To Mars and Beyond: Nikki Giovanni and Afrofuturism

Join Poets House at Film Forum for a special screening of Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, followed by a conversation with Cynthia Manick, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry and Poets House Executive Director Rob Arnold. Film Forum is offering discounted admission to all screenings of Going to Mars with the code POETSHOUSE. Click Here to Purchase Tickets.

About the film:

Winner of the 2023 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, directed by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, is an inventive portrait of the poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, that spans revolutionary periods of American history from the Civil Rights Movement through BLM. Imbued with Giovanni’s poetry, this ground-breaking documentary is intercut with her wit, no-nonsense performances, and archival clips like her legendary conversation with James Baldwin. Opening November 3rd, Film Forum is offering discounted admission with the code POETSHOUSE.

About the presenters:

Cynthia Manick is the author of No Sweet Without Brine (Amistad, 2023) which received 5 stars from Roxane Gay, editor of The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry, and author of Blue Hallelujahs. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Château de la Napoule. A storyteller at literary festivals, libraries, universities, and most recently the Brooklyn, Frye, and Rubin museum’s, Manick’s work has been featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day Series, Brooklyn Rail, the Rumpus, and other outlets. She lives in Brooklyn, New York but travels widely for poetry.

Rob Arnold is a CHamoru poet and Executive Director of Poets House. He previously co-founded the literary journal Memorious, and worked with Ploughshares, Fence Books, Beacon Press, PEN New England, The National Poetry Series, the National Endowment for the Arts, Grid Books, and as an agent for Aevitas Creative Management. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Hyphen, Gettysburg Review, Poetry Northwest, RED INK, Yes Poetry, The Ocean State Review, Peripheries, and The Volta, among others. Rob has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received support from the Somerville Arts Council, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and Artist Trust.

Screening presented as part of the Alfred P. Sloan Science on Screen® series, an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theater, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Presented with support from the Richard Brick, Geri Ashur, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries and the Ada Katz Fund for Literature in Film.