Monday 9th of May 2011, at 8pm :
Fayçal Baghriche presented The Sun Ra Repatriation Project (Kapwani Kiwanga, France, Le Fresnoy, 2009, 43 min.)
Sun Ra was an influential musician and composer who affirmed his extraterrestrial origin.
He arrived from Saturn in 1914 and transmitted an “Astro-black” philosophy until his death in 1993.The Sun Ra Repatriation Project was initiated in 2008 and fashions a system of interplanetary communication to ensure Sun Ra’s return home. This video documents the project’s activities. The director travels to the United States and France to meet experts and scientist to help in the endevour. A composite portrait is created at Lille’s Gendarmerie from the video testimonies of those who knew Sun Ra; musicans such as Warren Smith and Ahmed Abdullah or John Szwed a professuer at Yale University and author of the biography Space is the Place. The composite sketch is sent into deep space on May 16 2009. An amateur radiotelescope in California volunteers to observe Saturn for any possible extraterrestrial radio transmissions from Sun Ra. Meetings with experts at the Observatoire de Paris and the NASA associated Jet Propulsion Lab expand the astronomical aspects of the project.