Sun Ra: Do the Impossible

Poet, Egyptologist, cosmologist, historian, activist, bandleader, musician…jazz pioneer Sun Ra was all of these. In this illuminating biography, Christine Turner takes us on a complex journey through the life of a complex man who either was born in Birmingham, Alabama, sent from Saturn, or both. With his band, the Arkestra, he extended the boundaries of free-form jazz, put his own mark on the standards, and pursued forays into electronic music, yet could be just as inspired to riff on “Over the Rainbow. ” His musical mission was also rooted as an agent toward advancing Afrofuturism, mixing interstellarmetaphors (“space is the place”) and his own scientific explanations (“transmolecularization”) with the state of Black life in America.

Directed and Produced by Christine Turner for Firelight Films

Runtime: 84 minutes

Q&A to follow with DJ Irwin Chusid

All proceeds support WFMU

WFMU Radio’s Monty Hall, located at 43 Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City (mere steps from the Exchange Place PATH station).