“Organic music” hero Don Cherry plays himself in an odd but brilliant French sci-fi short. The narrative structure of this lesser-known short film by French filmmakers Jean-Noël Delamare, […]
Door of the Cosmos: Watch the teaser for a new Sun Ra documentary featuring Marshall Allen

A new documentary about the Sun Ra Omniverse is currently in production. Support the Kickstarter today!
In partnership with the SUN RA Estate and veteran bandleader, Marshall Allen, SUN RA: Door of the Cosmos will present an immersive aural and visual journey through the SUN RA Omniverse.
Though exhaustively studied and recorded, musician, bandleader, “vaudeville surrealist” and innovator, SUN RA remains one of the 20th Century’s most mysterious and misunderstood geniuses. SUN RA: Door Of the Cosmos will be the first historically complete portrait of the origin, impact and living legacy of SUN RA and his ARKESTRA. Part oral history, part audio-visual feast, and concert performance, Door Of the Cosmos will bring the 60-year history of the Arkestra together with a meditative sensory experience and incorporating interviews, poetry-readings, philosophical musings and other artifacts the documentary team has been granted access to by the SUN RA Estate for the first time.
This includes extensive time with 100 year old ARKESTRA maestro Marshall Allen, as well as interviews with: ARKESTRA trombonist, Dick Griffin; saxophonist, Jim Newman; producer and Impulse! Records exec, Ed Michel; engineer Baker Bigsby; ARKESTRA dancer and vocalist, Judith Wisteria Holten; and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. Up next are past ARKESTRA members Al & Ruth Wright, photographer Ming Smith and percussionist Ken Moshesh. And this is only the beginning.
Directed by Drew DeNicola (BIG STAR: Nothing Can Hurt Me), the landmark documentary is currently in pre-production and seeking support through a Kickstarter campaign. The Kickstarter funds will support completing the narrative portion of the film with the hope being to surpass the goal and begin producing high-concept cinematic vignettes and original photography to fulfill the grand vision of an immersive aural/visual theatrical experience. This includes the desire to commission the entire ARKESTRA for a special live performance.
Support the Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sunradoc/sun-ra-door-of-the-cosmos
By supporting the making of this first historically complete portrait of the origin, impact and living legacy of SUN RA and his ARKESTRA, you will be supporting expedited travel for the documentary team to both capture interviews and gather archives from the musicians, dancers, and other contributors to the ARKESTRA still living. If that’s not enough of a reason, Space is the Place producer, Jim Newman, has loaned over 400 35mm slides from behind the scenes of the making of the film in 1972. The organizers of the campaign are offering supporters limited-edition prints by Silhouette Studio. These images have been professionally cleaned and will be hand-cut and numbered. See one of the amazing slides below…

Revisit our feature Saturn Research: The Art of Sun Ra.