Thurs, June 5th, 7pm Sam Greenlee: The Struggle and Solutions for an Essential Political Cinema

Thursday, June 5, 7pm
Black World Cinema
Studio Movie Grill Chatham
210 W 87th Street
Admission: $6.00

Honoring Sam Greenlee and Ivan Dixon
Sam Greenlee: The Struggle and Solutions  for an Essential Political Cinema
featuring a screening of the classic film
The Spook Who Sat by the Door and a panel discussion on the film with Pemon Rami, David Lemieux, Peter Kuttner, Nina Paley, and Judith McCray, discussing problems, challenges, possible solutions and alternatives to producing political content in American cinema; potential solutions through digital production, distribution and creative commons copyright.  A focus on financing, producing and distributing the films we want to see.
with

Pemon Rami
Pemon Rami, the Director of Educational Services and Public Programs at the DuSable Museum of African American History has been involved in the development of television productions, films, music concerts, documentaries, plays, and multimedia designs for theatres, social service agencies and medical institutions across the country since the late 1960’s.

A native of Chicago, Pemon was cast in a reccurring role on the weekly TV series “Bird of the Iron Feather.” Produced by Chicago public television station WTTW, Bird was television’s first black soap opera. In 1972 Pemon was requested by Sam Greenlee to play the role of Shorty Duncan in his feature film “The Spook Who Sat By The Door which he informed Rami he had written with him in mind.

A former film casting director, Rami provided talent for the acclaimed feature films and television movies; “Blues Brothers”, Mahogany”, “Cooley High”, “The Spook Who Sat By The Door”, “Dummy”, “ The Monkey Hustle” Welcome To Success” (the Marva Collins Story) and “One In A Million”.

In 2011, Pemon produced the feature film “Of Boys and Men” starring Angela Bassett Robert Townsend and Victoria Rowell released by Warner Brothers Home Video in celebration of Black history month, 2011.

In 2013 Mr. Rami was selected an Illinois Humanities Road Scholars and One of the Chicago Defenders 50 Men of Excellence 2013/14.
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Daveed Lemieux
David ( pronounced Daveed) Lemieux has been a member of Chicagos’ activist community for over 40yrs..At age 16 in 1969, he was the second youngest member in the Ill Chapter of the Black Panther Party. David was not an “actor” when given the opportunity by Sam Greenlee, at age 19, to appear in the revolutionary film, The Spook Who Sat By The Door” David is always quick to say he “wasn’t acting.”In 1982, David began a 26yr career with the Chicago Police Department where he used his position and authority as a vehicle to serve the people.

David was the subject of a short film “From Black Panther to Homicide Cop” which was produced and directed by Dusable Museums own Pemon Rami and Masequa Meyers. Currently, David gives seminars facilitated by The Black Star Project entitled “Keeping Our Children Out Of “The Just US” System. ” He is active with the Ill Chapter Black Panther Party History Project and other efforts committed to preserving our true history and the continuation of our struggle.
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Peter Kuttner
For almost 50 years, Peter Kuttner has worked in mainstream and alternative media. He began his career in 1965 working for WTTW, Chicago’s Public Television station. Hiscredits there include Ladybird, Ladybird Fly Away Home,Your House Is On Fire, a political satire, Other Fields, 
Other Fruits, dramatic readings ofBlack poetry with poet Arna Bontemps and Pull your pants up! In Here. an experiment in African ­American programming which led to the better ­known Our People.

Leaving Chicago in 1967, he joined Newsreel, a New York documentary collective making and distributingfilms on the Peace, Black Power, and Women’s 
Movements. As they expanded to other cities, Kuttner returned to Chicago. When, on April 27, 1968 a peaceful rally calling to “Stop the War in Vietnam / Stop Racism at Home” was brutally attacked by a Diy Film-Chicago police force still amped up from Mayor Richard J.Daley’s “shoot to kill” order three weeks earlier, in response to community reaction to the asssination of Dr.King, the recently formed Chicago Newsreel was there. The actions of the police in the film April 27 predicts the actions of the police
in the street August 28, 1968 when antiwar protesters were famously attacked in Grant Park and on Michigan Avenue during the Democratic convention.

In 1972, he helped to organize the Kartemquin Films collective, another group of social issue documentary filmmakers. His work there, including Trick Bag, Now We Live on Clifton, and UE/Wells, discusses issues of race in Chicago’s neighborhood, schools and workplaces. He continues as a Kartemquin Producers Without Borders and Associate.

In the 1994, he collaborated on The End of the Nightstick, a documentary chronicling a successful community campaign to remove Cmdr. Jon Burge from the Chicago Police Department for his role in the torture of arrested suspects. Originally broadcast nationally on PBS, an updated version of the film continues to be shown widely by anti-death penalty, prisoner support and human rights groups. He is currently working on a new documentary project, Peace Street, to be filmed this summer by youth directly affected by the violence in their Chicago neighborhoods.
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Nina Paley
Nina Paley is an American cartoonist, animator and free culture activist. She directed the animated feature film Sita Sings the Blues. She has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to Sita Sings the Blues and is using CC0 — “No Rights Reserved” Since 2009 she is an Artist-in-residence at QuestionCopyright.org non-profit organization, which includes running the projects “Minute Memes” and the “Sita Distribution Project”. Sita Sings the Blues has run in theaters in New York City and elsewhere, and has had steady DVD sales, the film is also freely available online and can be found on Youtube and is available for free for the iPhone. Her film has made over $100k online under “copyleft,” through online donations and sales of promotional items.

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Judith McCray
Judith McCray is a multiple Emmy award-winning writer, director and producer with more than twenty five years of experience in broadcast production and programming. She has developed and produced award-winning programming examining science, history, civil rights, education, politics, racism and violence. Recent public television documentaries include Colorblind: Rethinking Race (2013 Chicago/Midwest Region Emmy Award), Tal Como Somos (Just As We Are) (2008), Constructing Equality (2006), Nubia and the Mysteries of Kush (2003), Amazon Rising: Seasons of the River (2000), For My People: The Life and Writing of Margaret Walker (1999), and Mississippi, America (1996). 

In addition to documentaries, McCray has served as supervising producer for the national cable women’s health series Healthcorner (2003-2004) and the Chicago cable education series CPS Right Now!(2007). For public television and public radio, she has developed and produced a number of specials addressing senior healthcare, education, race, violence, housing, and human rights.

“Based on Sam Greenlee’s controversial novel, THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR is a hard-hitting shocker that depicts a world in which the long-suppressed black man fights back with a vengeance. Director Ivan Dixon’s uncompromising adaptation was relegated to bottom-rung status upon its release, and it subsequently slipped into oblivion for decades until the film was rediscovered and released on DVD in 2004. Lawrence Cook plays Dan Freeman, a head-nodding, smiling African-American who impresses his CIA cohorts with his winning demeanor. What they don’t realize is that Freeman’s friendly facade is nothing more than a mask for a deep seated hatred of white people. When he returns to his Chicago hometown, Freeman uses his newly acquired knowledge to organize an underground militant movement that revolts against the very army that trained him.

Dixon’s matter-of-fact approach to the material makes the film an even more powerful experience. It also manages to transcend the Blaxploitation genre by making a broader statement about the devastating effects of death and war. Featuring an impassioned performance from Cook (COLORS, POSSE), THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR is a frightening, but important, cautionary tale.”

Thursday, June 5, 7pm
Black World Cinema
Studio Movie Grill Chatham
210 W 87th Street

Admission: $6.00

Honoring Sam Greenlee and Ivan Dixon.

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