Series

AfroFutures: Black Women and Cinematic Storytelling

AfroFutures explores the role of cinema as a mode of storytelling for Black women, focused on the role of visual art in crafting disparate stories of Pan-African and African American women. Often marginalized and disenfranchised in visual and cinematic culture, this four-film series centers the stories and creative contributions of Black women as critical both to cultural and artistic global development.

IU Cinema is soliciting original essays from students related to the themes in the AfroFutures program. To learn more, read the CFP and submit your abstract by February 7, 2025. This is a funded student research and writing opportunity. 

AfroFutures is presented in partnership with the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center,  the Center for Documentary Research and Practice, The Media School, and the Black Film Center & Archive. It is supported by the Black Philanthropy Circle and the Women's Philanthropy Leadership Council.

Films in this series include:

February 4, 7pm: Mami Wata | When the harmony in a village is threatened by outside elements, two sisters must fight to save their people and restore the glory of a mermaid goddess to the land. Featuring a post-screening conversation with Prof. Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde (IU African American and African Diaspora Studies) on the integration of Yoruba folklore into visual culture.

February 11, 7pm: All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt | A lyrical, decades-spanning exploration across a woman's life from award-winning poet, photographer, and filmmaker Raven Jackson. The film will be preceded by a recorded talk on experimental film and memory work by Maya Cade, founder, Black Film Archive.

February 18, 7pm: Milisuthando | An invitation into a poetic, memory-driven exploration of love, intimacy, race, and belonging from a woman who grew up during apartheid but didn't know it was happening until it was over. Director Milisuthando Bongela will host a student workshop on filmmaking, memory, storytelling, and archives on February 20th. 

February 25, 7pm: Earth Mama | A pregnant single mother embraces her Bay Area community as she fights to reclaim her family in this singular debut feature from filmmaker Savanah Leaf. Featuring a post-screening conversation with Robin Robinson (IU Media School) on the role of film festivals in the cultivation and dissemination of the stories and work of Black women.

This series inspired the Cinema's Spring 2025 exhibition, produced in conjunction with IU’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, who provided the artifacts on display. The objects in the case are representative of African countries that have films included in AfroFutures, as well as our New African Cinema series which begins later this semester. They have been chosen to expand on the peoples, places, and stories shared through this semester’s films. The museum holds a diverse collection of more than five million objects related to cultural heritage and archaeological significance. Much like the films in our AfroFutures and New African Cinema series, it is committed to sharing the human stories behind material objects, uplifting the communities connecting to them, and opening pathways humanity’s heritage. The display is viewable in the Cinema's lower lobby exhibition case for the duration of the Spring 2025 semester.