Black Nature Films in the Park: Brother from Another Planet

Alfreda’s Cinema and Field Meridian’s Nature School return to the stars to end this outdoor film season with a majestic program at the Prospect Park Boathouse in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance.

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Join the fun with music by Range Music NYC at 5 pm before the screening, and the films will kick off at 7 pm along with seasonal tea offering from Field Meridians.

We continue our cosmic trip through Nature + Film with John Sayles’ sci-fi classic, The Brother From Another Planet (1984.) alongside featurette, a place in the sun: and other things I tell myself on hopeless days by Daequan Collier (single-channel, 2024.) Journeying into other worlds that feel like real alternatives effectively changes our approach, often triggering an existential confrontation. The natural world is transformative and with these two films as portals to the soul’s journey, we invite inspiration with these watershed perspectives often underseen.

Joe Morton as huminode, mute space traveler, encounters 80’s Harlem, NYC, viscerally in the Black-American experience, easily an encounter any outsider would not choose willingly. Sayles approach turns that thinking on its head and into an out-of-this-world troupe now deemed 80s camp. Morton’s portrayal turns Christ-like in purpose as he attempts to resolve the urgent needs of his day-to-day fellows turn protectors, whilst evading two men dressed in black. The Brother from Another Planet (1984.) has unknowingly become a part of the Afro-futurist canon but should have it’s own moment as a testament to the 1984 lexicon of Science-fiction epics, standing tall among the likes of a Alex Cox’s Repo-man and David Lynch’s Dune, The Brother From Another Planet is a quiet triumph, a masterpiece.

Bronx-born, Brooklyn based, DaqQuan Collier shares a place in the sun: and other things I tell myself on hopeless days (single-channel, 2024.) for the second time since its completion and is a stellar companion to the night’s feature. Equalling the momentum of the soul’s journey with Collier’s insight to cosmic travel through his imagination. The stylized use of his family’s home movies, combined with a reinterpretation of the “teletubbies” as a Black musical act, Collier’s a place in the sun proves to be a must-see!

Please note that this event is rain or shine. It will be held on the lawn outside of the Boathouse. In case of rain, we will be moving the screening indoors into the Prospect Park Boathouse.