Voice of Liberation: Jalil Abdul Mutagim

Saturday, September 27th, 4:00pm

Voice of Liberation: Jalil Abdul Mutaqim

Eve Goldberg and Claude Marks, 2002, 20 min.

Jalil Abdul Muntaqim (formerly Anthony Bottom) was 19 years old when he was arrested. He is a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, and is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world. This documentary is a unique opportunity to hear Jalil's story. While in San Quentin prison in California in 1976, Jalil launched the National Prisoners Campaign to Petition the United Nations to recognize the existence of political prisoners in the United States and in 1997 Jalil initiated the Jericho Movement. Over 6,000 supporters gathered in the Jericho '98 march in Washington DC and the Bay Area to demand amnesty for US political prisoners on the basis of international law. The Jericho Amnesty Movement aims to gain the recognition by the U.S. government and the United Nations that political prisoners exist in this country and that on the basis of international law, they should be granted amnesty because of the political nature of their cases.

Manufacturing Guilt

Stephen Vittoria, 2013, 40 min.

Manufacturing Guilt, the short film from Stephen Vittoria, producer and director of Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary, takes on the colossus of Abu-Jamal's contentious case, distilling a mountain of evidence and years of oft-repeated falsehoods to the most fundamental elements of police and prosecutorial misconduct that illustrate a clear and conscious effort to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of patrolman Daniel Faulkner. Based on the actual record of investigations and court filings from 1995 to 2003—evidence denied by the courts and ignored in the press--Manufacturing Guilt cuts through the years of absurdities and overt racism to produce a clear picture of how Abu-Jamal's guilt was manufactured and his innocence suppressed beginning only moments after he and Faulkner were found shot in the early morning hours of December 9th, 1981. This historic and courageous film is the perfect companion to Long Distance Revolutionary —a film that is unequivocal in its force regarding Abu-Jamal's innocence..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUBlyRdAGTM

Mountains That Take Wing: Angela Davis & Yuri Kochiyama

C.A. Griffith & H.L.T. Quan, 2009, 97 min.

Mountains That Take Wing features conversations that span 13 years between two formidable women whose lives and political work remain at the epicenter of the most important civil rights struggles in the US. Through the intimacy and depth of conversations, we learn about Davis, an internationally renowned scholar-activist and 88-year-old Kochiyama, a revered grassroots community activist and 2005 Nobel Peace Prize nominee's shared experiences as political prisoners and their profound passion for justice. On subjects ranging from the vital but largely erased role of women in social movements of the 20th century, community empowerment, to the prison industrial complex, war and the cultural arts, Davis' and Kochiyama's comments offer critical lessons for understanding our nation's most important social movements and tremendous hope for its youth and the future.

Q&A with Q&A Rachel Wolkenstein, legal consultant, and Keith Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's Brother and moderated by BPP Member Shabaom.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJik3l2vb1g&list=PLHWcXOdPg3tJ9GSMtZ6iBaUnyMI3_En-S&index=5

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/868726

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/705014159577246/

7:00pm

But You Can’t Kill a Revolution

17 min.

A TV network investigation team visits a small Louisiana town to film racial profiling and the police killing of an unarmed grandfather on his porch. There they find out that the town is also home to the grave of Black Panther Party Leader, Fred Hampton, and the dynamic Illinois State Chapter Chairman. Hampton was killed in an illegal Chicago police raid in 1969. Activists around the world remember "Chairman Fred", but so does the Klu Klux Klan. "You can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution! You can kill a revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution!!!“ - Fred Hampton

Manufacturing Guilt

Stephen Vittoria, 2013, 40 min.

Manufacturing Guilt, the short film from Stephen Vittoria, producer and director of Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary, takes on the colossus of Abu-Jamal's contentious case, distilling a mountain of evidence and years of oft-repeated falsehoods to the most fundamental elements of police and prosecutorial misconduct that illustrate a clear and conscious effort to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of patrolman Daniel Faulkner. Based on the actual record of investigations and court filings from 1995 to 2003—evidence denied by the courts and ignored in the press--Manufacturing Guilt cuts through the years of absurdities and overt racism to produce a clear picture of how Abu-Jamal's guilt was manufactured and his innocence suppressed beginning only moments after he and Faulkner were found shot in the early morning hours of December 9th, 1981. This historic and courageous film is the perfect companion to Long Distance Revolutionary —a film that is unequivocal in its force regarding Abu-Jamal's innocence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUBlyRdAGTM

Let the Fire Burn

Jason Osder, 2013, 95 Min.

