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Neptune Frost (2021) is a US-Rwandan science fiction musical co-directed by the husband-wife team of Saul Williams and Rwandan Anisia Uzeyman. It stars Cheryl Isheja, Elvis Ngabo, Eliane Umuhire and Kaya Free.
The film features an original score and album titled "Unanimous Goldmine", also by Saul Williams. Filmed in Rwanda and set in Burundi, the story follows a cosmic romance between an intersex hacker and a coltan miner. It unfolds in the past, present, and future and the aftermath of the nation's civil war. The musical addresses themes of gender identity, colonialism, authoritarianism, and the connective thread of technology. According to Williams:
“This project was conceived as a musical. And for me, the first step in trying to envision this world was to envision the sounds that belonged to it. That was the first step, then writing to and around those sounds. So the story, the characters, much of it really was pulled from the music. I’ve been going to the music thinking of the story. One of the earliest songs for the project was a song called “Burundi,” which was my first take in trying to map out the synopsis, and it happened in a song. From there, we were able to pull ideas, and then other songs would be written and we would say, “What character does this belong to? Whose voice is this? Who’s singing?”
The film debuted at the 2020 Cannes and was well-received by critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 86 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.70/10.