Silo Cinema: Black Panther

Overview

Few events on offer in the City of Sails are free. One venue, however, continues to buck this trend. Silo Park, nestled in Wynyard's bustling and sun-drenched neighbourhood, is doing right by its denizens once again with its free openair Friday night film screenings. Running from 21 December through till 31 March, the lineup for its eighth season is overflowing with film festival favourites and blockbusters alike. Amongst these is Black Panther, the second highest grossing movie of 2018, and perhaps more importantly, an astounding, poignant and prescient work of cinematic art.

Sure, Black Panther's characters' accents feel a little syncretic, as do some of the rites the film articulates, but this is celebratory (the Grace Jones' lookalike warriors, for example) not derogatory 'stereotyping'. In fact, a number of these allusions work as 'in jokes,' performing a coy reversal of how white patriarchal culture excludes others by its use of insular frames of reference. Wakanda, Black Panther's fictional location, is presented as a utopia, yet the film's approach to it is always knowing and self-conscious. On the one hand, Wakanda has clearly thrived because it was not colonised (in the manner of other African nations). On the other, this has both necessitated and resulted in its foreign policy remaining protectionist and isolationist.

And refreshments? Food trucks and a full bar will be open from 5pm, with the film itself beginning at 9pm. Moreover, you can snack happily in the knowledge that your movie munchies are supporting the work of the City Mission — all proceeds from popcorn sales go to this invaluable organisation.