Jazz legend Sun Ra plays with sev­er­al nar­ra­tive levels in this multi-lay­ered futur­is­tic sce­nario. First, the film is based on his music and the con­cept album of the same name. He him­self has dis­ap­peared after a Euro­pean tour - along with his Arkestra to anoth­er planet. After years they return to final­ly free the black pop­u­la­tion from the clamps of colo­nial­ism and cap­i­tal­ism. This mis­sion turns out to be a wild mix­ture of con­cert per­for­mance, thriller, blax­ploita­tion comedy and social satire. In a card game with the pimp king of Chica­go the fate of the blacks is to be decid­ed (com­par­i­son quite pos­si­ble with the Faus­t­ian duel as for exam­ple with Bergman). When Sun Ra is going to lose, the flight into space sets in and it seems that the earth will be destroyed. 

The his­toric 35mm film has been restored by Rapid Eye Movies and dig­i­tized for the first time in the  Acad­e­my format 1:1.33. 

John Coney co-direct­ed PINK FLOYD: GRANTCHESTER MEADOWS, UK 2016, and pro­duced HARD CORE by Walter de Maria, USA 1969. 

Direc­tor: John Coney
Script: Sun Ra, Joshua Smith
Key Cast: Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Ray­mond John­son, Christo­pher Brooks