Note: this film is only offered in-person.
Multi-hyphenate, multidisciplinary artist Saul Williams brings his unique dynamism to this Afrofuturist vision, a sci-fi punk musical that’s a visually wondrous amalgamation of themes, ideas, and songs that Williams has explored in his work, notably his 2016 album MartyrLoserKing. Co-directed with the Rwandan-born artist and cinematographer Anisia Uzeyman, the film takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region’s natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry. Set between states of being – past and present, dream and waking life, colonized and free, male and female, memory and prescience – Neptune Frost is an invigorating and empowering direct download to the cerebral cortex and a call to reclaim technology for progressive political ends.
***Note: Thank you to our friends at WRIF who showed this film at their festival and hosted a discussion panel about the film and Afro futurism with Dartmouth College faculty members Desirée Garcia, Misty De Berry, and Iyabo Kwayana. The panel is streaming HERE.
***VTIFF’s chief concern is the safety of the audience and VTIFF staff. Main Street Landing policy is that you must be fully vaccinated to enter the building. Masking indoors is mandatory. Thank you.
