online screening
Memory Room 451
directed by John Akomfrah, United Kingdom 1997, 22’
A classic of afrofuturism, this early film by the renowned Black Audio Film Collective and directed by one of its most celebrated members, John Akomfrah, explores the themes of memory, legacy and identity through the prism of race and (post)colonialism.
Created nearly a decade before the first mainstream social media platforms were launched, this short film tells a story of a postapocalyptic society, in which dreams have been commodified and turned into databases helping the rulers prepare for a plague yet to come. “I wanted to be a star, so I gave them everything” says one the film’s protagonists – and thus the nightmare of begins.
