John Akomfrah's seminal work on Afrofuturism is one of the most influential video-essays of the 1990s, influencing filmmakers and inspiring conferences, novels and exhibitions. An engaging examination of the relationships between Pan-African culture, music, science fiction, intergalactic travel and computer technology, it is also a metaphor for the black experience of forced displacement, cultural alienation, and otherness.

Included are interviews with black cultural figures, from musicians DJ Spooky, Goldie, Carl Craig, George Clinton, A Guy Called Gerald and Derek May. Astronaut Bernard A. Harris Jr, one of the first African-Americans in space, describes his experiences, while Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols is given a chance to talk about something other than Star Trek for once (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 black science fiction authors Samuel R. Delaney and Octavia Butler discuss the motivations behind their choice of the genre to express ideas about the black experience.

This screening will be introduced by Dr Edson Burton.

Supported by LUX.

Ticket prices: £8.00 full / £6.50 concessions.

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