List of Afrofuturist films

Last updated

In film, Afrofuturism is the incorporation of black people's history and culture in science fiction film and related genres. The Guardian 's Ashley Clark said the term Afrofuturism has "an amorphous nature" but that Afrofuturist films are "united by one key theme: the centering of the international black experience in alternate and imagined realities, whether fiction or documentary; past or present; science fiction or straight drama". [1] The New York Times 's Glenn Kenny said, "Afrofuturism is more prominent in music and the graphic arts than it is in cinema, but there are movies out there that illuminate the notion in different ways." [2]

Contents

The 2018 film Black Panther was a major box-office success and contributed to Afrofuturism becoming more mainstream. [3]

List of films

FilmYearDescription
Afronauts 2014The film, directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Frances Bodomo, features the Zambia Space Academy that works to beat the United States to the moon as the latter prepares its Apollo 11 launch. [4] [5] [6]
Air Conditioner 2020The Angolan film directed by Fradique revolves around the air-conditioners mysteriously starting to fall in the city of Luanda. The Guardian called the film Afrofuturist, writing, "It’s a magic-realist parable with the thinnest shrinkwrapping of sci-fi" that shows how "the service guarantee runs out on the technology". [7]
Black Is King 2020The musical film and video album directed, written, and executive produced by American singer Beyoncé. Scholar Kinitra D. Brooks describes the film as "an aural and visual rendering of Afrofuturistic Blackness in the 21st century". Brooks said, "Afrofuturism urges Black people to recover their pasts in order to create their own futures. 'Black Is King' imagines what it looks like to be there, whole and healed." [8] [6]
Black Panther 2018The superhero film, directed by Ryan Coogler, stars the comic book character Black Panther who is the king of the fictional kingdom of Wakanda. The film features Afrofuturist themes. [9] [10] [11] [6]
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 2022The superhero film is a sequel to Black Panther . The film explores Afrofuturism "in the way the mantle of Black Panther presumably passes to Princess Shuri". [12]
Blade 1998In the superhero film, the human-vampire hybrid Blade, played by black actor Wesley Snipes, protects humanity from evil vampires. [1] [13] [11] [6]
Born in Flames 1983The film, directed by Lizzie Borden, is described by Hyperallergic 's Jeremy Polacek: "[It] presents the revolution as televised, paraded, reported, and reiterated by pundits and politicians — and yet still incomplete. Socialism may reign in Borden’s post-revolutionary America, but so does patriarchy, racism, and sexism." [13]
The Brother from Another Planet 1984The science fiction film, directed by John Sayles, features an alien who escapes slavery on "Another Planet" and crash-lands and hides in Harlem. [13] [11] [6]
Brown Girl Begins 2017The film is set in Toronto in the near future, and the upper class is protected by a force field. [14] [5] [11]
Crumbs 2015The Ethiopian post-apocalyptic film is directed by Miguel Llansó. [4] The plot centers on Gagano, who undertakes a significant journey to overcome his fears in a dystopian world where humanity, having encountered alien life, lives off scavenged remnants. [11]
Fast Color 2018In the American superhero film, three generations of women have superpowers and are on the run from the government. [15]
Hello, Rain 2018The short film, directed by C.J. Obasi features a Scientist-Witch, who through an alchemical combination of juju and technology creates wigs which grant her and her friends supernatural powers. But when their powers grow uncontrollable, she must stop them by any means. It is based on the short story Hello, Moto by Nigerian-American author, Nnedi Okorafor. [16] [5]
I Snuck Off the Slave Ship 2019The sci-fi documentary short film, co-directed by Lonnie Holley and Cyrus Moussavi, explores Holley's imaginative journey through time to confront historical trauma and the legacy of slavery in America. [6] [17]
Kwaku Ananse 2013The short film, directed by Akosua Adoma Owusu, shows a parallel between the Ghanaian fable "Anansi the Spider" and a young girl's life. [10] [6]
The Last Angel of History 1996The film, produced by Black Audio Film Collective and directed by John Akomfrah, combines science fiction and essay approaches and features a time-traveling "data thief" who searches for code to reveal his future. [1] [18] [5] [10] [11] [6]
A Love Letter to the Ancestors From Chicago 2017The short film is directed by Ytasha Womack. [19] It "demonstrates that rhythm and dance bridge all times and spaces". [20]
Memory Room 451 1997The film, produced by the Black Audio Film Collective, is set in a dystopian world and presented as a documentary in which a time traveler interviews people of an earlier era. [4]
Monsoons Over The Moon 2015The two-part short film, directed by Kenyan filmmaker Dan Muchina, is set in Nairobi in a dystopian future. A street gang fights against totalitarianism by freeing young people trapped in the system. [21]
Neptune Frost 2021The film is set in a Burundian village that is made from recycled parts of computers. It features a romance between a coltan miner and an intersex runaway. [22] [6]
