SUN RA: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE

Credits

Name: SUN RA: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE

Country: USA

Year of publication: 2025

Format: DCP

Color: color

Language : OmeU

Duration: 84 Minuten

Series: 22. Afrika Film Festival Köln

Direction: Turner, Christine

Abstract

Poet, cosmologist, activist, musician – Sun Ra was all that and more. In her captivating documentary, Christine Turner paints a portrait of an artist who saw himself as both a bandleader and an interstellar prophet – perhaps born in Alabama, perhaps sent by Saturn. With his band The Arkestra, Sun Ra revolutionized free jazz, experimented with electronics, reinterpreted classics and combined music with a political vision: Afrofuturism. Space travel, utopia, black liberation – “Space is the place” was his artistic guiding principle. The director interweaves archive material, performances, interviews with companions, musicians and scientists – and also lets Sun Ra himself have his say.