Black Panther Party Film Festival - 1971

Friday, September 25th, 7:00pm
The 7th Annual Black Panther Party Film Festival
(7. * We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people)
Produced by the Black Panther Commemoration Committee, NY
1971

Johanna Hamilton, 2014, 79 min
On March 8th, 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, PA. Calling themselves the Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI, they removed every file in the office. Mailed anonymously, the stolen documents started to show up in newsrooms. The heist yielded a trove of damning evidence. The most significant revelation was COINTELPRO, a controversial, secret, illegal surveillance program overseen by lifelong Bureau director J. Edgar Hoover. Despite one of the largest investigations ever conducted, the FBI was unable to catch the burglars. Those responsible have never revealed their identities. Until now. For the first time the burglars have decided to speak about their actions. 1971 is their story, examining the consequences and implications of their actions - then and now.

Post-screening Q&A with Betty Medsger, Washington Post journalist and the author of “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI.”

Remembering our Political Prisoners over 800 years in Captivity
* 7. of the The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Ten-Point Platform and Program, 1966