Akounak has screened at festivals around the world, and has already become a favorite in Niger.
Akounak is not a documentary, but a narrative fictional tale. Developed and written by Mdou Moctar, Jerome Fino, and Christopher Kirkley and shot over 10 days, the film draws from the stylistic choices of Western film, filtered through a Saharan lens. Borrowing heavily from Purple Rain, Akounak is based on the struggle of a musician as a universal hero, and utilizes these sources while reinterpreting throgh protagonist Mdou Moctar’s real life experiences. In execution, many techniques have been adapted from the experimental technique of Jean Rouch – in particular, the collaborative nature to produce something that can resonate across both cultures. Akounak is the first feature fiction film in the Tamashek language. The title translates to “Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red in it,”a literal translation of Purple Rain (the Tuareg language has no word for Purple) – a nod to its unlikely orgins and the difficulties of translating ideas across cultures. Akounak has screened at festivals around the world, and has already become a favorite in Niger.
With
Hasaki Ya Suda, 2011 France, 20 min
Director: Cedric Ido
Lingala with English Subtitles.
The year 2100. The global warming has caused massive droughts that have led to conflicts and famines. The first victims of the global warming are the Southern populations, forced to leave their lands to immigrate to the North. A massive exodus that makes chaos out of the known world order. Now, the earth is reduced to one giant no man’s land. Lost and defenseless, the survivors have no choice but to return to ancestral rites. All over the world, clans form and fight for the last natural resources and fertile lands.
Thurs Feb 18, 7pm BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE with My Africa IS
Feb 18, 7pm Adm: $6.00
BATTLEDREAM CHRONICLE
SMG Chatham 14
210 W 87th Street
FREE PARKING
Dir. Alain Bidard | Martinique | 2015 |108 min| Animation
In 2100, the empire of Mortemonde colonized almost all the nations of the Earth and reduced their populations to slavery. Every slave is forced to collect 1000XP every month in Battledream, a video game where they can die for real. Only those who succeed are granted the right to live until the following month. Syanna, a young Martinican slave, refuses to keep living in this condition and decides to fight for her freedom…
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.
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
TWAGGA, France, 20min
Director: Cedric Ido
A short superhero story from Burkina Faso, the land of upright men, that takes place during the time of Thomas Sankara.