President Obama made the first-ever Presidential visit to a federal prison for last night's "Vice" special that took on America's broken criminal justice system, offering an in-depth look into the dire impact the current criminal justice system is having on millions of Americans - especially black Americans. I'm sure we're all familiar with the term "prison industrial complex," which also happens to be the title of a recorded 1997 speech by Angela Davis, later released as an audio CD that served as the basis for her book of the same title. America is home to 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prison population - a prison population...
- 10/21/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
On Friday, gay icon Ann Coulter stopped by The View to share her completely empathetic, nuanced, and non-racist views on immigration. After Coulter called herself a "settler" and said "they founded America, not immigrants," Raven-Symoné, the Angela Davis of The View, responded with, "My mom taught me when I was younger, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all." The audience uproariously cheered to this Bazooka Joe–wrapper wisdom as Symoné continued with, "Why do you think it's important to mudsling?" and asked Coulter why she thinks her success is "based off that."Coulter, however, proved she might be a stealth member of Black Twitter, because her clapback was ferocious: "Well, I'm at least talking about policy. You have a position on what people's names should be. Watermelondrea ... I mean, you'll insult people for their names. I'm talking about a government policy that affects all Americans,...
- 10/16/2015
- by Ira Madison III
- Vulture
President Obama made the first-ever Presidential visit to a federal prison for last night's "Vice" special that took on America's broken criminal justice system, offering an in-depth look into the dire impact the current criminal justice system is having on millions of Americans - especially black Americans. I'm sure we're all familiar with the term "prison industrial complex," which also happens to be the title of a recorded 1997 speech by Angela Davis, later released as an audio CD that served as the basis for her book of the same title. America is home to 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of the world's prison population - a prison population...
- 9/28/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Lame duck president? What lame duck president? President Obama will make the first-ever Presidential visit to a federal prison for an upcoming "Vice" special that will tackle America's broken criminal justice system. The Vice special will air this fall on HBO, offering an in-depth look into the dire impact the current criminal justice system is having on millions of Americans - especially black Americans. I'm sure we're all familiar with the term "prison industrial complex," which also happens to be the title of a recorded 1997 speech by Angela Davis, later released as an audio CD that served as the basis for her book of the same title. America is home to...
- 9/25/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Lame duck president? What lame duck president? President Obama will make the first-ever Presidential visit to a federal prison for an upcoming "Vice" special that will tackle America's broken criminal justice system. The Vice special will air this fall on HBO, offering an in-depth look into the dire impact the current criminal justice system is having on millions of Americans - especially black Americans. I'm sure we're all familiar with the term "prison industrial complex," which also happens to be the title of a recorded 1997 speech by Angela Davis, later released as an audio CD that served as the basis for her book of the same title. America is home to...
- 8/28/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
President Obama will make the first-ever Presidential visit to a federal prison for an upcoming "Vice" special that will tackle America's broken criminal justice system. The Vice special will air this fall on HBO, offering an in-depth look into the dire impact the current criminal justice system is having on millions of Americans - especially black Americans. I'm sure we're all familiar with the term "prison industrial complex," which also happens to be the title of a recorded 1997 speech by Angela Davis, later released as an audio CD that served as the basis for her book of the same title. America is home to 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of...
- 7/10/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.
- 7/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Burning off the baby weight! Kelly Rowland put a lot of hard work into getting the post-baby body she has now. The singer revealed how she dropped a whopping 70 pounds just four months after welcoming her son Titan during an interview on Thursday, Mar. 26. Up first? Rowland slimmed down with the help of some great trainers. "Jeanette Jenkins is the secret, SoulCycle is the secret," Rowland, 34, shared with Extra's Aj Calloway in NYC. "Angela Davis, when I go in there and it’s the wee [...]...
