Different future visions of Africa on offer courtesy of the sci-fi genre. Image by Kofi Allen
Event: Africa in Science Fiction
Venue: Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
Host: The Collective Word
Review by Yvette Twagiramariya
The Southbank Centre, London, provided the launch pad for Africa to show us just how it is projecting itself into the future – through science fiction.
Africa in Science fiction, organised by award-winning author Courttia Newland, founder of The Collective Word, and Toyin Agbetu of Ligali, showcases riveting sci-fi literature and breathtaking shorts from an African perspective. As someone unfamiliar with the genre I didn’t know what to expect.
Acclaimed guest speakers, sci-fi novelists Tosin Coker and Biram Mboob, filmmaker Kibwe Tavares and playwright and African sci-fi aficionado Oladipo Agboluaje play an inspiring role in the visual and narrative journey of where Africa sci-fi is today.
Presented in two parts, Agbetu chairs the lively Universal Mind Control on African sci-fi literature. Gambian-born Mboob, whose writing has appeared in anthologies such as New Adventures in African Fiction, reveals that he uses the form to discuss things that he feels passionate and even angry about, particularly political corruption in African countries.
Coker, who has just launched her latest series Hypknowlogy, a trilogy in one volume, is driven in her writing, particularly as she was once told that “Africans don’t see themselves in the future”. She also admits that she wouldn’t really shy away from writing about any topic, apart from one that would cause distress to her family.
Part two, Parable of the Talents chaired by Words of Colour Production’s executive director Joy Francis, looks at the different filmic visions and visionaries of Africa through two shorts with panellists Tavares and Agboluaje.
Playwright Agboluaje shows that sci-fi has a home in theatre. He has used magical realism in two of his plays, The Christ of Coldharbour Lane and Early Morning. He is currently working on a sci-fi short film set in Nigeria that looks at religion and conflict.
Like the 150-strong audience,Agboluaje is keen to watch Tavares’s remarkable and award-winning sci-fi short Robots of Brixton on the big screen.
Robots of Brixton is one of the most enjoyable and original shorts I’ve seen. An experimental film made while doing his Architectural degree, Tavares uses the lens of history to recreate the tension of the 1981 Brixton riots, animating actual footage from the time. It ends with a powerful quote by Karl Marx: “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”.
The self taught animator admits that the shiny metallic robots were created by accident as he didn’t know how to make them “look real”. Tavares, who is now working on a new live animation short Jonah set in Zanzibar, runs Factory Fifteen, an animation and architectural imagery studio.
The second screening, Pumzi, is a 20 minute film set in a futuristic post-apocalyptic Africa where water scarcity has forced people to live underground. Written and directed by Kenyan Wanuri Kahiu, she describes the film as being about “sacrifice and love”. It was a visually stunning piece of work that left the audience wanting more.
Africa in Science Fiction reflects the many stories, histories and cultures being told through different artistic platforms using the latest technology. The featured writers and filmmakers are passing on their vibrant imaginations to their readers and viewers, leaving them inspired. I am now one of them.
Africa in Science Fiction, hosted by The Collective Word with the Southbank Centre, took place on 20 November 2012.
Yvette Twagiramariya is Words of Colour Productions communications volunteer.
Additional information provided by Joy Francis.