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty 2012The film, directed by Terence Nance, is described by Ashley Clark as a "mash-up of integrated fiction/nonfiction shorts, home video, voiceover narration and stock footage" including "plentiful, head-spinningly trippy animation sequences that place the film squarely in Afrofuturistic territory". [1] [6]
Pumzi 2009The short film, directed by Wanuri Kahiu, is Kenya's first science fiction film. [4] [13] [21] [5] [10] [11] [6]
Ratnik 2019The Nigerian science-fiction thriller film, directed by Dimeji Ajibola, features a soldier who comes home from World War III to find her sister deathly ill as a result of a chemical substance. [11]
Robots of Brixton 2011The computer-generated short film, directed by Kibwe Tavares, re-contextualizes the 1981 Brixton riot in a dystopian future where robots riot against human police forces. [4] [6]
Les Saignantes (English: Those Who Bleed)2005The erotic science fiction thriller is directed by Cameroonian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Bekolo. [4] [6] The film, set in a futuristic 2025 Cameroon, follows two women navigating a surreal and politically charged landscape after a high-ranking official dies during a sexual encounter. [23]
Sankofa 1993The film, directed by Ethiopian-born Haile Gerima, features a contemporary model who, during a photo shoot, suddenly finds herself on a plantation in the Southern United States during the plantation era. [4] [13] [18] [5] [11] [6]
See You Yesterday 2019The time-travel film with a social-justice narrative features two black teenagers from Brooklyn trying to use time travel to change the world. [24]
The Sin Seer 2015A cop and a person who can "see" others' sins work together to solve cases, but one case leads the gifted person to face her past. [5] [11]
Space Is the Place 1974The film, directed by John Coney, is a science-fiction take on the real-life musician Sun Ra and his crew The Arkestra. Ashley Clark said Ra plays "a cosmic card game" with a megapimp "to determine the fate of the black race". Clark said, "What follows is a brilliant and bizarre melange of comedy, musical performance and occasionally lurid blaxploitation aesthetics. It also, crucially, has a number of serious points to make about the plight of young urban blacks in a harsh, post-civil rights climate." [1] [9] [13] [2] [18] [11] [6]
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018The animated superhero film follows Miles Morales becoming Spider-Man after the death of the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker, in his universe. Morales also teams up with other Spider-People, including an alternate version of Parker, to defeat Kingpin and return them to their home realities. [25]
Supa Modo 2018In the feature film, a nine-year-old girl from a Kenyan village has a terminal illness and dreams of becoming a superhero. Her village helps her realize her dream. 14East said of the film's Afrofuturist touch, "There is a very mysterious element of magic realism and fantasy." [10] [11]
Swimming In Your Skin Again 2015The short film is directed by Terence Nance. 14East described it as "a film that leans toward experimental stylistically, its content is very thematic and its sequences are dreamlike... [and] speculates what could be some major issues in the future if we do not respect nature". [10]
T 2019The short film, directed by Keisha Rae Witherspoon, follows three mourning participants in Miami's annual T Ball, where attendees gather to showcase R.I.P. t-shirts and creative costumes made in tribute to their deceased loved ones. [6]
They Charge for the Sun 2017The short film, directed by Terence Nance, is set in a future where people live at night to avoid harmful sun rays and in which melanin comes into play. [18] [5] [11]
To Catch a Dream 2015The Kenyan surrealist short film, written and directed by Jim Chuchu, features a grieving widow who has nightmares and tries a mystical remedy to end them. [21]
Touch 2013The short film, directed by Shola Amoo, is set in the near future. [4] [6]
Touki Bouki 1973The Senegalese road movie is directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty. The New York Times's Glenn Kenny said, "The movie is replete with such purposeful disjointedness, the better to articulate space-time dissociations." [2] [10] [6]
Trafik d'Info 2005The film, directed by Janluk Stanislas, was shot in Guadelope and is considered the first science fiction film to be shot in the Caribbean. [4]
Welcome II the Terrordome 1995The film, directed by Ngozi Onwurah, is set in an inner-city slum in a dystopian near-future. The film is the first directed by a black British woman to be released in theaters. [1] [13] [18] [6]
White Out, Black In 2014The science fiction documentary, directed by Adirley Queirós, is set in Brazil and follows three men who deal with a past tragedy. [4]
A Wrinkle in Time 2018The multiracial adaptation of the 1962 science fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time has, according to author and filmmaker Ytasha Womack, an Afrofuturistic signature of "strong female" characters. [14]
Yeelen (English: Brightness)1987The Malian film, directed by Souleymane Cissé "follows a young mage on a journey to confront his power-mad father". The New York Times's Glenn Kenny said of the film in the context of Afrofuturism, "Mr. Cissé’s languid but mindful pacing and his indifference to Western film language conventions on space and time transitions also contribute to the movie’s distinction." [2] [18] [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard science fiction</span> Science fiction with concern for scientific accuracy

Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's Islands of Space in the November issue of Astounding Science Fiction. The complementary term soft science fiction, formed by analogy to the popular distinction between the "hard" (natural) and "soft" (social) sciences, first appeared in the late 1970s. Though there are examples generally considered as "hard" science fiction such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, built on mathematical sociology, science fiction critic Gary Westfahl argues that while neither term is part of a rigorous taxonomy, they are approximate ways of characterizing stories that reviewers and commentators have found useful.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afrofuturism</span> Cultural aesthetic and philosophy

Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences. While Afrofuturism is most commonly associated with science fiction, it can also encompass other speculative genres such as fantasy, alternate history and magic realism, and can also be found in music.

<i>The Brother from Another Planet</i> 1984 film by John Sayles

The Brother from Another Planet is a 1984 low-budget American science fiction film, written and directed by John Sayles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nnedi Okorafor</span> Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy (born 1974)

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black science fiction</span> Science fiction involving black people

Black science fiction or black speculative fiction is an umbrella term that covers a variety of activities within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres where people of the African diaspora take part or are depicted. Some of its defining characteristics include a critique of the social structures leading to black oppression paired with an investment in social change. Black science fiction is "fed by technology but not led by it." This means that black science fiction often explores with human engagement with technology instead of technology as an innate good.

The genre of science fiction has been prevalent in the Indian film industry since the second half of the 20th century. Beginning in 1952, the English-Tamil film Kaadu was made, which was an Indian-American co-production. The 1963 Tamil film Kalai Arasi, 1965 Telugu film Dorikithe Dongalu, and 1967 Hindi film Chand Par Chadayee also have science fiction in their storyline. The Alien was a science fiction film under production in the late 1960s which was eventually cancelled. The film was being directed by Bengali Indian director Satyajit Ray and produced by Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures. The script was written by Ray in 1967, based on "Bankubabur Bandhu", a Bengali story he had written in 1962 for Sandesh, the Ray family magazine.