- 3/26/2015
- Us Weekly
Winning an Oscar doesn't give you the keys to the kingdom. At least, it didn't for Halle Berry. The actress, 48, who took home the Academy Award in 2002 for Monster's Ball - and remains the only African-American woman to win Best Actress - tells the Guardian that it didn't pave the way for her to star in popular mainstream movies. "If anybody tells you after winning an Oscar they can pick out things that will be hits, they're lying!" Berry says in the interview, in which she touches on issues of race in Hollywood - and admits she's "disappointed" that no...
- 2/27/2015
- by Tim Nudd, @nudd
- PEOPLE.com
Karl Lagerfeld is no stranger to bringing artistic drama to the runway, and his latest fashion show stunt is already making headlines worldwide. Karl closed out his Chanel Spring 2015 runway show during Paris Fashion Week with a faux protest, featuring models like Gisele Bündchen, Cara Delevingne, and Georgia May Jagger marching down the street with picket signs boasting feminist messages like "Free Freedom," "History Is Her Story," and "We Can Match the Machos." Fashion fixtures Kendall Jenner and Alexa Chung also got in on the fun, sharing their respective protest photos via Instagram; Kendall in particular used her snap to draw attention to the popular #FreeTheNipple campaign. What with Karl's take on the '70s-era styles of Gloria Steinem and Angela Davis - models showed off tweed separates, psychedelic silk button-downs, wide-legged pants, and Gloria's signature round, tinted glasses - the rally was clearly part of the collection as a whole.
- 9/30/2014
- by Brittney-Stephens
- Popsugar.com
Question: You had a pretty bourgeois and comfortable childhood, in Birmingham; and so did your sister [Angela]; can you trace the development of someone from that kind of background into a revolutionary and Marxist person? Fania Davis: I see in her life, the makings of a revolutionary, not a tragedy. From her time in the south (Birmingham) to her experience with white people in the north, Angela’s education is now being put into practice. A conversation between a journalist and Angela Davis’ sister, Fania Davis, from a scene about mid-way through Shola Lynch's no-frills, candid feature documentary Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, soon after Angela’s arrest, and initial...
- 2/26/2014
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Oprah Winfrey has a new favorite thing—spinning at SoulCyle! The media mogul had an early 60th birthday celebration on Friday when she and a gaggle of her closest friends took a class at the West Hollywood outpost of SoulCyle. "I just had the best birthday experience ever at SoulCyle," a sweaty Oprah shouted in a video she posted on her Instagram after the class. Her bestie Gayle King told me last night at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy gala with the Recording Academy, "She now loves SoulCycle. She's totally converted." Oprah and about 55 friends wore blue shirts during the class emblazoned in big green letters with "Happy Birthday Oprah." Instructor Angela Davis...
- 1/26/2014
- E! Online
Carey Mulligan's Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby was certainly waify -- but not with no effort. When she's in L.A., Mulligan is religious about hitting the Sunset Strip SoulCycle spinning class taught by former USA track and field star Angela Davis (Emily Blunt and Dianna Agron are devotees as well). Story: SoulCycle Revs Up With a Hollywood Crowd Spinning Into a Frenzy Carey's so enamored, SoulCycle gifted her with her own bike to take on the set. This story first appeared in the Jan. 3, 2014, issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
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- 12/19/2013
- by Merle Ginsberg & Gary Baum
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director Shola Lynch has been mining the rich terrain of black American history for a while now, notably in the award-winning 2004 documentary Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed, about the 1972 presidential campaign by the late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American and the first woman to mount a serious, credible run for the office, and most recently with last year's Free Angela Davis and all Political Prisoners, her soulful, illuminating documentary about the activist icon's notorious 1971 trial on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder. (The DVD was just released this week.) Where much official histor...
- 8/21/2013
- Village Voice
Usually once or twice during the big Summer movie season, the Hollywood studios release a film that’s a bit more serious than the action, science fiction, fantasy comedy blockbusters that normally populate the multiplex during those balmy months. Bypassing the Oscar-bait year-end log jam this time is Lee Daniels’ The Butler. Like the recent independent feature Fruitvale Station, it concerns a hot-button topic from recent headlines: race relations. While Station told the story of a fairly recent true-life incident, the new film spans several decades with special emphasis on the tumultuous 1960′s much like the Summer drama of 2011 The Help (which later did take home some Oscar gold). So, are movie audiences ready to take a break from the car chases and explosions, and embark on a trip through some dark moments of America’s recent history? And will Academy voters remember this drama when they begin filling out...