A history of the conflict of the City of Philadelphia and the Black Liberation organization, MOVE, that led to the disastrously violent final confrontation in 1985. In the astonishingly gripping Let the Fire Burn, director Jason Osder has crafted that rarest of cinematic objects: a found-footage film that unfurls with the tension of a great thriller. On May 13, 1985, a longtime feud between the city of Philadelphia and controversial radical urban group MOVE came to a deadly climax. By order of local authorities, police dropped military-grade explosives onto a MOVE-occupied rowhouse. TV cameras captured the conflagration that quickly escalated—and resulted in the tragic deaths of eleven people (including five children) and the destruction of 61 homes. It was only later discovered that authorities decided to “...let the fire burn.” Using only archival news coverage and interviews, first-time filmmaker Osder has brought to life one of the most tumultuous and largely forgotten clashes between government and citizens in modern American history.

Q&A with Ramona Africa, activist and Move bombing survivor and Keith Cook, Mumia Abu-Jamal's brother and moderated by BPP Member Shabaom.

Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoEGEHoMdLI&index=3&list=PLHWcXOdPg3tJ9GSMtZ6iBaUnyMI3_En-S

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/868736

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/705014159577246/


 

Sixth Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival: Bet You Can't Kill a Revolution

Friday, September 19th, 7:30pm

Saturday, September 20th, 4:00pm

Continuing Ed Presents: Back to School With The Prep School Negro

Back By Popular Demand!

The Prep School Negro

André Robert Lee, 2012, 71 min.

André Robert Lee and his sister grew up in the ghettos of Philadelphia. Their mother struggled to support them by putting strings in the waistbands of track pants and swimsuits in a local factory. When Andre was 14 years old, he received what his family believed to be a golden ticket – a full scholarship to attend one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country.  Elite education was Andre’s way up and out, but at what price?  Yes, the exorbitant tuition was covered, but this new world cost him and his family much more than anyone could have anticipated.

In The Prep School Negro, André takes a journey back in time to revisit the events of his adolescence while also spending time with current day prep school students of color and their classmates to see how much has really changed inside the ivory tower. What he discovers along the way is the poignant and unapologetic truth about who really pays the consequences for yesterday’s accelerated desegregation and today’s racial naiveté.

The screening on Friday, September 19th at 7:30pm will be followed by a Q&A with director André Robert Lee and writer Ayana Mathis.

The screening on Saturday, September 20th at 4:00pm will be followed by a Q&A with director André Robert Lee and scholar Paul M. Farber.

Ayana Mathis is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of the2014-15 New York Public Library's Cullman Center Fellowship. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, her first novel, a New York Times Bestseller and a 2013 New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2013, was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as the second selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

Paul M. Farber is a scholar of American and Urban Studies. He has a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan, and currently is a Postdoctoral Writing Fellow at Haverford College. He is the curator of the exhibition, The Wall in Our Heads: American Artists and the Berlin Wall for the Goethe-Institut Washington DC, opening in October 2014, and is co-curator of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage-funded public history project, Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia,slated for Spring 2015. He also has contributed essays and helped produce several photography books including This Is the Day: The March on Washington (Getty Publications, 2013). @paul_farber

Continuing Ed is on-going series presenting films and speakers in order to advance discussion about the future of education and education reform.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbpVKZYWNQc

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/861570

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1533340073563809

Continuing Ed Presents: Back to School With The Prep School Negro

Friday, September 19th, 7:30pm

Saturday, September 20th, 4:00pm

Continuing Ed Presents: Back to School With The Prep School Negro

Back By Popular Demand!

The Prep School Negro

André Robert Lee, 2012, 71 min.

André Robert Lee and his sister grew up in the ghettos of Philadelphia. Their mother struggled to support them by putting strings in the waistbands of track pants and swimsuits in a local factory. When Andre was 14 years old, he received what his family believed to be a golden ticket – a full scholarship to attend one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country.  Elite education was Andre’s way up and out, but at what price?  Yes, the exorbitant tuition was covered, but this new world cost him and his family much more than anyone could have anticipated.

In The Prep School Negro, André takes a journey back in time to revisit the events of his adolescence while also spending time with current day prep school students of color and their classmates to see how much has really changed inside the ivory tower. What he discovers along the way is the poignant and unapologetic truth about who really pays the consequences for yesterday’s accelerated desegregation and today’s racial naiveté.

The screening on Friday, September 19th at 7:30pm will be followed by a Q&A with director André Robert Lee and writer Ayana Mathis.

The screening on Saturday, September 20th at 4:00pm will be followed by a Q&A with director André Robert Lee and scholar Paul M. Farber.

