SUN RA: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE with Director Christine Turner - Screening & Discussion

• Venue: Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)

• Address: 685 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105, United States

• Dates and Times: Thursday, January 8, 2026, from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM

• Host: MoAD

• Collaborators:

  • Christine Turner (Director & Producer): A filmmaker known for her portraits of artists, activists, and everyday people. Her works include the Academy Award-nominated short documentary The Barber of Little Rock, J’Nai Bridges Unamplified, Lynching Postcards: ‘Token of a Great Day’, Homegoings, Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business, and Paint & Pitchfork.
  • Max Jefferson (PhD candidate in Musicology at UC Berkeley): A 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellow. Her work focuses on Black music histories from an insider perspective. Her forthcoming 2026 article, "Sun Ra’s Space Program: Resituating ‘The Forefather of Afrofuturism’," recontextualizes Sun Ra as a political actor.

• Activity Description: Join MoAD for a screening and discussion of SUN RA: DO THE IMPOSSIBLE, a new documentary about the visionary jazz musician, composer, and poet Sun Ra. The film is a kaleidoscopic portrait exploring the musical, historical, and philosophical currents that shaped him.

  Sun Ra, a poet, philosopher, Egyptologist, and bandleader, with his ever-evolving Sun Ra Arkestra, produced over 200 albums. He expanded the boundaries of free-form jazz, integrating ancient Egypt, interstellar metaphors, and scientific musings into a unique Afrofuturist musical and spiritual vision. Director Christine Turner's film takes viewers on an illuminating journey through Sun Ra's life, featuring recollections from Arkestra members and dancers, insightful interviews with music scholars, and unforgettable film and performance footage of Sun Ra. The documentary offers an informative, inspiring, and mind-bending portrait of an artist whose audacious vision, otherworldly imagination, and uncompromising artistry influenced jazz and the cultural landscape of the 20th century and beyond.

  The screening will be followed by a conversation between Director & Producer Christine Turner and Max Jefferson.

• Additional Information: This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition "UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe," which is on view through August 16, 2026.