- 8/15/2013
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Codeblack Films released the doc on April 5th, theatrically in the USA, in a deal that also included Bet's involvement - suggesting that the network will likely premiere the film on broadcast TV later. It's also played overseas. If you missed it during its theatrical run, look for it on DVD next week, on August 20, when it'll be released on that format, courtesy of Lionsgate Home Entertainment.Director Shola Lynch's Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is described as: ... a feature-length documentary about Angela Davis and the high stakes crime, political movement, and trial that catapults the 26 year-old newly appointed philosophy professor at the...
- 8/15/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The supporters of Bradley Manning, the soldier that released the Iraq War and Afghan War files as well as the "Collateral Murder" video to Wikileaks, have released a video in support of him as he awaits a verdict from a military judge on charges that he was "aiding the enemy" with the release of scores of documents. The "Collateral Murder" video, which showed a helicopter attack on a Baghdad neighborhood that killed a Reuters reporter, helped propel Wikileaks onto the international stage. The video, which was born out of the Bradley Manning Support Network Project, features actors Wallace Shawn, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, and Russell Brand; musicians Tom Morello and Moby; filmmaker Oliver Stone; talk show host Phil Donahue; writers Matt Taibbi, Angela Davis, and Alice Walker; Vietnam War whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg; and more. The video aims to have the charges of "aiding the enemy," a capital offense, dropped. As...
- 7/29/2013
- by Bryce J. Renninger
- Indiewire
Codeblack Films released the doc on April 5th, theatrically in the USA, in a deal that also includes Bet's involvement - suggesting that the network will likely premiere the film on broadcast TV later. It's also played overseas - in France, to start. If you missed it during its theatrical run, look for it on DVD on August 20, when it'll be released on that format.Director Shola Lynch's Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is described as: ... a feature-length documentary about Angela Davis and the high stakes crime, political movement, and trial that catapults the 26 year-old newly appointed philosophy professor at the University of California at Los...
- 7/10/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Exclusive: Codeblack Films, a division launched by Lionsgate to produce, acquire and distribute urban-themed films, has hired veteran film and television producer Paul Hall to head Development and Production. Hall’s previous credits span more than two decades of the African-American film experience, including Tyler Perry’s Temptation, For Colored Girls, Madea’s Witness Protection, Good Deeds, Shaft and Higher Learning. Hall will work closely with Codeblack Films’ President Jeff Clanagan and General Manager Quincy Newell to hatch original properties that will be made in-house. So far, Codeblack has made its mark by acquiring distribution rights on finished films that have included the Sundance pic The Inevitable Defeat Of Mister And Pete, the romantic drama Things Never Said, the docu Free Angela Davis And All Political Prisoners, and Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain, which is being released by Summit on July 3. Hall’s job will be to start cranking out films from within.
- 6/26/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
This review was originally published in February. Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abdul-jamal never played theatrically in St. Louis (thankfully) and my review has been amended to include a look at the extras on the new DVD of the film.
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abdul-jamal is a documentary from producer, director, cinematographer Stephen Vittoria about convicted cop killer and former Black Panther Mumia Abdul-Jamal (real name: Wesley Cook), an articulate, relatively intelligent radical with a distinctive speaking voice and a passion for public relations. Slickly produced, and with an excellent original score by Robert Guillory, the film is presented as a collective form of tribute to Mumia, with dozens of “witnesses” including Amy Goodman, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Cornel West, Peter Coyote, Lydia Barashango, Juan Gonzalez, and Linn Washington, all testifying on-camera to the brilliance of the subject’s writing skills.
Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abdul-jamal is a documentary from producer, director, cinematographer Stephen Vittoria about convicted cop killer and former Black Panther Mumia Abdul-Jamal (real name: Wesley Cook), an articulate, relatively intelligent radical with a distinctive speaking voice and a passion for public relations. Slickly produced, and with an excellent original score by Robert Guillory, the film is presented as a collective form of tribute to Mumia, with dozens of “witnesses” including Amy Goodman, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Cornel West, Peter Coyote, Lydia Barashango, Juan Gonzalez, and Linn Washington, all testifying on-camera to the brilliance of the subject’s writing skills.
- 6/18/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The L.A. Film Festival is now in full swing, kicking off last night, and continuing our week of exclusives from films playing the fest, we've got cut from score to the Documentary Competition title "American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs." Directed by Grace Lee (no relation, but they met on the helmer's earlier project "The Grace Lee Story" about the many people who share that name), the film chronciles Boggs' lifetime spent battling for labor and civil rights, while getting involved in Black Power, feminist, Asian American and environmental justice movements and much more. But her role in the African-American movement is one of the most unlikely and powerful, with folks like Angela Davis, Bill Moyers, Bill Ayers, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Danny Glover and more all speaking to her importance. It sounds like a fascinating doc, and helping to texture the film is award-winning composer Vivek Maddala's score.
- 6/14/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Vision Films, a worldwide distributor of independent films, has announced today that it has picked-up worldwide rights to the inspirational documentary Femme, which is directed by Emmanuel Itier (The Invocation, The Midnight Hour), and executive produced and narrated by Sharon Stone (Casino, Basic Instinct).
Femme features interviews with many internationally recognized speakers including Sharon Stone, Marianne Williamson, Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace laureates Shirin Ebadi and Maired Maguire, Maria Bello, Angela Davis, Maria Conchita Alonso, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Mary Buffett, Rickie Lee Jones, Jean Houston and Dr. Sue Morter. The soundtrack of the film includes music and songs from well-known artists such as Annie Lennox, Yoko Ono and Rickie Lee Jones. Femme, which has played at numerous international film festivals, is currently available for worldwide release. Vision Films will be introducing the documentary for the first time at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.
Femme is a Celebration of Women...
Femme features interviews with many internationally recognized speakers including Sharon Stone, Marianne Williamson, Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace laureates Shirin Ebadi and Maired Maguire, Maria Bello, Angela Davis, Maria Conchita Alonso, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Mary Buffett, Rickie Lee Jones, Jean Houston and Dr. Sue Morter. The soundtrack of the film includes music and songs from well-known artists such as Annie Lennox, Yoko Ono and Rickie Lee Jones. Femme, which has played at numerous international film festivals, is currently available for worldwide release. Vision Films will be introducing the documentary for the first time at the upcoming Marché du Film in Cannes.
Femme is a Celebration of Women...
- 5/13/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Vision Films has announced today that it has picked up worldwide rights to the inspirational documentary Femme , which is directed by Emmanuel Itier ( The Invocation , The Midnight Hour ), and is executive produced and narrated by Sharon Stone ( Casino , Basic Instinct ). Femme features interviews with many internationally-recognized speakers including Sharon Stone, Marianne Williamson, Gloria Steinem, Nobel Peace laureates Shirin Ebadi and Maired Maguire, Maria Bello, Angela Davis, Maria Conchita Alonso, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Mary Buffett, Rickie Lee Jones, Jean Houston and Dr. Sue Morter. The soundtrack of the film includes music and songs from well-known artists such as Annie Lennox, Yoko Ono and Rickie Lee Jones. Femme , which has played at numerous international film...
- 5/13/2013
- Comingsoon.net
New York — Jada Pinkett Smith may have started as an actress, but these days her list of jobs includes author, singer-songwriter, philanthropist, successful businesswoman – and, of course, wife and mother.
