10/14/2025
"Space is the Place" (1974) is an Afrofuturist sci-fi movie directed by John Coney, written by Sun Ra and Joshua Smith, and filmed in Oakland, California. Sun Ra is a complex individual. There is much to dissect regarding him, his music, and his philosophies.
Herman Poole Blount (Le Sony'r Ra), known as Sun Ra, was a free-form jazz musician who began his career in the 1930s. He was an innovative composer who introduced the jazz community to his eccentric piano style. Claiming to be an alien from Saturn on a mission to preach peace, Sun Ra developed a mythical persona and an idiosyncratic ideology that made him a pioneer of Afrofuturism. He illustrated these ideologies through his music, which he led with an enormous orchestra (known as The Arkstra) as a composer.
Sun Ra was teaching at Berkeley during the conception of this movie. The movie is an excellent vehicle for his philosophies at the time. He wanted to improve the conditions of Black people and save them through music. However, Ra was very unorthodox, and his music was psychedelic, so it wasn't well received by Black mainstream audiences, which is understandable because his style isn't for everyone. Just like his movie "Space is the Place."
You'll often ask yourself, "What the hell is happening here?" But as you watch, you start to see what he is trying to accomplish throughout the movie. Yet, he presents his ideologies so abstractly that it could lead to bewilderment. The soundtrack to "Space is the Place" is the film itself. Like the movie, it's abstract free-form jazz. Interpreting the instruments and rhythm takes patience, but putting it all together is worthwhile.
I recommend this movie due to its unique and rare portrayal in Black cinema. Sci-fi films are the most underrepresented genre of Black cinema. It's unfortunate because the existing ones are examples of the possibilities in creating sci-fi movies, especially when including Afrocentric philosophies.
Director: John Coney
Writers: Joshua Smith, Sun Ra
Starring Sun Ra, Christopher Brooks, Raymond Johnson, Barbara Deloney, Erika Leder, La Shaa Stallings, Sinthia Ayala, Clarence Brewer, June Tyson, Tiny Parker, Sam Bankhead, John Gilmore, Marshall Allen
Storyline
Sun Ra, the space-age prophet, lands his spaceship in Oakland, having been presumed lost in space for a few years. While returning, he attempts to rescue the Black race from the Earth and take them to a planet free of oppression.
Available on Blu-ray and streaming services.
