RAZA CÓSMICA DAY 3
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Jump-Start Performance Co. | 710 Fredericksburg Rd.
4:00 PM | Raza Cósmica: Excursions in Afrofuturism
Afrofuturism expresses notions of Black identity, agency, and freedom through art, creative works, and activism that envision liberated futures for Black life. This vibrant selection of shorts includes films from the Democratic Republic of Congo, United Kingdom, and United States exploring Afrofuturism, memory, and resilience. Filmmaker Tish Arana will be in attendance for a Q & A following the world premiere of The Burden!
Click the posters below to view trailers of select films.
Here is the Imagination of the Black Radical
Rhea Storr, 2020, UK, 10 min
Afrofuturism and carnival as resistance at the Junkanoo festival in the Bahamas.
Amina
Shanrica Evans, 2022, USA, 13 min
Haunted by the loss of her partner, a former astronaut struggles to connect with her unborn child.
The Burden
Tish Arana, 2023, USA, 15 min
When culture vultures apply for citizenship on a new planet colonized by Black people, three judges must decide how to deal with folks who want everything but the burden.
Mulika
Maisha Maene, 2022, Democratic Republic of Congo, 14 min
French and Swahili with English subtitles
An afronaut emerges from the wreckage of his spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he encounters the people of present-day Goma in the city, he begins to understand how to change the future for his people.
Afronauts
Nuotama Frances Bodomo, 2014, USA, 14 min
It's July 16, 1969: America is preparing to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon. Inspired by true events.
The Love Machine
Jasmine Lynea, 2022, USA, 10 min
After successfully building a time machine that uses love to help heal and replace harmful childhood memories, a teenage scientist/influencer puts his new invention to the test to challenge intergenerational trauma.
6:00 PM | Raza Cósmica: Above the Clouds
A stellar collection of short films that navigate the intersections of identity, community, and esperanza.
Includes sci-fi selections from Brazil, Colombia, and the United States.
Click the posters below to view trailers of each film.
Astropackers
Luisa Fernanda Velásquez, Felipe Rodriguez, Silvia Prietov, 2022, Colombia, 11 min
Spanish with English subtitles
Two alien characters are immersed in a cosmic backpacking trip through nebulae, vast galaxies, mysterious black holes, and dangerous asteroids in search of their origin and true inner selves.
Lux Noctis
Damiana Acuña, 2021, USA, 12 min
In an isolated matriarchal community, Lina faces her trial to bring light. Mara’s act of compassion pushes Lina to create an unprecedented amount of light.
Do Digital Curanderas Use Eggs in Their Limpias?
Roberto Fatal, 2022, USA, 14 min
A struggling Latinx healer considers abandoning the physical world for promises of a digital utopia.
Keep/Delete
Kryzz Gautier, 2022, USA, 19 min
In a future world where memories are handled like computer files, two lovers decide to undergo a procedure and have their entire relationship wiped from their brains.
Unliveable
Matheus Farias, Enock Carvalho, 2020, Brazil, 20 min
Portuguese with English subtitles
In Brazil where a trans person is murdered every three days, Marilene searches for her daughter Roberta, a trans woman who went missing. While running out of time, she discovers a hope for the future.
8:00 PM | Raza Cósmica: Tiempos Futuros
Click the posters below to view trailers of each film.
Yoruga
Federico Torrado Tobón
2021, USA/Colombia, 6 min
Spanish with English subtitles
A lonely old man pays a visit to Yoruga, one of the last animals on Earth.
Tiempos Futuros (The Shape of Things to Come)
Directed by V. Checa
2021, Peru, 82 min
Spanish with English subtitles
In a dystopian city, Teo, a twelve-year-old boy, works with his father Luis maintaining a strange machine meant to generate rain over a severely droughty city. Luis, obsessed with making the machine work, puts the machine at risk in the face of constant embargoes and threats from authorities. Teo, seeking to help his father, gets involved with a gang of young spies. Teo's new experiences make him question his father's life's purpose, and secrets about the machine come to light. Texas premiere!
