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Space Is the Place (English)
Location
Main screening room
Date
March 27th, 2026
Duration
82 min
Cycle
Black Power: The Poetry of Struggle

Cinema that chronicles the Black liberation movement of the 1970s, in the wake of the civil rights movement, provides a fertile ground for expression. Wildly creative in form, the films in this program never lose sight of the social significance of their subject matter. A few titles from before and after that period complete the picture. Guest programmer: eunice bélidor.

Space Is the Place
Directed by
John Coney
Language
English
Actors
Sun Ra, Raymond Johnson, Christopher Brooks
Origins
USA
Year
1974
Duration
82 min
Genre
Afrofuturism, music, science fiction
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Avant-jazz mystic Sun Ra brought his pioneering Afrofuturist vision to the screen with this film version of his concept album. It’s a wild, kaleidoscopic whirl of science fiction, sharp social commentary, goofy pseudo-blaxploitation stylistics, and thrilling concert performance, in which the pharaonic Ra and his Arkestra lead an intergalactic movement to resettle the Black race on their utopian space colony.

Space Is the Place

John Coney

John Coney is an American director. After he directed Dilexi, an "experimental art series", he is recruited by producer Jim Newman to film concert footage of Sun Ra and his Arkestra. Newman wished to build on Coney’s forays into filming avant-garde music. Filming of Arkestra performance footage was followed shortly by a scant number of loosely scripted dramatic scenes, giving birth to Space Is the Place in 1974.

On our blog

Black Power : la poésie d’une lutte

La programmatrice invitée eunice bélidor nous présente le cycle Black Power : la poésie d'une lutte, présenté jusqu'au 31 mars.

« Je souhaitais utiliser le cinéma comme moyen de montrer la beauté et la poésie qui émergent des situations les plus difficiles. »