Ayana Mathis is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a recipient of the2014-15 New York Public Library's Cullman Center Fellowship. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, her first novel, a New York Times Bestseller and a 2013 New York Times Notable Book of the Year 2013, was chosen by Oprah Winfrey as the second selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

Paul M. Farber is a scholar of American and Urban Studies. He has a PhD in American Culture from the University of Michigan, and currently is a Postdoctoral Writing Fellow at Haverford College. He is the curator of the exhibition, The Wall in Our Heads: American Artists and the Berlin Wall for the Goethe-Institut Washington DC, opening in October 2014, and is co-curator of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage-funded public history project, Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia,slated for Spring 2015. He also has contributed essays and helped produce several photography books including This Is the Day: The March on Washington (Getty Publications, 2013). @paul_farber

Continuing Ed is on-going series presenting films and speakers in order to advance discussion about the future of education and education reform.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbpVKZYWNQc

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/861570

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1533340073563809

Doc Watchers

Thursday, September 18th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers

Curated by Hellura Lyle

The New Black

Yoruba Richen, 2013, 74 min.

The New Black tells the story of how the African-American community is grappling with the gay rights issue in light of the recent gay marriage movement and the fight over civil rights. The film documents activists, families and clergy on both sides of the campaign to legalize gay marriage and examines homophobia in the black community’s institutional pillar—the black church and reveals the Christian right wing’s strategy of exploiting this phenomenon in order to pursue an anti-gay political agenda

Followed by Q&A with Director Yoruba Richen.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX4XiTSuuF0

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/830370

(Preceded by…)  Flying Solo: A Transgender Widow Fights Discrimination

Leslie Von Pless, 2014, 8 min.

At 92, Robina Asti, a World War II veteran and pilot, tells her story of living as a transgender woman since 1976 and her fight to be treated like any other widow.

Post-screening reception sponsored by Harlem Pride.

Fostering fellowship and informed discussion within Harlem’s LGBT community.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/274739146060336/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/830370

The 2014 New York Film Festival Opening Act Series

Monday, September 15th, 7:30pm

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Maysles Cinema Present:

The 2014 New York Film Festival Opening Act Series (September 15th – 25th)

The week before the festival kicks off, revisit landmark films from international filmmakers whose newest works will be showcased in the upcoming 52nd New York Film Festival. On Monday, September 15th The Film Society & Maysles Cinema will present the Maysles brothers iconic documentary Salesman followed by a special short sneak preview of Iris, which is having its world premiere in the 52nd NYFF.  A conversation between Albert Maysles and Kent Jones, Director of The New York Film Festival will follow the screening.

Salesman

Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, 1968, 91 mins.

In 1968, the Maysles Brothers directed Salesman, a character study/portrait of four traveling Bible salesmen. Salesman is widely considered to be one of the purest examples of direct cinema, with its unflinching and intrusive look at working class America. Equal parts heartbreaking and humorous, Salesman follows the men from rejection to rejection, as sales are down and pressures are up. In 1992, Salesman was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJIqZ9OLbRY

Followed by:

A short preview of Iris

The great documentarian Albert Maysles recently celebrated his 87th birthday, but he and his ever flexible and responsive camera eye are still as fresh as a daisy. His latest film is also a character study/portrait, this time about fashion-and interior-design maven Iris Apfel, who is herself just south of 94 and remains the picture of a saleswoman who continues to enjoy great success, as she celebrates the late wave of popularity she enjoyed on the heels the Met’s 2006 exhibition of her collection of often affordably priced fashion accessories. Maysles, who pops up from time to time as a cheerful on-camera presence, follows Iris as she makes selections for the touring exhibition, advises young women on their fashion choices, and bargains with store owners, usually in the company of her husband of 66 years, Carl, who recently turned 100. Iris’s resilience is a wonder to behold, never more so than when she dismisses the idea of being “pretty”—for her, the only thing that matters is style.

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/45590129

A conversation between Albert Maysles and Kent Jones, Director of The New York Film Festival will follow the screening.

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/859519

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/492681230868543

Thursday, September 11th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers & African Film Festival Present:

God Loves Uganda

Roger Ross Williams, 2013, 83 min.

As an American-influenced bill to make homosexuality punishable by death wins widespread support, tension in Uganda mounts and an atmosphere of murderous hatred takes hold. God Loves Uganda explores the role of the American evangelical movement in Uganda, where American missionaries have been credited with not only building schools and hospitals, but also promoting dangerous religious bigotry, God Loves Uganda is a provocative and harrowing exploration of religious fundamentalism in the post-colonial world.

Followed by Q&A with Editor Benjamin Gray.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3_hKv4pEM4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/274739146060336/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/830354

(Preceded by…)  One Year Lease

Brian Bolster, 2014, 11 min.

Told almost entirely through voice mail messages, One Year Lease documents the travails of Brian, Thomas, and Casper as they endure a year-long sentence with Rita, the cat-loving landlady.

Post-screening reception sponsored by Harlem Pride.