"The Comet" is a science fiction short story, written by W. E. B. Du Bois in 1920. It discusses the relationship between Jim Davis and Julia after a comet hits New York and unleashes toxic gases that kill everyone in New York except them.

<i>Annihilation</i> (film) 2018 science fiction film by Alex Garland

Annihilation is a 2018 science fiction horror thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland, loosely based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Jeff VanderMeer. It stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Tuva Novotny, and Oscar Isaac. The story follows a group of scientists who enter the Shimmer, a mysterious quarantined zone of mutating plants and animals caused by an alien presence.

Hannah Beachler is an American production designer. The first African-American to win the Academy Award for Best Production Design, she is known for her Afrofuturist design direction of Marvel Studios film series Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Beachler has been involved in numerous projects directed by Beyoncé, including Lemonade and Black Is King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. Asli Dukan</span>

M. Asli Dukan is an American independent media producer, filmmaker and visual artist based in Philadelphia working with themes of speculative fiction and Afrofuturism.

<i>Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé</i> 2019 concert film by Beyoncé

Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé is a 2019 documentary concert film about American singer Beyoncé and her performance at the 2018 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She wrote, executive-produced, and directed the film. It was released on April 17, 2019 by Netflix, alongside an accompanying live album. The film is an "intimate, in-depth look" at the performance, revealing "the emotional road from creative concept to a cultural movement".

Jenn Nkiru is a Nigerian-British artist and director. She is known for directing the music video for Beyoncé's "Brown Skin Girl" and for being the second unit director of Ricky Saiz’s video for Beyoncé and Jay-Z, "APESHIT" which was released in 2018. She was selected to participate in the 2019 Whitney Biennial.

<i>Iwájú</i> 2024 animated series

Iwájú is an animated science fiction miniseries produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the Pan-African British-based entertainment company Kugali Media for the streaming service Disney+. It was written by Olufikayo Adeola and Halima Hudson from a story by Adeola, Hamid Ibrahim, and Toluwalakin Olowofoyeku and directed by Adeola, and is the first "original long-form animated series" produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. The title of the series, iwájú, roughly translates to "the future" in the Yoruba language.

Joe Barton is a British screenwriter of film and television, best known for the crime series Giri/Haji and the science-fiction thriller The Lazarus Project.

Africanfuturism is a cultural aesthetic and philosophy of science that centers on the fusion of African culture, history, mythology, point of view, with technology based in Africa and not limiting to the diaspora. It was coined by Nigerian American writer Nnedi Okorafor in 2019 in a blog post as a single word. Nnedi Okorafor defines Africanfuturism as a sub-category of science fiction that is "directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view..and...does not privilege or center the West," is centered with optimistic "visions in the future," and is written by "people of African descent" while rooted in the African continent. As such its center is African, often does extend upon the continent of Africa, and includes the Black diaspora, including fantasy that is set in the future, making a narrative "more science fiction than fantasy" and typically has mystical elements. It is different from Afrofuturism, which focuses mainly on the African diaspora, particularly the United States. Works of Africanfuturism include science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, horror and magic realism.

<i>My Dad the Bounty Hunter</i> Animated science-fiction television series

My Dad the Bounty Hunter is an American animated science fiction adventure action-comedy television series by Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin for Netflix. The series premiered on February 9, 2023. Season 2 premiered on August 17, 2023.

Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire is an Afrofuturist and Africanfuturist animated anthology short film series produced by Triggerfish. It premiered on July 5, 2023, on Disney+. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Clark, Ashley (April 2, 2015). "Afrofuturism on film: five of the best". The Guardian . Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Kenny, Glenn (March 13, 2018). "Exploring Afrofuturism in Film, Where Sci-Fi and Mythology Blur". The New York Times . Retrieved March 13, 2018.
  3. ↑ Contreras, Russell (February 14, 2021). "Afrofuturism: The rise of Black science fiction and fantasy". Axios . Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Clark, Ashley (April 11, 2015). "Afrofuturist Film From Around the World At BAMcinématek, Brooklyn". indiewire.com. IndieWire . Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Bashir, Zubaydah (May 23, 2018). "Here's Our List of 8 Must-See Afrofuturist Films". OkayAfrica . Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Strait, Kevin M.; Conwill, Kinshasha Holman, eds. (2024). "Further Viewing". Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures. Smithsonian Books. p. 206. ISBN   978-1-58834-771-8.
  7. ↑ Hoad, Phil (July 19, 2021). "Air Conditioner review – tech begins to fail in enigmatic Angolan Afrofuturism". The Guardian . Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  8. ↑ Brooks, Kinitra A. (August 4, 2020). "Opinion: With 'Black Is King,' Beyoncé has gone all in on Black. And Beyoncé doesn't lose". The Washington Post .
  9. 1 2 Harding, Xavier (November 12, 2017). "'Black Panther' isn't just another Marvel movie — it's a vision of a future led by blackness". Mic.com. Mic . Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wade, Natalie (March 1, 2019). "Afrofuturism: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture for Black Artists". 14East. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Ibrahim, Anifowoshe (September 18, 2020). "Explore Afrofuturism With These 13 Must-Watch Afrofuturist Movies". The Portalist. Open Road Integrated Media . Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  12. ↑ Chambliss, Julian C. (November 11, 2022). "'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' continues the series' quest to recover and celebrate lost cultures" . Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Polacek, Jeremy (April 10, 2015). "The Fantastical Paradoxes of Afrofuturist Film". Hyperallergic . Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  14. 1 2 Glasner, Eli (February 10, 2018). "'We are ready. We've been ready': Black Panther ushers in a new wave of black sci-fi". CBC.ca . Retrieved February 18, 2018.
  15. ↑ Davis, Jonita (April 24, 2020). "How Black Women Are Reshaping Afrofuturism". Yes! . Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  16. ↑ The Rocket, Stubby (January 16, 2018). "How Hello, Rain Builds on the Magic of Nnedi Okorafor's "Hello, Moto"". tor.com. Tor.com . Retrieved January 16, 2018.
  17. ↑ Moussavi, Cyrus. "I Snuck Off The Slave Ship". cyrusmoussavi.com. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Clark, Ashley (February 22, 2018). "What to Watch After Black Panther: An Afrofuturism Primer". Vulture . Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  19. ↑ Polo, Susana (January 26, 2018). "Black Panther, explained". Polygon . Retrieved January 28, 2018.
  20. ↑ "Films". ytashawomack.com. Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  21. 1 2 3 Sylvans, Winston (July 13, 2017). "What Is Afrofuturism? Three Movies To Watch If You Want To Get Familiar". konbini.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  22. ↑ Isama, Antoinette (July 21, 2018). "A Sci-Fi Film About an Otherworldly Village Made of Old Computer Parts In Burundi By Saul Williams Is In The Works". OkayAfrica. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  23. ↑ Baumgarten, Marjorie (February 24, 2006). "Les Saignantes". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved May 29, 2024.
  24. ↑ Finley, Taryn (May 20, 2019). "'See You Yesterday' Uses Time Travel To Remind Us Black Lives Still Matter". The Huffington Post . Retrieved December 31, 2020.
  25. ↑ Bruce, Delan (September 3, 2020). "Afrofuturism: From the Past to the Living Present". UCLA Newsroom. University of California, Los Angeles . Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  26. ↑ Cornall, Flo (June 27, 2023). "'Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire' brings Afro-futurism to Disney+". cnn.com. CNN . Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  27. ↑ Jordan, Megan (February 14, 2023). "Netflix's 'My Dad the Bounty Hunter' Is an Afrofuturist Marvel". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on February 16, 2023. Retrieved February 16, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.