Schedule

Friday, June 11, 2004 - 7 PM
Location: Seattle Repertory Theatre’s Leo K. Theatre
(201 Republican Street at the Seattle Center)

Opening night performance and reception - Join the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas as we celebrate the opening of the Black to the Future festival with the premiere of a new theatrical piece that celebrates blacks in speculative fiction through a compilation of text, movement, music, African dance, song and . . . space adventure. Written and directed by Timeca Briggs.


Saturday, June 12, 2004
Location: Seattle Center Northwest Rooms– Rainier and Olympic
(1st and Republican on the Seattle Center Grounds)

8:30 am - 10:00 am
Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences in Genre Fiction Workshop – Orcas Room (There is a separate fee for this workshop)

8:30 am - Box office Opens

9:00 am – 6:15 pm - Information Room and Book Store

10:00 am – 11:15 am - Writers Voice: Tananarive Due – Join writer, Tananarive Due as she discusses her work and the many genres that make up speculative fiction. A book signing will follow.

11:15 am – 12:45 pm - Lunch Break

Featured Lunch Discussion, "Why Black Superheroes Can't Fly"
Location: Orcas Room

Michael Davis, founder of Milestone Media, a successful black comic book company, and creator of the hit WB animated series "Static Shock" shares his often controversial views on Hollywood and black comics!!! Michael will also be introducing his new company DreamCity in hopes of finding creators who have a vision and want to share it. So if you want to hear the rantings of a Hollywood "playa", or you need a job, come spend some time with a true original. (Pick up your lunch at the Center House and come back for the discussion.)

12:45 pm – 1:05 pm - “Theory of Messages” - Electronic Text reading by international artist, Beth Coleman: This presentation is the reading of one of Coleman’s speculative fiction (sci-fi) texts in combination with the live accompaniment of an ambient electronic music composition, played from a laptop computer. The British painter Chris Ofili originally commissioned the piece for his 2003 Venice Biennale exhibition catalogue. Theory of Messages has only been published in Europe and the Black to the Future Festival will be the U.S. debut of the piece.

1:10 pm – 2: 15 pm - The Mothership Connection: A panel discussion on Black Science Fiction in Music Form, from Funk to Electronic. Panelists include artist and dj Beth Coleman, dj and writer Ian Hagemann, Riz Rollins and writer Charles Mudede.

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm - A Conversation with Octavia Butler: Writer and critic, Nisi Shawl will have an intimate conversation with award winning author, Octavia Butler that reflects upon Ms. Butler’s career, her work and offers her perspective on the field of speculative fiction. A book signing will follow.

4:15 pm – 5:30 pm - A Conversation with Walter Mosley – Host of the King County community affairs program, Communities in Action Val Thomas-Matson will hold an intimate conversation with award winning author, Walter Mosley that reflects upon Mr. Mosley’s career, his work and offers his perspective on the field of speculative fiction. A book signing will follow.


Evening Film Festival
Location: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center
(104 17th Ave. South)

5pm
Film Rap: Panel Discussion – Free
To kick off the film festival on Saturday June 12th at 5pm, Warren Etheredge and a star-powered panel of filmmakers and film experts will explore the mysterious world of black science fiction films. Panelists include filmmakers Brian McDonald, M. Asli Dukan, writer Yemi Toure and creator of the Emmy Award series Static shock, Michael Davis. This discussion will be presented by The Warren Report in association with The Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas.

Immediately Following Panel: Understanding Chaos, by Terrence Walker, 2000; 9min - Free
Short/Animation
Can one man create Anime? Just ask Terrence Walker.
Understanding Chaos is a short independent film created by one person. From animation to post-production (including all the voices), Mr. Walker was the sole force behind the project. In the future, a war is brewing. The two sides of this impending conflict are the Earth Government and Mars Colony. On Mars, a mysterious leader is amassing weapons of mass destruction to use against the Earth. Earth soldier Han has been assigned to convince the leader of the Mars rebellion not to start his war. Unfortunately, time is running out for both of them. A group of armored soldiers have arrived at the rebel base, and they are not in the mood to talk. Can Han stop both the terrorist leader and the soldiers in time?


7pm
Urban Soup, Creators: Nikon Kwantu, Geeta Gandbhir & Sekou Kwantu, 2003;
4 min Trailer/Animation
Urban Soup is a futuristic edgy, hip-hop action-adventure series with a sci-fi twist. Four young Harlemites led by a clever media pirate take on corrupt Superheroes, the city government and criminal corporations to bring power back to the people.... Kali Ra Productions is currently in the process of producing a pilot for "Urban Soup".

Gettosake Entertainment Compilation, Creators: The Love Brothers (Jeremy, Maurice and Robert)
Shorts and Trailers/Animation
GETTOSAKE ENTERTAINMENT is a pop culture company and production studio (owned and operated by the Love Brothers) that uses animation and illustration as its primary medium. Initially launching original properties in the form of episodic animated shows for the web; properties are developed with an eye towards offline opportunities in film, print, and television. (live action or animation). GETTOSAKE ENTERTAINMENT creates and brands unique characters, in a variety of genres, mainly featuring people of color, which can be developed as commercial products.

