Bodomo: Excellence Through Afronauts

        

WEEK 16

        Nuotama Frances Bodomo is a Ghanaian filmmaker and writer. She was born in Accra, Ghana and later moved to the United States to pursue her studies in film. In between she had lived in CA for a brief time, as well as Hong Kong and Norway. Through these experiences, she described feeling like an ‘other’ due to her identity as well as never being in the same place for an extended period of time. Bodomo has directed several award-winning short films, including "Boneshaker" and "Afronauts", which have been screened at numerous film festivals around the world. She has also worked on feature films as a writer and assistant director, and her work often explores themes of migration, identity, and the African diaspora.

The film, “Afronauts” in particular is an interesting take on the space mission to the moon in the 60s. It imagines a lesser known historical event: the Zambian Space Program. The film is set in 1969, during the height of the Cold War and the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Against this backdrop, a group of Zambian exiles led by a schoolteacher named Edward Makuka decide to launch their own space mission, with the goal of beating the Americans and the Russians to the moon. The film explores themes of African identity, ambition, and imagination, as well as the politics of the era. It is a visually striking and thought-provoking work that challenges traditional narratives of space exploration and offers a new perspective on the role of Africa in the global story of science and technology. It showcases black excellence through technology and puts their importance on the same scale as white astronauts in a time period where their relevance in STEM during the 60’s wasn’t the reality.