M.G. Reviews: Black Panther + Brown Girl Begins + S0.CI3.TY (SPOILERS!)

Black Superheroes + Black Leadership + The Responsibility of Building Societies in World-Changing Times Last week I had the privilege to see three films — of course, Black Panther, Canadian filmmaker Sharon Lewis’ Brown Girl Begins inspired by Nalo Hopkinson’s book, Brown Girl in the Ring, and Martinique-based filmmaker Khris Burton’s S0.CI3.TY.

Moving on the Wires: Museum of Moving Image + Brown Girl Begins + More!

Happy Black History Month, or Black Futures Month, depending on who you ask! 2018 is off to a great start for Futuristically Ancient! See the news below: *The Afrikan Poetry Theatre is hosting Past, Present and Futurism at the Museum of the Moving Image on February 24th from 2pm-6pm. The day includes film screenings, such […]

The M(N)STRY: Butler’s Kindred — Possession, Objectification and Whose Gaze Controls Black Futurity

Recently I received a copy of Octavia Butler’s Kindred graphic novel, which was adapted by Damien Duffy and John Jennings. Reading the story in graphic novel form gave me a chance to see aspects of the book that I didn’t pay as much attention to as before. One was the mechanism by which Dana traveled back […]

Modern Griot Interviews: Janluk Stanislas and ‘Trafik d’Info’

I met Janluk Stanislas at a recent Caribbeing event and found out about his 2005 Caribbean futuristic short film, Trafik d’Info. As someone of Afro-Caribbean descent, I am always looking for speculative works from the Caribbean and so this excited me. Trafik d’Info, known as the first science fiction film from the Caribbean, centers on […]

The My-Stery: Five Black Witches Is Too Much for Black Audiences?

On Wednesday night after watching American Horror Story: Freak Show, I tuned in to watch the latest of TV One’s Hollywood Divas episode, “Five Black Witches.” One of the opening scenes is the de facto leader of the group, Paula Jai Parker, presenting to producer Carl Craig the idea agreed upon in previous episode for […]

Modern Griots Reviews: The Summer of Gods and Panel Discussion

Some of the best stories are the ones that connect back to original tales and cultural rituals that are part of the human journey. Today, sometimes the universal meanings, archetypes and principles behind our modern stories are hidden because we are disconnected from those ancient tales and rituals. Think of, for example, Little Red Riding […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Alien Project + The Vacuum Is Too Loud

Here are two videos I watched from New York’s Channel 13’s Reel 13 film showcase and competition: Catron Booker’s The Alien Project: “Alien imaginings? Alien times?Alien futures? Alien lives matter. An Afro-Futurist vision of resistance.” Gus Péwé‘s The Vacuum Is Too Loud: “The story of a man who finds himself lost on Earth, determined to […]

Otherworldly Videos: Ase + Dantago (The Icarus Project) Trailers

Nappy Nation Media presents Ase, an African historical fantasy short film and TV series concept. Shot on location in Nigeria, it is “set in the ancient West African kingdom of Oyo, and is about three ordinary teens on a seemingly ordinary day who have a not-so-ordinary supernatural encounter with a dark and evil spirit known as […]

Otherworldly Videos: At the Crossroads – “Cross Road” and “Noka”

Directed by Olivier Gros, Benoit Rimet, Scott Bono and Charles E. Farkas, the film follows a “bluesman blinded by ambition and at the peak of his career is up by the Devil whom he had sold his soul 30years before in exchange for great success.” I guess this film is a possible extension to the […]

Modern Griots Reviews: A Dangerous Cure

We all know that humans use technology as a tool for our own advancement, but what about when technology becomes a trap to our own destruction? How do we as humans rationalize it all when technology does not help but is controlling us and leading us to chaos? This is one of the themes explored […]