The Magic City: Birmingham according to Sun Ra (2025): Presented by Steppin' Into Tomorrow

Together with Amsterdam's music platform Steppin' Into Tomorrow, Melkweg explores the early years of Sun Ra. Before he became world-famous as an Afro-futurist pioneer of 'space jazz', he was born as Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama. The Belgian documentary The Magic City - Birmingham According to Sun Ra, by filmmakers Guillaume Maupin and Pablo Guarise, reveals how this lesser-known music city shaped the visionary in his formative years.

Maupin and Guarise actively involved Birmingham and its residents in telling this story - not only Sun Ra's, but also that of their own community. A legacy of slavery, segregation and racism is inevitably present, but Sun Ra's gaze remained fixed on a more harmonious future. As he says at the beginning of the film: "My story is not part of history. Because history repeats itself, but my story is endless."

Note: Melkweg regularly hosts multiple programmes simultaneously, such as concerts and club nights. During the screening, there may occasionally be noise from other rooms.