Rwandan-American production Neptune Frost will hold one of its first US premiere at the New York Film Festival.

Slated to take place from September 24 to October 10, the festival, which celebrates outstanding film projects from talented and established artistes in the film industry is returning for its 59th edition.

Neptune Frost will be featured among 32 of the most captivating new feature films for screening under the festival’s Main Slate, selected from over 50 countries worldwide, and the only East African film under this selection.

The film is directed by America’s distinguished multi-disciplinary artiste Saul Williams, and Rwanda’s Anisia Uzeyman. They appear at the festival’s Main Slate for the first time. The 105-minute film stars: Elianne Umuhire, Ekaterina Baker, Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, and Dorcy Rugamba, as the lead cast. It will be screened on October 2 and October 3 at the Alice Tully Hall-Walter Reade Theatre.

The afro-futurist sci-fi punk musical film has visually phenomenal incorporation of themes, ideas, and songs that Williams has explored in his previous works, notably his 2016 Twelve-Song album MartyrLoserKing.

Produced by Ezra Miller, Saul Williams, and Maria Judice, and released in 2021, the film made its debut at the Director’s Fortnight programme 2021 Cannes Film Festival in July.

Shot in Rwanda, the film explores the past and present, dreaming and awakening life, colonised and free, male and female, memory and foresight. The film takes place in the hilltops of Burundi, where tech hackers emerge from within a Coltan mining community, a result of the romance between a miner and an intersex runaway. The film is an energising and empowering exploration of the advancement of African intellectuals and reclaiming technology for progressive political ends.

Neptune Frost is also slated to premiere at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival from September 9 to 18 in Canada.