Reel Black: Space is the Place
February 25, 2024
Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony.
Presented in partnership with LANGSTON and KNKX as part of our Reel Black: SoulGenre series. The rest of the lineup will be announced at this screening so get ready to geek out!
Abe Beeson (KNKX) and Rayna Mathis (Earshot Jazz Editor) in conversation before the film.
- Director: John Coney
- Principal Cast: Sun Ra, Raymond Johnson, Christopher Brooks, Barbara Deloney, Erika Leder
- Country: USA
- Year: 1974
- Running Time: 86 min.
- Producer: Jim Newman
- Screenplay: Joshua Smith, Sun Ra
- Cinematographers: Seth Hill
- Editors: Barbara Pokras
- Music: Sun Ra
- Language: English