[Rescheduled/New Location] Screen/Society--Aural Futures--"The Last Angel of History" + 2 shorts

[**THIS EVENT WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED ON 9/12/18 IN THE FULL FRAME THEATER, BUT HAD TO BE RESCHEDULED - IN A NEW LOCATION - DUE TO WEATHER!]

"The Last Angel of History" (John Akomfrah, 1996, 45 min, UK)

A masterful film essay about Black aesthetics that traces the deployments of science fiction within pan-African culture. Akomfrah begins by comparing and contrasting 3 musicians of eccentric genius - Sun Ra, George Clinton & Lee Scratch Perry - and their use of the images of the spaceship & the alien, and then moves on to Black science fiction writers Octavia Butler & Samuel Delany. Suggesting that the spaceship & the alien have obvious resonances with the diasporic condition of exile and displacement, Akomfrah ultimately widens his net to include everything from Walter Benjamin to DJ Spooky.

Shown with:
"Black Star: Rebirth is Necessary" (Jenn Nkiru, 2017, 10 min, UK). Nkiru pieces together dreamlike portraits with stunning archival footage that includes Afrofuturism pioneer Sun Ra and revolutionary organization the Black Panther Party.

"Invocation for José Antonio Aponte: Lámina 26" (Nina Angela Mercer & Toshi Sakai, 2017, 8 min)

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Curated by Ingrid LaFleur from AFROTOPIA & Negar Mottahedeh at Duke, Aural Futures is a film series and DJ & Concert event that explores the foundational musical aesthetics of Afrofuturism, with its multiple realities, temporalities, and philosophies of technology.
Part of "Visionary Aponte: Art & Black Freedom.