Fostering fellowship and informed discussion within Harlem’s LGBT community.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/274739146060336/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/830354

Jazz on Film: Old Man Bebo

Tuesday, September 9th, 7:00pm

Jazz on Film: Old Man Bebo

Curated by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem

Carlos Carcas, 2008, 111 min.

In connection with the exhibit Bebo Valdes: His Music. His Cuba. His Legacy, the National Jazz Museum In Harlem Presents a screening of Old Man Bebo, a documentary by Carlos Carcas, featuring Bebo Valdés, Chucho Valdés, the Valdés families, Omara Portuondo, Pío Leyva, Israel López "Cachao," Guillermo Álvarez Guedes, Paquito D'Rivera, Fernando Trueba, Cesar Portillo De La Luz, Ángel Díaz, Leonardo Acosta. Preceded by a brief introduction by Ned Sublette and a brief Q & A after.

Ned Sublette is the author of several books, including "Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo" (Chicago Review Press), and is a musician whose recordings include Kiss You Down South (Postmambo). He is the founder of the Center for Postmambo Studies and co-founder of the public radio program Afropop Worldwide Hip Deep.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYKDdFo-iTA

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/843657

Facebook: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/843657

 

Corbin Hill Food Project Presents: Cafeteria Man

Friday, September 5th, 6:00pm

Corbin Hill Food Project Presents: Cafeteria Man

(A Portion of the proceeds will benefit Corbin Hill's reduced-price "Money Match" program.)

6:00pm

A tasting of "school food made delicious!"

7:00pm

Cafeteria Man

Richard Chisholm, 2011, 65 min.

Cafeteria Man is a story of positive movement that shows what's possible in our nation's schools. It’s about the aspiration of activists and citizens coming together to change the way kids eat at school. It’s about overhauling a dysfunctional nutritional system. And, it’s the story of what it takes, and who it takes, to make solutions happen. The film chronicles an ambitious effort to "green" the public-school diet serving 83,000 students in Baltimore -- and later, more than 200,000 students in Memphis. Leading the charge to replace pre-plated, processed foods with locally-grown, freshly-prepared meals is Tony Geraci, food-service director for the city’s public schools. A charismatic chef from New Orleans, Geraci's bold vision includes school vegetable gardens, student-designed meals, and nutrition education in the classroom. His mission is as audacious as it is practical. “This has never been done before,” affirms Geraci, “but it makes perfect sense.”

The film follows Geraci as a central character, introducing audiences to the dynamic assortment of human ingredients necessary for school food reform efforts to succeed. Among the protagonists in this story are parents, teachers, administrators, farmers, chefs, and dozens of creative and motivated students. Over the course of several years, the film traces efforts to make healthy, nutritious meals available to all the city’s students. Viewers watch as inner city youth plant and harvest vegetables at the school system’s 33-acre teaching farm, now  a national model. They witness what it takes to get local produce on school plates. And they watch as high school seniors develop practical job skills through a new citywide culinary vocational training program. “If Tony makes this happen here the way he wants to, I think you’ll see this happening all over the country,” says best-selling author and food activist Michael Pollan in the film.

Panel discussion to follow screening with Cafeteria Man subject Tony Geraci, Barbara Turk, director of food policy for Mayor Bill De Blasio, and Rhys Powell, president/founder, Red Rabbit, ("the #1 health school meal provider in NYC”).

Corbin Hill Farm is a network of rural farms and urban communities in New York. They work with farmer from upstate New York and community groups in New York City to deliver fresh, local produce to Harlem and the Bronx.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hJfyxTMqQo

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/853622

FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/563337967127200/

Doc Watchers

Thursday, September 4th, 7:00pm

Doc Watchers

Curated by Hellura Lyle

Out In the Night

Blair Dorosh-Walther, 2014, 75 min.

Out in the Night is a documentary that tells the story of a group of young African American lesbian friends who are out, one hot August night in 2006, in the gay friendly West Village in New York City. When they are violently and sexually threatened by a man on the street, they defend themselves and are charged and convicted in the courts and in the media as a 'Gang of Killer Lesbians'.

Screening followed by Q&A with Director Blair Dorosh-Walther, and film subjects Renata Hill, Patreese Johnson & Terrain Dandridge.

Trailer: http://vimeo.com/58462469

(Preceded by…)  How To Be A Girl

Directed & Animated by Marlo Mack, 2014, 7min.

When Marlo Mack’s son was three years old, he told his mom that she was actually her daughter.  Three years later, she is the mother of a happy, confident, six-year-old girl.  How To Be A Girl tells the story of how one mother let go of the son she never really had and wound up with a beautiful transgender daughter.

Post-screening reception sponsored by Harlem Pride.

Fostering fellowship and informed discussion within Harlem’s LGBT community.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/274739146060336/

BPT: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/830338