Wed, Nov 2, 7:00 pm
ICE Theaters Lawndale
3330 W Roosevelt Road
Thursday, Nov 3, 7:00 pm
ICE Theaters Chatham
210 W 87th Street
icetheaters.com | blackworldcinema.net
Admission: $5.00
Black Power Mixtape: 1967-1975, 2011, Sweden
A film by Göran Hugo Olsson
45 Min Panel DIscussion After the film.
At the end of the Sixties and into the early Seventies, European interest in the US Civil Rights Movement and the US anti-war movement peaked. With a combination of commitment and naivet?, Swedish filmmakers traveled across the Atlantic to explore the Black Power Movement, which was being alternately ignored or portrayed in the US media as a violent, nascent terrorist movement.
Despite the obstacles they were confronted with, both from the conservative white American power establishment and from radicalized Movement members themselves, the Swedish filmmakers did not cease their investigation and ultimately formed bonds with key figures in the Movement, based on their common objective of realizing equal rights for all. In the Black Power Mixtape filmmaker G?ran Olsson brings this newly discovered footage to light and introduces it to a new generation across the world in a penetrating examination – through the lens of Swedish filmmakers – of the Black Power Movement from 1967-75, and its worldwide resonance.
That the film is told from the Swedish perspective lends it a unique advantage – it establishes the era, place and its perspective cleanly and clearly, and without bringing the kind of loaded assumptions or baggage to the subject matter that have long kept the story of the Movement from mainstream discussion. Where the earlier US Civil Rights Movement has been recognized if somewhat sanitized, the Black Power Movement has been historically vilified on the one hand and fetishized on the other. Its legacy has not been properly contextualized, and its influence on other liberation struggles and political movements has been virtually erased. The film emphasizes intimate and reflective moments with the intention of situating the Movement both in its domestic and international context, while at the same time introducing contemporary perspectives on its successes and failures, its resonance and importance today.
Filmed interviews include such figures as Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and Angela Davis when she was in prison, as well as footage from Lars Ulvestam’s televised film Harlem: Voices, Faces. (When that film aired in Sweden, the embarrassed US Ambassador to Sweden demanded and was granted airtime on Swedish Television to explain away the film’s “many flaws”.)
Audio interviews with key contemporary figures complement the archival and create a formal mosaic that is uplifting and moving in its impact, introducing a new generation to a dynamic progressive movement for change. Utilizing an innovative format that riffs on the popular 70s ‘mixtape’, the Black Power Mixtape film is a cinematic and musical journey into the ghettos of America that features some of the country’s most innovative recording artists.
At its heart, The Black Power Mixtape is a story about empowerment. It’s a moving and inspirational vehicle that takes the audience on a journey through the specific time period of 1967-1975 and the pressing issues of concern then (the Vietnam war, failing public schools, drug addiction, record levels of incarceration, extreme poverty, lack of government accountability and the pervasiveness of structural racism) while at the same time organically provoking deep questions about where Americans find themselves and the country today.
Including appearances by:
Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture)
Eldridge Cleaver
Kathleen Cleaver
Bobby Seale
Huey P. Newton
Emile de Antonio
William Kunstler
Angela Davis
Including audio commentary by:
Erykah Badu
Harry Belafonte
Kathleen Cleaver
Angela Davis
John Forté
Robin Kelley
Talib Kweli
Abiodun Oyewole
Melvin Van Peebles
Sonia Sanchez
Bobby Seale
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson
Black World Cinema, a showcase of seldom seen classic features and new films from around the world. Black World Cinema presents films by filmmakers that bring us story with compelling content and a human dimension seldom presented in mainstream cinema.
All screenings are followed by lively discussions moderated by program director Floyd Webb or local scholars, screenwriters and directors.
Screenings occur the first Wednesday at
ICE Theaters Lawndale
3330 W Roosevelt Road
And first Thursday of every month at
ICE Theaters Chatham 14
210 W. 87th Street
Chicago, IL
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