Director
Julianknxx
Writer & Executive Producer
Ekow Eshun
Producer
Debo Amon
Executive Producer
Jenny Berglund
Executive Producer
Patrick Bedeau
Executive Producer
Arianna Nourse
In The Black Fantastic explores Black liberation through myth, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Structured as a series of interconnected vignettes—each inspired by or imagined as an African folktale — the film presents a rich, visually arresting tapestry. Through profound conversations with leading Black thinkers, artists, and writers, the film examines how myth, fantasy, and speculation serve as tools to reject the status quo, build new worlds, and assert self-determination toward psychic and social freedom.
The viewer’s journey through the Black Fantastic mirrors that of writer Ekow Eshun, as he travels across three continents. In engaging with contributors, he is drawn toward the epicentre of his ideas and personal history—Ghana. His arrival reveals a landscape where the fantastic merges with the everyday, and the Atlantic’s waters bear witness to what was taken and returned. Each vignette offers a distinct perspective, exploring themes of invocation, migration, liberation, rebirth, and homecoming, while foregrounding the work of artists and writers shaping the visionary terrain of the Black Fantastic across culture, history, and speculative futures.
