December 8th-13th

We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

December 9th, 2010

Fred Hampton

Dir. Videofreex & Video Data Bank, 1969, 30 mins.

At the luxurious Chicago home of Lucy Montgomery, the radical video collective Videofreex conducted this interview of Fred Hampton a month before his brutal murder by Chicago police. Though he was only twenty-one years old at the time Fred Hampton, head of the Illinois chapter of the BPP, speaks articulately and with passion about the Breakfast Club and free health clinic that the BPP was setting up in Chicago. He also talks about the Chicago conspiracy trial, the Weathermen and the dangers that face him.

8:15pm

Black Revolutionary-George Jackson

91 mins.

This documentary recounts the extraordinary life of George Jackson, who like the Angola 3, became an influential member of the BPP while in prison.  In 1970 he was accused of killing a prison guard and placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day where he managed to read hundreds of books and write two books “Blood in my Eye” and “Soledad Brother” that were both international best sellers. He was assassinated in 1971 for allegedly trying to escape. The film also covers his funeral proceedings.

Q&A with May Jackson & Thomas “Blood” McCeary (BPP New York State Chapter)

December 10th, 2010

Eldridge Cleaver - Black Panther

Theme: Unite to Fight

Dir. William Klein, 1970, 75 min.

The time is 1969 and reporter William Klein is in Algeria covering the pan-African festival. While there he conducts a riveting interview with Black Panther in exile Eldridge Cleaver about everything ranging from the Vietnam War and the attempts on Cleaver’s life to the relations between black-power groups and Pan-African movements worldwide. This movie is the record of that interview.

8:15pm

Aoki

Dir. Ben Wang and Mike Cheng, 2009, 94 mins.

One of the best-kept secrets in the history of the Black Panther Party is the life of Richard Aoki, which is the subject of this documentary. Richard Aoki, who was placed in a Japanese interment camp along with his family when he was only four years old, grew up in Oakland, went to Berkeley and eventually joined the Black Panthers where he rose to become a field marshal, a Third World Liberation Front leader and a professor.

“Aoki” Q&A with “The Artist” Emory Douglas (Minister of Culture BPP) and co-directors Ben Wang and Mike Cheng.

Followed by Reception with music sponsored by Sugar Hill Ale.

December 11th, 2010

Cointelpro 101

Dir. Andres Alegria, Prentis Hemphill, Anita Johnson, 2010, 90 min.

This movie is a straight-up educational documentary about COINTELPRO (counter intelligence program) which was a covert and often extra-legal war waged against various nationalist, anti-war and leftist movements by the FBI that involved in turn various modes of surveillance, framings and assassinations. The documentary includes interviews with Kathleen Cleaver and Ward Churchill.

Q&A with Ward Churchill.

7:00pm

In the Land of the Free

Dir. Vadim Jean, 2010, 84 min.

This 2010 documentary (narrated by Samuel L. Jackson) is about the Angola 3, three prisoners who while serving their time in Angola State Prison (the United States’ most notorious penal colony) joined the BPP and participated in non- violent resistance campaigns protesting the terrible conditions, prisoner abuse and sexual slavery rampant inside the prison. As a result, they were falsely accused of murder while in prison and have all been, with the exception of Robert King who was released in 2001, serving the last 38 years in solitary confinement.

Followed by party and book signing with King Wilkerson sponsored by Sugar Hill Ale.

December 13th, 2010

New Haven Oral History

This fascinating film deals with young students in New Haven who seek to uncover for themselves the important history of the Black Panthers in New Haven. When their teacher gives them an oral history assignment the topic they choose to investigate is the 1970 New Haven Black Panther trails. The movie is fascinating it how it looks at the legacy of the Black Panthers, the role of the youth in continuing the struggle as well as the importance of history, how we view it and the various ways that it can survive.

Q&A with Rosemari Mealy of the New Haven Chapter and others TBA                                

8:30pm

In Prison My Whole Life

Marc Evans, 2007, 90 min.

The title “In Prison My Whole Life” refers to the writer and producer of the film William Francome and how Mumia Abu- Jamal has been on death row all of his then twenty-five year long life. The movie, featuring interviews with the likes of Noam Chomsky, Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Amy Goodman, Snoop Dog and Mos Def, explores the issue of Mumia through the personal journey of William Francome as he seeks to explore for himself the life and case of Mumia Abu- Jamal.