Those Who Walk in Darkness, by John Ridley, 2003; 57min
Animation
An action-filled animated sci-fi movie about a female cop facing off against strangely powerful enemies in a near-future Los Angeles. It isn’t easy to take down beings who are invulnerable or intangible, have super-strength or super-speed, or can throw flames from their body or telepathically control minds. Soledad O’Roark is a super-cop with super-weapons in a world of super-heroes and super-villains. A gritty world where comic book icons are real . . . and where humans have turned against their heroes.

9pm
Sun Ra: Space is the Place, Dir: John Coney, 1974; 85 min
Feature
Sun Ra--space-age prophet, Pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader--land his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself "the alter-destiny." He holds a myth-vs reality rap session with black inner-city youth at a recreation center, threatening "to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa" if they resist his plea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth.

Sunday, June 13, 2004
Location: Seattle Center Northwest Rooms – Rainier and Olympic

8:30 am - 10:00 am
Writing the Other (continued) – Orcas Room

8:30 am - Box office opens

9:00 am – 4:30 pm - Information Room and Book Store

10:00 am – 11:15 am - “Open Mic” Reading: Not on a Panel? Not in a conversation or writers voice? Well, this is your chance to make yourself known. Join us and share excerpts of your own science fiction work or just listen to others. Sign up to read by Saturday at 4:00pm during the Saturday Session. The sign up list will be located at the information table in the lobby and space is limited. Reading Rules: Works of Speculative fiction in poetry, fiction, journals, etc. You may have as little as 5 minutes depending on the number of readers, so be prepared to JAM!


11:15 am – 12:45 pm - Lunch Break

12:45 pm – 2:00 pm - Writers Voice: Steven Barnes - Join writer, Steven Barnes as he discusses "Communications technology and the birth of a new human consciousness.”

2:30 pm – 3:45 pm - Panel: Hopes & Fears for the Near Future: Join authors, Charles Johnson, Steven Barnes, Octavia Butler and Tananarive Due in an open discussion about THE FUTURE. . . . A book signing will follow.


Evening Film Festival
Location: Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

5pm
Invisible Universe: A history of blackness in speculative fiction, Dir: M. Asli Dukan, 2004; 5 min
Trailer/Documentary
Science fiction, horror and fantasy literature and films have always had a strenuous relationship with the image of the Black body as Blacks appeared to be insignificant in worlds imagined almost exclusively by white men. These misrepresentations, however, have played a major role in the growing creative output in the genres by writers of color in the last 100 years. Through the use of artwork, comics, television, movies, music, literature and interviews with major Black writers, scholars, musicians, artists and filmmakers this documentary will explore the history of Blacks in science fiction, horror and fantasy literature and films and how modern Black writers have consciously been creating an invisible universe of their own.

Last Angel of History, Dir. John Akomofra, 1996; 45 min
Documentary
An engaging and searing examination of the hitherto unexplored relationships between Pan-African culture, science fiction, intergalactic travel, and rapidly progressing computer technology. This cinematic essay posits science fiction (with tropes such as alien abduction, estrangement, and genetic engineering) as a metaphor for the Pan-African experience of forced displacement, cultural alienation, and otherness. Included are interviews with black cultural figures, from musicians DJ Spooky, Goldie, Derek May, and George Clinton to astronaut Dr. Bernard A. Harris Jr., one of the first African-Americans in space to Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols to novelists Ismael Reed and Octavia Butler to cultural critics Greg Tate and Kodwo Eshun.

George Clinton with Parliament Funkadelic: The Mothership Connection, 1976; 83 minutes
Documentary/Live Concert
This 1976 live concert program features a stage performance by funk pioneer George Clinton along with his band Parliament Funkadelic. The concert features the songs "Cosmic Slop," "Do That Stuff," "Gammin' on Ya," "Standing on the Verge of Gettin' It On," "The Undisco Kid," "Children of Production," "Mothership Connection," "Swing Down Sweet Chariot," "Dr. Funkenstein," "Comin' Round the Mountin," "P. Funk," "Tear the Roof Off the Sucker," "Night of the Thumpasorus Peoples," and "Funkin' for Fun."


7:15 pm
Kickin' Chicken, Dir: Joy Phillips, 2001; 12 min
Short
Kickin’ Chicken finds our heroine Sherise in rehab. Her addiction? Fried Chicken. Can she stay clean? Can she keep from cooking up? Will she kick or will she snap? A brilliant and hilarious satire of everything from drug films to sensitive multi-culti programming. Metaphors abound!

Brother from Another Planet, Dir: John Sayles, 1984; 110 min
Feature/Restored Version
A near classic, which blends fish-out-of-water comedy with trenchant and serious science fiction. The Brother is an alien who has crash-landed on Earth, in New York City. While mute, strongly empathic, and able to fix things, he resembles a Black man with strange feet. His attempt to make a place for himself in Harlem is an allegory for the immigrant experience in the United States. Meanwhile, two bounty hunters from the Brother's home planet arrive and try to capture him. Sayles is at his economic best, drawing a touchingly complex performance from a silent Morton and good acting from a strong supporting cast of mostly unknowns.

SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE

Ticket information

Black to the Future Home Page

For more information on how to register for “Writing the Other” visit http://writingtheother.com