Director: John Coney
Writer(s): Joshua Smith, Sun Ra
Starring: Barbara Deloney, Sun Ra, Raymond Johnson, Erika Leder, Christopher Brooks, La Shaa Stallings, Sinthia Ayala, Clarence Brewer, June Tyson, Morgan Upton, Walter Burns, Tiny Parker, Sam Bankhead, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen, Danny Davis, Eloe Omoe, Kwame Hadi, Larry Northington, Danny Thompson, Tommy Hunter, Ken Moshesh, Lex Humphries, Jack Baker
Synopsis: Sun Ra–space-age prophet, Pharaonic jester, shaman-philosopher and avant-jazz keyboardist/bandleader–land his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. With Black Power on the rise, Ra disembarks and proclaims himself “the alter-destiny.” He holds a myth-vs reality rap session with vblack inner-city youth at a rec center, threatening “to chain you up and take you with me, like they did you in Africa” if they resist his mplea to go to outer space. He duels at cards with The Overseer, a satanic overlord, with the fate of the black race at stake. Ra wins the right to a world concert, which features great performance footage of the Arkestra. Agents sent by the Overseer attempt to assassinate Ra, but he vanishes, rescues his people, and departs in his spaceship from the exploding planet Earth.
Release Date: November 1974 (USA) | Length: 85 min | Genre: Sci-Fi, Music | Certificate: R
Note: Sun Ra wrote all of his own lines for the film. I couldn’t identify some members of Sun Ra’s Arkestra (Eloe Omoe, Larry Northington, Tommy Hunter). Also I didn’t find an official release date for this film.