IN CINEMA
THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR
Co-presented with the Black Panther Party Commemoration Committee
Tickets: $15 General Admission / $7 Reduced Price
Friday, August 23rd – Thursday, August 29th
Ivan Dixon, 1973, 102 min.
With Lawrence Cook, J.A. Preston, Janet League, Paula Kelly
One of the most radical, revolutionary statements in film history, Ivan Dixon’s explosive adaptation of the novel by Sam Greenlee follows the fictional first Black CIA agent (Cook), who uses his specialized training to build a guerrilla army intent on government overthrow. So potent is the film’s call to revolution that it was pulled from theaters within days of opening.
In partnership with BAM Cinema and The Film Desk, Maysles Documentary Center is thrilled to present this long-unavailable masterwork of American cinema, a treasured classic and 2012 National Film Registry selection. The film screens nightly at 7PM from Friday 8/23 – Thursday 8/29.
Restored by The Library of Congress and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Special thanks to Jennifer Ahn, Margaret Bodde and Kristen Merola/The Film Foundation, Heather Linville and Mike Mashon/Library of Congress.
Post-screening discussion:
The Black Panther Political Party and THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR with veteran Black Panther Party members Sadiki "Bro. Shep" Olugbala and Claudia Williams, journalist Herb Boyd, and BPPCC moderator by King Downing! The discussion will touch on the Black Panther Political Party’s use of the film to show the methods of the deep state, the Black liberation struggle in action, and to teach independent filmmaking by and for the community.
“The most shocking thing about this unquiet movie is how relevant it remains… this much-mythologized bombshell was conceived in a fury, born in flames and, on its 1973 release, advertised as America’s ‘nightmare.’” — J. Hoberman, The New York Times
“THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR changed my life. There was a sense of, what if we took destiny into our own hands.” — Robert Townsend
