There are many ways to observe and celebrate Black History Month, and if you have some free time to go to the movies, Milwaukee Film curated a month-long lineup in honor of the occasion.
Ty Williams is the Black Lens Programmer for Milwaukee Film, and he handpicked a variety of films you can see on the big screen that reflect on and celebrate Black icons in fiction. They’re all a part of the “Afrofuturism: Fates Beyond Fiction” series.
"These movies still contain themes of Black history and conversations about colonialism and things that have happened throughout history to Black Americans, but they also offer a dreaming aspect to them, sort of imagining a better future or dreaming up a better world than the one we currently exist in," explains Williams. "So I think that it's a very good theme for right now, this time is history, to not just be 'doom and gloom' but also inspire hope into people and that was my goal with choosing these movies."
Sorry to Bother You — Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler and more, this 2018 film presents an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.
"[Boots Riley] is a filmmaker that has a lot of films that are very surrealist, sci-fi, supernatural in nature and a lot of his films apply under the umbrella term of Afrofuturism. Sorry to Bother You specifically is about a Black man that learns he can code switch really well - meaning like he can talk like a white man really well and uses it for his his telemarketing job and it leads to a lot of very bad circumstances happening to many different people," says Williams. "But it is a very interesting take on that conversation that has happened in a lot of households of like, you know, being Black but being told that you 'act white' and just sort of putting that conversation to screen in a way that is very unique to say the least."
Space Is the Place — Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m.
This 1974 film directed by John Coney follows Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra returning to Earth after several years in space. Ra proclaims himself "the alter-destiny", meets with inner-city youths and battles with the devil himself to save the Black race.
"It's a movie about Sun Ra coming down to Earth from a big spaceship and saying, 'Well life on Earth is very bad and I want to take everyone away from this and go to a new planet, imagine a new future somewhere else,' and his music very much symbolizes all of that," notes Williams.
"If you've heard Sun Ra's music it's very strange sounds sometimes, very unconventional and his whole thing was imagining a new world through sound. So if you can hear a new world maybe you can visualize one."
Nope — Thursday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
The 2022 film by Jordan Peele stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as horse-trainer siblings who, along with other residents of a lonely gulch in inland California, bear witness to an uncanny and chilling phenomenon.
"Nope is an amazing film — it talks a lot about Black history and sort of being lost in film history, Black people's contributions to film as a genre and an industry and sort of being lost to the wayside as technological advancements continue to get faster and faster. But I like Nope a lot because it talks about so many other things as well ... [there's] so much symbolism that I had wanted to show it just because I love seeing people after the movie theater is getting to a big circle and talk about a movie and that's a movie you can really talk about.
Blade — Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m.
The first of a trilogy, Blade stars Wesley Snipes as the Daywalker — a half-vampire, half-mortal man — who becomes the protector of humanity against an underground army of vampires. Williams notes that it's the Marvel movie that started the formula for other Marvel films.
"I chose this one because I just personally have a very big attachment to Blade as a character. I think he is amazing representation for young Black men to sort of, as the theme of Afro futurism calls for, to imagine a future that does not exist here," he says. "I remember being very young and thinking like, 'Oh I could absolutely be a vampire hunter!,' and it's because we see [these] images. Blade isn't the most artistic, most Oscar worthy movie ever, but it does hit something in people just by seeing a cool Black vampire on screen... I think it's one of the coolest movies out there and I think that it's just a really fun time, regardless of who you are."
