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Project Website: http://slought.org/content/11257/
Please join us on Thursday, December 2, 2004 from 7:00-9:00pm at International House (3701 Chestnut Street) for a rare screening of the only 35mm print of "Space is the Place" (John Coney, 1974). This special screening, co-presented with International House and sponsored by Plexifilms, has been organized in conjunction with "Sun Ra Meets Napoleon: Fragments of the Alter-Future," an exhibition from November 20-January 31, 2005 at Slought Foundation that playfully juxtaposes material culture by Egyptologists Sun Ra, Giovanni Belzoni, and Jean-François Champollion relating to ancient Egypt (For more information: http://slought.org/content/11231/). Plexifilm has beautifully restored the film (featuring the original Director's Cut with over 20 minutes of restored footage) to bring Sun Ra’s message of black liberation in space to a contemporary audience.
Science fiction, blaxploitation, cosmic free-jazz and radical race politics combine when Sun Ra returns to earth in his music-powered space ship to battle for the future of the black race and offer an "alter-destiny" to those who would join him. Created as an homage to the low-budget science fiction films of the 50's and 60's, "Space is the Place" became a visual embodiment of Sun Ra's Afro-Egyptian myth of salvation in outer space. Special effects, outrageous plot line and apocalyptic message harmonize with the otherworldly score and a climactic live performance by one of the most innovative and profound groups in jazz history. After having traveled through space in a yellow spaceship propelled by music, Sun Ra finds a planet he believes could serve as a new home for the black race. Returning to earth, he lands in Oakland, California, circa 1972, declaring “I am the alter-destiny, the presence of the living myth,"
and battles The Overseer, played by Ray Johnson, a supernatural villain exploiting the black people. The Overseer, the FBI, and NASA -- who are after Ra's Black Space Program -- attempt to assassinate Ra, who escapes into space with his followers before the destruction of Earth.
"Space is the Place" defies easy categorization: it is at once a platform for Sun Ra's radical racial philosophies, an indictment of the government's policies in Vietnam-era U.S., cult camp flick, sci-fi movie and concert film with unforgettable performances by the Intergalactic Solar Arkestra. Since its extremely limited release in 1974 -- the film played very briefly in San Francisco and New York -- "Space is the Place" has become an underground legend spoken about but never seen, and if so, in poorly dubbed bootlegs or in the severely adulterated 1992 VHS version.
This program is made possible in part through the generous sponsorship or support of Plexifilm
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