Sun Ra: Do the Impossible

Poet, Egyptologist, cosmologist, historian, activist, bandleader, musician…jazz pioneer Sun Ra was all of these. In this illuminating biography, Christine Turner takes us on a complex journey through the life of a complex man who either was born in Birmingham, Alabama, sent from Saturn, or both. With his band, the Arkestra, he extended the boundaries of free-form jazz, put his own mark on the standards, and pursued forays into electronic music, yet could be just as inspired to riff on “Over the Rainbow. ” His musical mission was also rooted as an agent toward advancing Afrofuturism, mixing interstellarmetaphors (“space is the place”) and his own scientific explanations (“transmolecularization”) with the state of Black life in America.

Directed and Produced by Christine Turner for Firelight Films

Runtime: 84 minutes

Q&A to follow with DJ Irwin Chusid

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WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).

About the Filmmaker
Christine Turner is an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker whose intimate portraits of artists, activists, and everyday people capture the beauty and struggle of life. A frequent collaborator with Firelight Films & Firelight Media, Christine recently directed J'Nai Bridges Unamplified, a verité film on the acclaimed opera singer J’Nai Bridges (PBS/American Masters); and Lynching Postcards: ‘Token of a Great Day’ (Paramount+), which was nominated for aPeabody and won an NAACP Image Award. Other directing credits include the Oscar-nominated short The Barber of Little Rock, about a local barber's fight for a just economy (The New Yorker); the Sundance selection Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business (New York Times Op-Docs); Paint & Pitchfork (The New Yorker) about celebrated artists Amy Sherald and Kehinde Wiley; and Homegoings, her critically-acclaimed feature directorial debut (PBS’ POV). As an episodic director and producer for television, Christine has also collaborated on non-fiction series such as The 1619 Project (Hulu), Amend: The Fight for America (Netflix), and Art in the Twenty-First Century (PBS), among others.

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