Into The Black Fantastic
A list of beloved Afro-Surrealist, Horror, Hypnotic and Speculative films
i’m at the point within the creative process after the euphoria of ideas where the mid-point depression hits. i’m too lost in the forest of what-ifs that SMASH-CUT into the dreaded lands of deadlines. SOOOOO. when i’m in this transitional space of transporting ideas into the material realm, i force myself to watch films to remember why i do this work, why i chose film.
here are some films that jog my memory.
FAYA DAYI by Jessica Beshir
Synopsis: A sublime work of trance-state cinema, the debut feature by the Mexican Ethiopian filmmaker Jessica Beshir is a hypnotic immersion in the world of rural Ethiopia, a place where one commodity—khat, a euphoria-inducing plant once prized for its supposedly mystical properties—holds sway over the rituals and rhythms of everyday life. As if under the intoxicating influence of the drug itself, FAYA DAYI unfurls as a hallucinogenic cinematic reverie, capturing hushed, intimate moments in the existences of everyone from the harvesters of the crop to people lost in its narcotic haze to a desperate but determined younger generation searching for an escape from the region’s political strife. The film’s exquisite monochrome cinematography—each frame a masterpiece sculpted from light and shadow—and time-bending, elliptical editing create a ravishing sensory experience that hovers between consciousness and dreaming. — Criterion Channel
MARS ONE By Director Gabriel Martins
Synopsis: A working-class Black family tries to keep their spirits up after the election of a right-wing president in Brazil’s official selection for the Oscar’s International Feature Award. As they figure out ways to cope and continue dreaming in the months that follow, the shifting political tides threaten to engulf them. Each member of the family, including aspiring soccer player Deivinho and lesbian student Eunice, seeks to assert their independence and identity, all the while relying on each other more than ever before.
AFRONAUTS Written and directed by Nuotama Bodomo
Synopsis: 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 in this fictionalized film inspired by real events
ATLANTICS By Mati Diop
Synopsis: After a group of unpaid construction workers disappears at sea one night in search of a better life abroad, the women they have left behind in Dakar are overwhelmed with a mysterious fever. Ada, 17, secretly grieves for her love Souleiman, one of the departed workers, but she has been promised to another man. After a fire breaks out on her wedding night, a young policeman is sent to investigate the crime. Little does he know that the aggrieved workers have come back as haunting, possessive spirits. While many of them seek vengeance for their unpaid labor, Souleiman has come back for a different purpose - to be with his Ada one last time.
NANNY By Nikyatu Jusu
Synopsis: In this psychological fable of horror, Aisha (Anna Diop), a woman who recently emigrated from Senegal, is hired to care for the daughter of an affluent couple (Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector) living in New York City. Haunted by the absence of the young son she left behind, Aisha hopes her new job will afford her the chance to bring him to the U.S., but becomes increasingly unsettled by the family’s volatile home life. As his arrival approaches, a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together.
Films with these themes are right up my ally, thank you for sharing 🙏🏿💫