NEPTUNE FROST
★★★★
OUT NOW / CERT 15 / 105 MINS
DIRECTORS Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman
CAST Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, Bertrand Ninteretse
For their directorial debut, Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman have built an Afrofuturist vision of identity. It focuses on the character of Neptune, as they begin a binary-blasting transitional journey, changing hands between actors Elvis Ngabo and Cheryl Isheja, singing poetic songs to liberate their voice after society has suppressed it. The fluidity of Neptune Frost extends into every dimension of its craft: it is set in Burundi but shot in Rwanda; the songs and dialogue weave between Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Swahili, French and English. It moves visually between natural landscapes to digital ones, from spiritual calm to neon-coloured urban junk. Neptune Frost finds cohesion in its messiness, throwing everything it can into being different — yet always recognisably human.