After receiving an avalanche of short film proposals for Cinema Politica’s The Next 150 – Documentary Futurism project, we are thrilled to announce our illustrious jury for this exciting new initiative.
The Next 150 is a Cinema Politica project that envisions the creation of a new film genre that combines documentary codes with futurist impulses, that we are calling documentary futurism. Cinema Politica will commission 15 short films that will imagine the beginnings of this new genre through innovation and experimentation, and will lay the foundation for future work. A jury made up of three experts in fields that have inspired the project (Afro-futurism, Indigenous futurism, speculative fiction and non-fiction) will convene in Montreal later this month to select the final works to be commissioned. We do not envy the jury’s work, as they must select from a formidable list of powerful, imaginative and fiercely forward-looking proposals CP received following our Call for Submissions. But we know these three equally powerful, imaginative and fierce artists will rise to the challenge and as such we are immensely honoured to welcome Danis Goulet, Skawennati and Nalo Hopkinson as the The Next 150 – Documentary Futurism jury.
Danis Goulet (Cree/Metis) is an award-winning Toronto based filmmaker whose films have screened at festivals around the world and whose fantastic 2013 short WAKENING in part inspired The Next 150 project. Skawennati (Mohawk) is a Kahnawake based multi-media, multi-platform artist whose digital creations explore history, the future and social justice. Nalo Hopkinson is an award-winning, Riverside (California) based Canadian author of Afrofuturism and speculative fiction whose novels explore Black imagination and experience, as well as themes of social justice.
To learn more about our jury and The Next 150 project, visit our newly launched Facebook page.
The 15 successful short film projects will be announced near the end of November (2017), after the jury has made their final selections. Filmmakers will have until September 2018 to complete the commissioned works, and we hope to begin circulating these documentary futurist films shortly thereafter.
For updates and news on the project, visit the CP Blog or the project’s Facebook page.
