Neptune Frost

The directorial debut of poet-musician Saul Williams and actor-playwright Anisia Uzeyman is an exhilarating anti-capitalist sci-fi musical entirely shot in Rwanda.

A vast Rwandan coltan mine and Burundian village-turned-techno-scrapheap hacker encampment set the scene for this non-conforming musical adventure. An electrifying connection between intersex runaway Neptune (Elvis Ngabo and Cheryl Isheja) and coltan miner Matalusa (Kaya Free) create a virtual offspring with the potential to ignite a revolution. The soundtrack, composed by Williams, is our emotional and spiritual guide through overlapping analogue and digital universes, embracing his defiantly experimental, activist and intersectional position.

Blending afro-futuristic and glitch aesthetics, the creative team’s dynamic vision includes art direction from polymath Cedric Mizero (fashion designer, artist, photographer) and producer backing from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of Hamilton and In the Heights. Made with an entirely Rwandan and Burundian cast and crew, Neptune Frost presents an intoxicatingly original way to explore economic inequality specific to this mining region of Africa, and the role of technology as both oppressor and liberator.