Neptune Frost

Join us for a special preview screening of NEPTUNE FROST on Sunday, June 5 at 4pm. Co-directors Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman will appear in person for a  post-screning Q&A moderated by Elu Omelora.

Co-directors Saul Williams and  Anisia Uzeyman deliver a compelling and completely singular vision in their feature debut, a queer Afro-Futurist musical shot and set in Rwanda. Neptune Frost follows the parallel journeys of two characters: Neptune, a young intersex hacker destined for transition (played by two actors over the course of the movie) and Matalusa, a coltan miner grieving his brother’s untimely death. The world they traverse is visually and sonically striking, a dreamy landscape full of repurposed technological objects where members of a hacker collective clash with an oppressive police force known as “The Authority.” Driven by the music created for Williams’ 2016 concept album MartyrLoserKing (another iteration of this multi-disciplinary project) Neptune Frost is a queer, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist allegory  full of poetry and possibility.

Saul Williams is an American poet, musician, and actor. He made his acting debut in Marc Levin’s Slam, which he co-wrote. The film won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Camera D'Or in 1998. Saul was a series regular on Girlfriends and has appeared in films including: K-Pax, Lackawanna Blues, New York, I Love You, Akilla’s Escape (TIFF 2020) and Aujourd'hui- TEY (Alain Gomis) which won 2013's L'Etalon D'Or at FESPACO. Saul was the first African-American to win Best Actor at the festival. TEY was also awarded The Prize of the City at Venice. In 2014, Saul made his Broadway debut as the lead in Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on the lyrics of Tupac Shakur. Saul has published five books of poetry which have been translated into several languages. As a
musician, Saul has released six albums and toured and collaborated with artists including: Kanye West, Nas, Janelle Monae, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine, The Roots, Mos Def, Allen Ginsburg, Amiri Baraka, Gil Scott-Heron, TV On The Radio, Blackalicious, and Erykah Badu.

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Anisia Uzeyman is an actress, playwright and director. Born in Rwanda, she studied drama at the Superior School of Theater in France. Her directorial debut Dreamstates was shot entirely on iPhones and starred Saul Williams, William Nadylam and Beau Sia. The film premiered at the LAFF in 2016. She has also directed numerous music videos. As an actress Anisia has starred in, among others, the award winning film Aujourd'hui-TEY where she met Saul Williams, and the feature film Ayiti Mon Amour by Guetty Felin which premiered at TIFF 2017. Her first book, a poetic treatment of her original screenplay Saolomea  will be published by Not a Cult this Fall.

Elu Omelora, a Cherokee and Igbo name meaning the one whose beauty comes from service to her community, is the co-founder of the African Diaspora Alliance and holds a masters in Public Health from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Elu’s work gives honor and reverence to ancestral knowledge and nature as the original studies of the Universe. Her research interests include holistic and naturopathic medicine combined with metaphysics for quantum healing. Elu’s work examines race, gender, soul and spirit as pre-conditions for the social determinants of health for African descendant and Indigenous communities. Elu is an aborisa within the Yoruba spiritual tradition of Ifa. Elu is an organizer of ancestral memory and studies how African spiritual traditions have been transformed and transplanted across time and space; and in recent history how they have been used throughout resistance movements to move from bondage to freedom. As a trained yogi, doula, and womb wellness practitioner, Elu is a medicinal alchemist who works towards meeting the material and spiritual needs of her community. In her work with the African Diaspora Alliance, Elu has co-created an African Diaspora centered curriculum that has been taught throughout the country. She has co-facilitated several transnational events including natural hair, film, and solidarity festivals and exchanges between Cuba, Colombia, and the U.S. Elu has traveled to over 22 countries, spending substantial time living, working, and building with grassroots community organizers and artists throughout the African Diaspora.  Elu has also studied photography and journalism at the University of Havana, University of the Arts (ISA), and San Alejandro de Los Artes in Cuba. Elu produced an award winning documentary titled "Youth of the Diaspora: Havana, Cuba" which highlighted the story of 10 young people from Baltimore who traveled to Cuba through her organization. Elu holds a  B.A. in African and Black Diaspora Studies and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies from DePaul University. With an adoration for the Diaspora, Elu Omelora’s work allows Liberation to be both imagined and actualized through real love and the cultivation of transnational solidarity amongst African and Indigenous people globally. 

COVID-19 POLICIES

• Face masks are required at all times in the SNF Parkway except when consuming concessions in your seat.
• All patrons must show proof of vaccination (and booster shot, if eligible) OR proof of negative PCR test dated a maximum of 72 hours before the event.