Movies Similar to Dark Matter: A History of the Afrofuture

Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise(1980)

Robert Mugge filmed jazz great Sun Ra on location in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. between 1978 and 1980. The resulting 60-minute film includes multiple public and private performances, poetry readings, a band rehearsal, interviews, and extensive improvisations. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored for the best possible viewing experience.

The Story of Funk: One Nation Under a Groove(2014)

A documentary on funk and P-funk and the bands and artists that made it all happen: James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Maurice White and his Earth Wind & Fire, Average White Band, Kool & The Gang and lots more. It tells the story of black American music and how it evolved from funk to more main stream to disco to hiphop to contemporary R 'n B and its impact on society. Music and live footage from the bands, interviews with artists and band members of Kool & The Gang, Earth Wind & Fire, George Clinton and lots more.

Sankofa

A short documentary that emerge at the center of round table debate, participating in it there's three students from the Superior School of Arts and Design, Caldas da Rainha - Portugal. This conversation go along with a video essay about Afrofuturism and Pop Culture. Also, during the debate, an interview with another student gives some real example of how afrofuturism can be applied when it comes to in taking control of the colonial narratives into a black person perspective.

Claustrophobia(2024)

A young black man wakes up chained in a dark room and is hypnotized by the static of a TV.

Space Is the Place(1974)

Sun Ra and his Solar Myth Arkestra return 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.

Neptune Frost(2022)

In the hilltops of Burundi, a group of escaped coltan miners form an anti-colonialist computer hacker collective. From their camp in an otherworldly e-waste dump, they attempt a takeover of the authoritarian regime exploiting the region's natural resources – and its people. When an intersex runaway and an escaped coltan miner find each other through cosmic forces, their connection sparks glitches within the greater divine circuitry.

Outside the Aquarium(2021)

"Outside the Aquarium" is the new exhibition of protagonist Jonas. In his paintings he portrays his experiences as a black immigrant and part of the LGBT Community expressing his fears, loneliness and dreams for the future.

HARLEM FRAGMENTS

Harlem Fragments is an Afro-futurist scrapbook storytelling of a Harlem Black family's beautiful destruction during the 2008 recession. A natural disaster so mesmerizing you can't look away from the tragedy. Based on true events- The film explores the haunting societal pressures of achieving the Black American dream, told in the POV of 10 year old TJ revisiting his family's home that's up for sale. By empowering this Black boy in this film with the agency to imagine, TJ, through his own journey, finds a way to process and come to terms with his family's divorce. It's important for every Black child out there enduring the same foreign emotions to know that it's okay to feel them, and affirm that there is a future trajectory forward out of the initial destruction.

Mulika(2022)

An 'afronaut' emerges from the wreckage of a spaceship in the volcanic crater of Mount Nyiragongo. As he descends into the city below, encountering the people of present-day Goma, he begins to understand what he must do to change the future for his people.

Afro Algorithms(2022)

This 3D animated short film in the Afrofuturist genre explores the topics of AI and bias. In a distant future, an artificial intelligence named Aero is inaugurated as the world's first AI ruler. But Aero soon learns that important worldviews are missing from her databank, including the experiences of the historically marginalized and oppressed.

Tecnoismo(2018)

The Burden(2023)

When culture vultures apply for citizenship on a new planet colonized by Black people, three judges must decide how to deal with folks who want everything but the burden.

They Charge for the Sun(2016)

In a dystopian future where people live nocturnally to avoid the harmful rays of the sun, a young black girl unravels the lie that has kept her and her sister in the dark.

Liminality

Zari and Aina are a young couple, orbiting each other but struggling to connect. We first see each of them in their own element: Zari painting to finish a piece for a gallery opening, and Aina coding her own video game designed to increase self-awareness. When Aina makes an effort to connect and Zari shuts her out again, Aina is triggered to send her girlfriend into the video game. In the game, Zari meets different versions of herself and her ego's desires. Ultimately, she has to decide what she's willing to let go of in order to advance to the next level. When the game malfunctions, Aina launches her back into reality and they finally confront each other.

Departure(2017)

An alien couple named Addem and Efa live on Earth as human beings in order to determine if it has proper living conditions for their race. They are suddenly called back to their mothership and must face a disgruntled Special Agent and growing, uncontrollable human urges to stay on Earth before it's too late to return.

Clipping: Splendor & Misery(2016)

A surreal post-apocalyptic drama by Patrick Kennelly inspired by the clipping. album “Splendor & Misery”

Estação: Liberdade(2025)

In a world in collapse, when the present seems unbearable and the future nonexistent, Anteliza, a young black woman about to leave school, receives a note that leads her down unlikely paths. Between desires, pressures, and possibilities, she will be confronted with a free reality she has always dreamed of. But what is freedom when it demands that you abandon who you are?

O Disco das Histórias(2024)

After a flying saucer containing all the stories of humanity crashes in his backyard, a young artist seeks help to interpret its messages.

Good Stock On The Dimension Floor: An Opera(2014)

A collectively made filmic opera in 35 parts. The Black and predominantly queer art collective, an evolving line up of poets and artists from across the world, abstracts and reimagines opera in any traditional conception. Set to hip-hop, blues, noise, R&B and electronica, the piece uses the voice (chanting, singing, screaming; written by poet and activist Dawn Lundy Martin) as its primary tool, verbalising centuries of alienation, vulnerability and protest in the global African diaspora through its disruptive libretto.

Mother of the Closet(2024)

A closeted college student and her optimistic girlfriend are transported to an alternate universe led by a mystical house mother who runs a pride boot camp.