This evening we are screening this thrilling anti-colonial sci-fi musical made by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman. This film is about a collective of computer hackers and their escape from their deadly work in a coltan mine. They establish a community in the hills of Burundi. With the intersex runaway Neptune as the shining star at its centre. Using her highly advanced consciousness, they hack the internet and tell the world that something has to change in the industries producing the raw materials on which the producers of iPhones and computers are so dependent of. In spiky raps on top of driving beats, the rebels call for technology to be used to liberate humanity from its stereotypical thinking and oppression. After the film we invite the audience to take place in a discussion (Led by Manjit Krishna Kaur, Fifth Friday Sisterhood) about several topics that pass by in the plot.
Note: the location of this programme is Pop-up podium van het Bijlmer Parktheater, Bijlmerplein 876 in Amsterdam Zuidoost.
Credits
Directed by: Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams.
Year: 2021
Duration: 1h 45m
Languages: Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, French, English
Subtitles: English
Background
This Afrofuturist punk musical was created by multi-talent Saul Williams, and elaborates on themes from his rap album MartyrLoserKing. He directed the film with Rwandan actress and playwright Anisia Uzeyman. Using low-budget resources and maximum imagination, they created a theatrical setting where dream and reality alternate, and time and gender are fluid phenomena. This film has all the ingredients of a cult classic.
