Neptune Frost [In-Person Only]
$5–25 Sliding Scale (no one turned away; contact rana@nwfilmforum.org)
⚠️ Public safety notice ⚠️
NWFF patrons will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. We are not currently checking vaccination cards. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
NWFF is adapting to evolving recommendations to protect the public from COVID-19. Read more about their policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations here.
⚠️ Content warning ⚠️
Police brutality; strobing and flashing lights that may affect photosensitive viewers.
About
(Saul Williams & Anisia Uzeyman, Rwanda & US, 2021, 105 min, in English, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili & French with English subtitles)
** Co-presented with Black Cinema Collective, Meany Center for the Performing Arts & UW Simpson Center for the Humanities! **
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 his partner, 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.
Synopsis and stills courtesy of Kino Lorber.
“A mesmerizing Afropunk odyssey hacking at the boundaries of gender, technology, and class.” – Toussaint Egan, Polygon
“A percussive, transcendental Afrofuturist musical… sounds out with force and clarity.” – Charles Bramesco, Little White Lies
“The future of Black film. Pure cinematic power.” – Jourdain Searles, The Hollywood Reporter
About Saul Williams
(Composer, Co-Director)
About Anisia Uzeyman
(Co-Director)
The Motherboard Suite
Original music by Saul Williams. Directed by Bill T. Jones.
Apr 1 at 8pm
Meany Center for the Performing Arts
Produced in partnership with Bill T. Jones and New York Live Arts
The West Coast premiere of The Motherboard Suite brings to life a suite of music by musician, poet, actor Saul Williams. Directed by Bill T. Jones, this non-linear work is performed by Saul and his musical collaborators, and features seven choreographers — Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, Shamel Pitts|TRIBE and Seattle choreographer Jade Solomon Curtis. Each choreographer is invited into the world of Williams’ exploration at the intersection of technology and race, exploitation and mystical anarchy, where hackers are artists and activists.
Content Advisory: this performance contains mature themes, adult language and partial nudity.
Post-show Conversation
Following the performance, join us for a conversation from the Meany stage, moderated by artist, curator and writer Berette S Macaulay, with Saul Williams and Bill T. Jones.