With husband Will Smith, she started Overbrook Entertainment, which has produced many of Smith's films, as well as the upcoming remake of "Annie." But Pinkett Smith's more recent focus has been the documentary "Free Angela Davis and Other Political Prisoners," which marks the 40th anniversary of the acquittal of the 1970s political activist who once on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
Davis was removed from her teaching job at UCLA in 1969 because she was a member of the Communist Party. A year later, she was charged with murder and kidnapping in a shootout in front of the Marin County, Calif., courthouse, then acquitted by an all-white jury.
"I watched it and I thought I knew the Angela Davis story, and...
With husband Will Smith, she started Overbrook Entertainment, which has produced many of Smith's films, as well as the upcoming remake of "Annie." But Pinkett Smith's more recent focus has been the documentary "Free Angela Davis and Other Political Prisoners," which marks the 40th anniversary of the acquittal of the 1970s political activist who once on the FBI's Most Wanted list.
Davis was removed from her teaching job at UCLA in 1969 because she was a member of the Communist Party. A year later, she was charged with murder and kidnapping in a shootout in front of the Marin County, Calif., courthouse, then acquitted by an all-white jury.
"I watched it and I thought I knew the Angela Davis story, and...
- 5/11/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
The Cannes Film Festival doesn’t begin in earnest until tomorrow, when The Great Gatsby opens the prestigious 12-day cinematic showcase and the shiniest of celebrities descend on the luxurious Mediterranean resort, but the Cannes film market is already revving on all cylinders. Warner Bros. is reportedly on the verge of acquiring the U.S. rights to How to Catch a Monster, Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut that he’ll also star in, along with Eva Mendes, Saoirse Ronan, and Christina Hendricks. The fantasy film is still in production, but as Deadline originally reported, the weight of Warner Bros. will...
- 5/10/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
Tags: Angela DavisIMDbFree Angela Davis and All Political PrisonersShola Lynch
With the shadowed image, the outline of the natural revealing the figure within, presented against a white backdrop, the documentary begins. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners is a historical vérité style documentary of the 22-month imprisonment of Angela Davis, from October 13, 1970 until her acquittal on June 4, 1972.
That we are presented the shadow is not only suggestive of this history of racial oppression that persistently haunts Poc people to the present day, it also bespeaks the fact that this oppression—this racial, this gender, this political oppression—had nothing to do with Angela in the first place; she was, rather, a scapegoat that was selected to be made an example of, as one man commented on her imprisonment, “what they’re doing to her is an exaggerated form of what happens everyday to black people in this country.” Davis knew that,...
With the shadowed image, the outline of the natural revealing the figure within, presented against a white backdrop, the documentary begins. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners is a historical vérité style documentary of the 22-month imprisonment of Angela Davis, from October 13, 1970 until her acquittal on June 4, 1972.
That we are presented the shadow is not only suggestive of this history of racial oppression that persistently haunts Poc people to the present day, it also bespeaks the fact that this oppression—this racial, this gender, this political oppression—had nothing to do with Angela in the first place; she was, rather, a scapegoat that was selected to be made an example of, as one man commented on her imprisonment, “what they’re doing to her is an exaggerated form of what happens everyday to black people in this country.” Davis knew that,...
- 4/5/2013
- by MBHauteWriter
- AfterEllen.com
Codeblack Films opens Shola Lynch's Free Angela & All Political Prisoners in USA theaters today, April 5th - a film we've covered thoroughly over the last 12 months, and that we strongly encourage you to see. In October 1970, Angela Davis was arrested in New York City in connection with a shootout that occurred on August 7 in a San Raphael, California courtroom. She was accused of supplying weapons to Jonathan Jackson, who burst into the courtroom in a bid to free inmates on trial there (the Soledad Brothers) and take hostages whom he hoped to exchange for his brother George Jackson, a black *radical* imprisoned at San Quentin Prison. In the...
