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 […]

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: Danger Word+HowDoYouSayYamInAfrican+Old Money+Tiombe

Film: Here is the Web premiere of the short film Danger Word, directed by Luchina Fisher and starring Frankie Faison and Saoirse Scott. The film, which is based on Devil’s Wake from Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, follows a 13-year-old girl and her grandfather in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. If you enjoy zombie […]

Modern Griots Reviews: Afronauts

Last Saturday, I went to to New Films/New Directors short film showcase, which included Frances Bodomo’s 14-minute film Afronauts. Based on the 1960s Zambian Space Program, which grade school teacher Edward Makuka Nkoloso set up and had amongst its crew a 17-year-old girl and two cats. In Bodomo’s film, albino model and actress, Diandra Forrest, stars […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Day They Came

“The Day They Came” is a Genesis Williams‘ directed short film starring Tony Doe and from the new Nigerian production company, Ficson. It seems like this going to be a web series, so I am interested to see more, particularly because of the special effects, which I read was done on a very small budget.

Otherworldly Videos: S.A. Miller’s “Into the Darkness”

Happy Friday the 13th! While browsing the internet for Caribbean speculative film, I found Bajan (Barbadian) filmmaker channel and his apocalyptic film Into the Darkness. The film follows a young boy who is trying to survive amidst the threat of revenants — visible ghosts or animated corpses that were believed to return from the grave […]

Otherworldly Videos: Noise Gate + Spoek Mathambo + Fhloston Paradigm

Here is Donovan Vim Crony’s sci-fi short Noise Gate! The film is about a “dimension-traveling scientist who is in search of the ultimate reality. His only passage into that realm is something called the NOISE GATE.” It reminds me a little bit of Afrikan Boy and DJ Shadow’s ending for the video for “I’m Excited.” […]

Otherworldly Videos: A Seed of Hope – Baobab + Simphiwe Dana

I saw these two beautiful videos today, the French short film, Baobab, and South African singer Simphiwe Dana’s “Mayine.” While the videos may appear disheartening at first (and I do have questions about the former’s reason for the cutting down the tree, the depiction of violence in general, and the film’s meaning within a larger […]

Otherworldy Videos: Captain T and T

Captain T and T Written, directed and produced by married duo Christopher and Leizell Guiness, this short film is about a Trinidadian man who recalls his younger days as six-year-old “Thin Foot” when he experimented to find what kind of superhero powers he had. Learning through these trials gives him a chance to “become” who […]

Otherworldly Videos: Yesterday’s Tomorrow

UK Writer Duane F.L. Wharton‘s short, time-bending film Yesterday’s Tomorrow starring Ewan David Alman, Mazie Rhodes and paralympian Gaz Choudhry. Wharton is currently working on a fantasy drama Walking with Azrael (2013), which is about angels. Part two below: