Memory Room 451

Memory Room 451

4.5/100h 25m1996
Memory Room 451

Overview

The subject matter of Memory Room 451 is the cultural and historical significance of 20th-century hairstyles – the Afro, the conk, dreadlocks – in Black communities on both sides of the Atlantic. Akomfrah has disguised this exploration as a science fiction story – in the manner of the groundbreaking writers profiled in The Last Angel of History – while providing a bravura display of the aesthetics of video art in the 1990s. The tale of visitors from the future who gather dreams from unwitting subjects in order to construct a history of the Black diaspora both defamiliarizes Akomfrah’s ongoing project and points to the danger that extracting history from memory can be a kind of expropriation.

Genres

Science FictionDocumentary

Production Companies

Black Audio Film Collective

Additional Information

Original Title:Memory Room 451
Original Language:English
Status:Released

Cast

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