- 4/5/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Ready for intrigue at the movies this weekend? A batch of enigmatic and mysterious thrillers are hitting theaters, with varying critical results. Danny Boyle's "Trance," starring James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel, is getting praise for its hypnotically high-watt aesthetic, but critics point out this may be a case of style over substance. Meanwhile, Shane Carruth's "Upstream Color" rates the highest review-wise, though critics understandably admit that they have no idea what's going on in the visually strong but deflatingly impenetrable tale of brain-eating worms, pigs and love in the midst of greater conspiracy. Shola Lynch's Tiff documentary on incarcerated radical Angela Davis, "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners," is scoring top marks, while Antonio Campos' "Simon Killer," the creepy, austere follow-up to his debut "Afterschool," is also lauded in reviews. Sony's "Evil Dead" revamp, going for straight gore, is liked by critics, despite being...
- 4/4/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
Will Smith joined up with Jada Pinkett Smith at the premiere of Free Angela and All Political Prisoners in NYC yesterday. Jada and Will are executive producers of the new documentary, which follows the life of activist Angela Davis, and Jada has been promoting the upcoming flick all over the city this past week. She appeared on Good Morning America yesterday, where she talked about the process of getting on board with the film and a recent essay she had written about the public's attitude towards young celebrities. Jada also dropped by HuffPost Live, where she discussed the rumor that she has an open marriage with Will Smith. She said, "I've always told Will, 'You can do whatever you want as long as you can look at yourself in the mirror and be okay.' Because at the end of the day, Will is his own man. I'm here as his partner,...
- 4/4/2013
- by Maria Mercedes Lara
- Popsugar.com
Eager to show off the film she produced, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith attended the premiere of “Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” in New York on Wednesday (April 3).
Looking gorgeous in a soft yellow gown, the “Hawthorne” actress posed with her handsome husband on the arrivals carpet at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture before heading inside.
A documentary, the film chronicles the life of college professor Angela Davis, and how her social activism implicated her in a botched kidnapping attempt that ended with a shootout, four dead, and her name on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
“Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” will arrive in theaters on Friday, April 5.
Looking gorgeous in a soft yellow gown, the “Hawthorne” actress posed with her handsome husband on the arrivals carpet at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture before heading inside.
A documentary, the film chronicles the life of college professor Angela Davis, and how her social activism implicated her in a botched kidnapping attempt that ended with a shootout, four dead, and her name on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
“Free Angela and All Political Prisoners” will arrive in theaters on Friday, April 5.
- 4/4/2013
- GossipCenter
Question: You had a pretty bourgeois and comfortable childhood, in Birmingham; and so did your sister [Angela]; can you trace the development of someone from that kind of background into a revolutionary and Marxist person? Fania Davis: I see in her life, the makings of a revolutionary, not a tragedy. From her time in the south (Birmingham) to her experience with white people in the north, Angela’s education is now being put into practice. A conversation between a journalist and Angela Davis’ sister, Fania Davis, from a scene about mid-way through Shola Lynch's no-frills, candid feature documentary Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, soon after Angela’s arrest, and initial...
- 4/3/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
"Black power means dignity," is a phrase that lingers from Shola Lynch's documentary about activist and scholar Angela Davis. And dignity is just one of the many qualities that one can attach to Davis, a bold and powerful figure whose own battle for justice and freedom is chronicled in "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners." A fascinating slice out of a turbulent time in American history, this detailed doc is a compelling portrait of a legal case that found activism, politics, freedom of speech and more all dovetailing together into an event that not only captured the attention of the nation, but of people worldwide. In her early life, Davis always seemed just one step away from being involved in hugely shifting tides of the '50s and '60s. She moved north from Birmingham and then went abroad to study just as the civil rights movement exploded. But upon her return,...
