Hi everyone! 

We've partnered up with MUBI (Abre numa nova janela) and we’re hosting a digital watch party on October 25th to celebrate the premiere release of revered artist Martine Syms (Abre numa nova janela) debut feature film, The African Desperate.

🎨 The film follows Palace Bryant, played by the deadpan Diamond Stingily (Abre numa nova janela), a newly minted MFA grad whose final 24 hours in art school become a hazy, hilarious, and hallucinatory night-long odyssey. The razor sharp satire, ladened with memes and a banging soundtrack, stumbles from academic critiques to parties to backseat hookups.

🧡 Zara Aftab (Abre numa nova janela) sat down with director Martine to talk about campus films, art school cliches and flipping the narrative and starting at the very end of the story. Read the full interview here (Abre numa nova janela).

🧡 Simran Hans (Abre numa nova janela) has penned an essay for us on the film and its scathing take on race, class and snobbery in the art world. Read the full piece here (Abre numa nova janela).

Sign up to MUBI today (Abre numa nova janela) for 30 days free and join us on the 25th of October 7pm GMT to watch The African Desperate along at home with us. Followed by a post-film discussion hosted by our Culture Editor Misha (Abre numa nova janela) going live to discuss the film.

We can't wait to watch with you all!

XOXO,

The Polyester Team 💕