Afrofuturist/ Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction Film Program with Live Performance by GABRIEL TEODROS
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute Seattle, WA
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Afrofuturist/ Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction Film Program with Live Performance by GABRIEL TEODROS
The LHAAFF is pleased to present a program featuring works dealing broadly with the themes of Afrofuturism and the Black presence in science fiction. Join us at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17 for a performance by hip-hop artist Gabriel Teodros, followed by PUMZI and THE LAST ANGEL OF HISTORY.
Gabriel Teodros is an Ethiopian-American emcee, storyteller and teaching artist. Born and raised between Seattle's South End and Central District, his music has touched lives and taken him on tours all across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ethiopia and South Africa. His music is a combination of Hip Hop and Soul, desperation and vulnerability, imagination and Afrofuturism. He's gotten stellar reviews everywhere from Rolling Stone to URB Magazine, he topped the CMJ Hip Hop charts with 2 different albums, and has shared stages with artists as diverse as Lupe Fiasco, Black Star, Zap Mama, Kanye West and Fishbone. For more information, and to check out his latest projects (Including "Colored People's Time Machine", "Lovework" and CopperWire's "Earthbound") simply log on to www.gabrielteodros.com
PUMZI 21 minutes Director: Wanuri Kahiu Set in a post-apocalyptic world in which water scarcity has extinguished life above ground, the short follows one scientist's quest to investigate the possibility of germinating seeds beyond the confines of her repressive subterranean Nairobi culture. Nature is extinct. The outside is dead. Asha lives and works as a museum curator in one of the indoor communities set up by the Maitu Council. When she receives a box in the mail containing soil, she plants an old seed in it and the seed immediately starts germinating. Asha appeals to the Council to grant her permission to investigate the possibility of life on the outside, but the Council denies her exit visa. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3elKofS43xM
THE LAST ANGEL OF HISTORY 45 minutes Director: John Akomfrah
John Akomfrah, director of Seven Songs of Malcolm X, returns with an engaging and searing examination of the hitherto unexplored relationships between Pan-African culture, science fiction, intergalactic travel, and rapidly progressing computer technology. This cinematic essay posits science fiction (with tropes such as alien abduction, estrangement, and genetic engineering) as a metaphor for the Pan-African experience of forced displacement, cultural alienation, and otherness. Akomfrah's analysis is rooted in an exploration of the cultural works of Pan-African artists, such as funkmaster George Clinton and his Mothership Connection, Sun Ra's use of extraterrestrial iconography, and the very explicit connection drawn between these issues in the writings of black science fiction authors Samuel R. Delaney and Octavia Butler. Included are interviews with black cultural figures, from musicians DJ Spooky, Goldie, and Derek May, who discuss the importance of George Clinton to their own music, to George Clinton himself. Astronaut Dr. Bernard A. Harris Jr. describes his experiences as one of the first African-Americans in space, while Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols tells of her campaign for a greater role for African-Americans in NASA. Novelist Ismael Reed and cultural critics Greg Tate and Kodwo Eshun tease out the parallels between black life and science fiction, while Delaney and Butler discuss the motivations behind their choice of the genre to express ideas about the black experience. In keeping with the futuristic tenor of the film, the interviews are intercut with images of Pan-African life from different periods of history, jumping between time and space from the past to the future to the present, not unlike the mode of many rock videos or surfing the Internet. Trailer: http://youtu.be/uE3uqVRGQHY
2013 LHAAFF dates: April 13-21 (Saturday open, Sunday close) Langston Hughes African American Film Festival Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute 104 - 17th Avenue South Seattle , WA 98144 lhaaff206film@gmail.com http://www.langstonblackfilmfest.org Twitter: @BlkFilmSeattle Tumblr: http://lhaaff.tumblr.com/ Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/lhaaff/
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Location
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (View)
104 17th Avenue S
Seattle, WA 98144
United States