- 4/2/2013
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
From Terrence Malick and Danny Boyle to Angela Davis and Matthew McConaughey, the specialty market is offering up an awesome mix of films for the first full month of Spring 2013. Check out Indiewire's picks for the month's 7 best options below. Though do head over to the full month's calendar as well, as there are plenty more worthy films (including studio offerings -- is it just us or does "Oblivion" have a lot of potential?) that didn't end up making this list. 1. To The Wonder (April 12) Director: Terrence Malick Cast: Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem Distributor: Magnolia Current Criticwire average: B- (see all grades) Why Is It a "Must See"? Any Terrence Malick film -- even perhaps his most tepidly received -- is inarguably an event, thus putting this month's theatrical release of "To The Wonder" atop this list. Malick's sixth feature film and first to be set...
- 4/2/2013
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
In the stirring, soulful Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, director Shola Lynch mixes original interview footage and archival clips with the agility of a master turntablist, syncing images and ideas with precision and focus. Lynch and her film tackle a lot: humanizing Angela Davis; retrieving from modern history's remainder bin one of the most important episodes in the civil rights struggle; and subtly underscoring both how far we've come on issues of race, class, gender, and injustice—and how far there still is to go. The amount of information doled out may seem daunting, but it never overwhelms; none is superfluous. And thanks to Lynch's expert pacing and modulation of narrative tension, even viewers who already know the outcome of the film's central incident will...
- 4/2/2013
- Village Voice
Codeblack Films releases it this weekend, April 5th, theatrically in the USA, in a deal that also includes Bet's involvement - suggesting that the network will likely premiere the film on broadcast TV.Shola Lynch's Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is described as: ... a feature-length documentary about Angela Davis and the high stakes crime, political movement, and trial that catapults the 26 year-old newly appointed philosophy professor at the University of California at Los Angeles into a seventies revolutionary political icon. Nearly forty years later, and for the first time, Angela Davis speaks frankly about the actions that branded her as a...
- 4/1/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Tags: Morning BrewBad Girls ClubModern FamilyChristine QuinnIMDbBeth DittoGwendoline Christie
Good morning!
Rapper/poet Black Ice recorded his own version of the famous protest song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and it's used in a promo for the Angela Davis documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. I can't wait to see this April 5. Until then, the video is pretty awesome.
The New York Times has written a piece on NYC mayoral candidate Christine Quinn on how she can be a little ruthless. Quinn said:
I don’t think being pushy or bitchy or tough, or however you want to characterize it, is a bad thing. New Yorkers want somebody who’s going to get things done. Sometimes I yell, sometimes I raise my voice. I am trying to do it less, because it’s not always attractive. It’s not always the right thing to do.
Bitches get shit done,...
Good morning!
Rapper/poet Black Ice recorded his own version of the famous protest song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and it's used in a promo for the Angela Davis documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. I can't wait to see this April 5. Until then, the video is pretty awesome.
The New York Times has written a piece on NYC mayoral candidate Christine Quinn on how she can be a little ruthless. Quinn said:
I don’t think being pushy or bitchy or tough, or however you want to characterize it, is a bad thing. New Yorkers want somebody who’s going to get things done. Sometimes I yell, sometimes I raise my voice. I am trying to do it less, because it’s not always attractive. It’s not always the right thing to do.
Bitches get shit done,...
- 3/27/2013
- by trishbendix
- AfterEllen.com
Codeblack Films, a Lionsgate company, and Tugg, a web-platform that allows to audiences choose which films play in their local theaters, have teamed up to make Shola Lynch's documentary "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners" available to screen across the country. The partnership enables the film to play in theaters outside of the cities it opens limited release in on April 5. "Free Angela," which had a gala premiere at Tiff, tells the story of Angela Davis, the 26-year-old UCLA philosophy professor who became a revolutionary icon in the 1960s. Davis was denounced as a terrorist after her social justice activism ended in the bloody kidnapping of a judge. "We're incredibly excited to empower individuals and groups across the country to host their own screenings of this gripping and inspirational film," said Tugg co-founders Nicolas Gonda and Pablo Gonzalez. "'Free Angela' is a perfect film for local communities to rally around...
