MoAD & SFMOMA present a screening of MAMI WATA (C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, 107 minutes, 2023. In West African Pidgin English with English subtitles), followed by a post screening discussion with LIMITLESS curator Cornelius Moore in conversation with UC Santa Barbara professor Jude Akudinobi.

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MoAD’s groundbreaking exhibition UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe invites audiences to experience Blackness as expansive, limitless, and cosmic, reaching beyond the boundaries of Earth into space, time, and imagination.

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In dialogue, with the exhibition, the Limitless film series brings together award-winning films from across the African Diaspora, including the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, the Caribbean, French Guiana, Nigeria, and Zambia. Spanning narrative, documentary, and experimental work, these films explore speculative futures, ancestral memory, science fiction, African mythology, and visionary figures such as Octavia Butler and George Clinton.

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Together, the exhibition and film series offer an invitation to think beyond constraint and to imagine new possibilities for being, becoming, and belonging. Select screenings will feature guest filmmakers and speakers, offering audiences a chance to engage more deeply with the stories and ideas shaping this dynamic cinematic experience.

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About the Film

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Mami Wata is the all-powerful water goddess worshipped in parts of Africa and among the African Diaspora in the Americas. In the oceanside village of Iyi, the revered Mama Efe acts as an intermediary between the people and the water deity. One day a mysterious rebel fighter appears and creates conflict in the village. The film’s stunning black and white cinematography film won a special award at Sundance.

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Mami Wata Trailer

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About the Speaker

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Dr. Jude G. Akudinobi is a Lecturer in the Black Studies Department at UC Santa Barbara. He earned his PhD in Cinema-Television from the University of Southern California. His works on African cinema have appeared in 'Iris', 'The Black Scholar', 'Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art', 'Social Identities', 'Third Text', 'Research in African Literatures', 'Meridians', 'Visual Anthropology Review', amongst other publications and anthologies.

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Dr. Akudinobi, whose research interests span the complexities of post-colonial literatures, cultural politics, media and cinematic representations, merges theory with practice through poetry, fiction, screenplays, and experimentations with the expressive capacities of the cinematic medium. President of the Advisory Board for African Voices Cinema Series, he has consulted for production companies, reviewed for scholarly journals and presses, served on film festival juries, delivered keynote lectures, and been a special guest at various distinguished workshops, seminars, and conferences.

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His expertise has, also, featured in national and international media, like CNN Headline News, The Dr. Phil Show, Nigerian Television Authority, The Chicago Tribune, The Guardian (Nigeria), The Age (Australia) and El Mercurio (Chile).

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