Nuotama Wants More From Afronauts

 Week 16 response:

In the article "Parsing the Real and Unreal Stories of the Zambian Space Academy" Dessane Lopez Cassell interviews Nuotama Frances Bodomo about her 2014 film Afronauts. The film was created as a response to a Zambian schoolteacher and activist who was dedicated to putting Zambia's flag on the moon during the cold war and following Zambia's independence from Britain in 1964. Although he didn't succeed, Bodomo used this as inspiration for her film, in which she presents the Zambian Space Program through fictional and highly afrofuturist lens, which ultimately comments on the greater potential consequences of launching a black body into space, particularly during the independence movements taking place across Africa in the 1960s. 

Nuotama Bodomo talks about how she incorporated so many aspects of Zambian life and African life in general, while also attempting to highlight the ways in which white Americans conceptualize Africa and blackness in general. She created the film for both people in America and people in Africa to watch, relate to, and learn from, which I thought was really interesting. However, Bodomo does fear that Zambians may feel that Afronauts is not an accurate representation of Zambia. She hopes to expand her short film into a full feature, where she will be able to gather more resources that will allow her to create a more accurate representation of Zambia. I found this statement to be very thought provoking because I have found that many afrofuturist works are rooted in African culture, but do not necessarily feel the need to completely portray a vision of Africa with 100% accuracy, but Bodomo has a very individual desire to create a fictional story based in a very real place and time, and this is all a part of her unique artistic vision. It was inspiring to hear that although she made a short film that she is proud of and has received positive critial acclaim, she is still dedicated to expanding it and making it fit her vision and message even more.