settima

Afrofuturism

Space Is the Place (John Coney, 1974)

Jan

5

Space Shuttle

Space Is the Place (1974)

Ra's arrival. DP: Seth Hill.

A film about space travel on the day Nixon announced the Space Shuttle program in 1972.

“I came from a dream that the black man dreamed long ago. I’m actually a presence sent to you by your ancestors.”

– Sun Ra

Top of the Heap (Christopher St. John, 1972)

Aug

16

10 A.M.

Top of the Heap (1972)

An invitation via telegram dated August 10 for astronaut George Lattimer to Waltersville Alabama on August 16 at 10 A.M.. DP: Richard A. Kelley.

#FilmDuJour #August #ChristopherStJohn #PaulaKelly #JiTuCumbuka #BrianCutler #JJJohnson #RichardAKelley #drama #AfroFuturism #USA #1970s ★★★★½

Sur un air de Charleston [Charleston Parade] (Jean Renoir, 1927)

Feb

14

Extraterrestrial Culture Day

Sur un air de Charleston (1927)

Parisian savage Catherine Hessling and African explorer Johnny Hudgins exploring each other's alien ways. DP: Jean Bachelet.

Legendary African-American #vaudeville performer Johnny Hudgins – in historically correct Blackface – plays an African explorer who descends onto 2028 Paris to learn about the primitive ways of the white natives. Soon, he discovers the Charleston.

“I have finally discovered my ancestors' traditional dance.”

– Johnny Hudgins

A fantastic Afrofuturist short, made a decade before Sun Ra's trip to Saturn.

#Bales2023FilmChallenge #ExtraterrestrialCultureDay #JeanRenoir #CatherineHessling #JohnnyHudgins #ClementDoucet #JeanBachelet #ShortFilm #comedy #dance #Blackface #SilentFilm #Afrofuturism #SciFi #Paris #France #1920s ★★★★☆