This past summer Cinema Politica announced our newest project, The Next 150, with a call for short film proposals. With The Next 150, an initiative funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’s The Next Chapter program, we plan to diversify our activities by commissioning fifteen short film and video projects that together will help us launch a new cinematic genre that we are calling “documentary futurism.” We’ve had an overwhelming response to our CFP, and with the deadline looming (Sep 30) we’ve decided to provide some resources to help orient potential applicants towards the idea of documentary futurism. To read more about this project and the submission guidelines, visit cinemapolitica.org/TheNext150.
The Next 150 is inspired by two artistic movements, Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism, as well as by writers of speculative fiction and non-fiction. Below is a list of links that will help those interested find out more about these inspiring creative forces, but this list is by no means exhaustive. As the imminent release of the Canadian feature film Brown Girl Begins (based on a novel by Nalo Hopkinson) attests, creative work grappling with the future with a concern for social justice shows no sign of slowing down, and the links below offer a jumping-off point into the dynamic, political and cutting-edge cultural spheres The Next 150 builds from. With this in mind, we welcome suggestions for any other books, films, projects, music, paintings, etc, that are missing from the lists below. Enjoy!
AFROFUTURISM
Top image & video above: PUMZI by Wanuri Kahiu.
Monoskop’s list of Afrofuturism resources is robust, especially the section on “Writings” – https://monoskop.org/Afrofuturism
Black to the Future by Mark Dery (a foundational text for Afrofuturism) – https://www.kit.ntnu.no/sites/www.kit.ntnu.no/files/Black%20to%20the%20Future%20(Dery)_0.pdf
Afrofuturism, Science Fiction, and the History of the Future by Lisa Yaszek – http://academicish.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Yaszek-Afrofuturism.pdf
An Afrofuturist Reading List – https://howwegettonext.com/an-afrofuturist-reading-list-2934dfcd8fb0
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture (book) by Ytasha L. Womack – http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/afrofuturism-products-9781613747964.php
OkayAfrica’s Introduction to Afrofuturism – http://www.okayafrica.com/culture-2/african-future-okayafrica-introduction-afrofuturism/
Why Afrofuturism is the Art Movement We Need in 2017 – https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/vbdgxx/why-afrofuturism-is-the-art-movement-we-need-in-2017
Video of New America NYC talk, “Afrofuturism: Imagining the Future of Black Identity,” with Michael Bennett (@MGBennett), Ytasha Womack (@ytashawomack), Walé Oyédijé (@IkireJones) and Aisha Harris (@craftingmystyle) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEwxTzt33kM
Video of Atlanta Contemporary Art Centre talk, “Contemporary Talks: Greg Tate,” with Greg Tate – https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=48&v=-shHZioArqg
Futurism, Futurity, and the Importance of the Existential Imagination by Paul Kuttner – http://culturalorganizing.org/futurism-futurity/
Black Radical Imagination – http://blackradicalimagination.com/
Nalo Hopkinson (writer) – http://nalohopkinson.com/index.html
PUMZI by Wanuri Kahiu (short film) – https://vimeo.com/46891859
INDIGENOUS FUTURISM
Video above: WAKENING by Danis Goulet.
The Indigenous Futurisms Mixtape – http://rpm.fm/music/download-indigenous-futurisms-mixtape/
Decolonizing Science Fiction And Imagining Futures: An Indigenous Futurisms Roundtable with Rebecca Roanhorse, Elizabeth Lapensee, Johnnie Jae and Darcie Little Badger – http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/decolonizing-science-fiction-and-imagining-futures-an-indigenous-futurisms-roundtable/
Visual Cultures of Indigenous Futurisms by Lindsay Nixon (@notvanishing) – http://gutsmagazine.ca/visual-cultures/
Inuit Futurism (author unknown) – https://blogs.ubc.ca/annieguerin/2016/11/30/inuit-futurism/
TIMETRAVELLER by Skawennati (video episodes) – https://blogs.ubc.ca/annieguerin/2016/11/30/inuit-futurism/
Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years (book) by Candice Hopkins, Steve Loft, Lee-Ann Martin and Jenny Western (curatorial collective) – https://plugin.org/exhibitions/2011/close-encounters-next-500-years
Métis in Space (podcast) – http://www.metisinspace.com/about/
Native American Survivance, Memory, and Futurity: The Gerald Vizenor Continuum (book) by Birgit Däwes, Alexandra Hauke (editors) – https://www.routledge.com/Native-American-Survivance-Memory-and-Futurity-The-Gerald-Vizenor-Continuum/Dawes-Hauke/p/book/9781138211759
Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction (book) by Grace L. Dillon – http://www.powells.com/book/walking-the-clouds-an-anthology-of-indigenous-science-fiction-9780816529827
Decolonizing the future: How a new generation of Indigenous writers is changing science fiction by Kate Heartfield – https://articlemag.ca/decolonizing-the-future-a69ec9b46838
Treaty Shirts (book review) by Gerald Vizenor – https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/speculative-constitutions-gerald-vizenors-treaty-shirts/#!
WAKENING (video) by Danis Goulet – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbmi2ff3MBk