- 3/25/2013
- by Erin Whitney
- Indiewire
Codeblack Films has turned to online platform Tugg to identify new audiences for "Free Angela and All Political Prisoners," its upcoming documentary about political activist Angela Davis. Tugg allows users to pick a film they want to see in theaters and gather support for public screenings. Since its launch at South by Southwest last year, it has helped close to 200 films screen in more than 300 cities. Rather than rely on someone else to start a campaign, Codeblack has partnered with Tugg to launch one of its own. Codeblack, a subsidiary...
- 3/25/2013
- by Lucas Shaw
- The Wrap
Tugg, a web platform that allows moviegoers to vote on what appears at their local cineplexes, is partnering with Lionsgate's Codeblack Films on making Shola Lynch's Tiff documentary "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners" available to screen nationwide. The film opens in select cities on April 5, and is available through Tugg for special theatrical screenings outside of the planned distribution locales. The film focuses on the turbulent life of political radical Angela Davis, a UCLA professor, member of the Communist party and associate of the Black Panthers who was charged with conspiracy in kidnapping and the murder of a Santa Monica judge in 1970. Davis supporters include Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who presented the film at its Toronto world premiere. You can vote to bring "Free Angela & All Political Prisoners" to your city here, and watch a trailer here.
- 3/25/2013
- by Beth Hanna
- Thompson on Hollywood
By Alex Simon
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of journalism’s most outspoken voices for nearly forty years. However, Mumia’s greatest fame has come not from his written work, but from the fact that he is one of the most famous state “employees” in the country: he has been in state prison since 1982, serving on death row until just over a year ago.
Born Wesley Cook in Philadelphia, Abu-Jamal made his name as a tireless writer and journalist during the racially-charged 1970s that often portrayed the City of Brotherly Love as anything but. With his intense coverage of the M.O.V.E. organization, a black empowerment group whose ongoing battle with the police and city hall came to a fiery end in 1985, Abu-Jamal became a constant thorn in the side of the city’s powerful establishment. Things came to a sudden head for Abu-Jamal himself on the evening...
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been one of journalism’s most outspoken voices for nearly forty years. However, Mumia’s greatest fame has come not from his written work, but from the fact that he is one of the most famous state “employees” in the country: he has been in state prison since 1982, serving on death row until just over a year ago.
Born Wesley Cook in Philadelphia, Abu-Jamal made his name as a tireless writer and journalist during the racially-charged 1970s that often portrayed the City of Brotherly Love as anything but. With his intense coverage of the M.O.V.E. organization, a black empowerment group whose ongoing battle with the police and city hall came to a fiery end in 1985, Abu-Jamal became a constant thorn in the side of the city’s powerful establishment. Things came to a sudden head for Abu-Jamal himself on the evening...
- 2/24/2013
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Watch the trailer for Shola Lynch's Free Angela and All Political Prisoners documentary which opens in theaters on April 5th via Codeblack, exclusively to Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., Oakland, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners tells the dramatic story of how a young professor’s social justice activism implicates her in a botched kidnapping attempt that ends with a bloody shootout, four dead, and her name on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. In this historical vérité style documentary, marking the 40th anniversary of her acquittal on charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy, Angela Davis recounts the politics and actions that branded her a terrorist and simultaneously spurred a worldwide movement for her freedom as a political prisoner. At its core, the story wrestles with the meaning of political freedom in a democracy negotiated between the people and its government. Strong, attractive,...
- 2/21/2013
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Question: You had a pretty bourgeois and comfortable childhood, in Birmingham; and so did your sister [Angela]; can you trace the development of someone from that kind of background into a revolutionary and Marxist person? Fania Davis: I see in her life, the makings of a revolutionary, not a tragedy. From her time in the south (Birmingham) to her experience with white people in the north, Angela’s education is now being put into practice. A conversation between a journalist and Angela Davis’ sister, Fania Davis, from a scene about mid-way through Shola Lynch's no-frills, candid feature documentary Free Angela & All Political Prisoners, soon after...
- 2/19/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles moves into its 2nd and final week, culminating with the closing night film screening of Shola Lynch's Angela Davis documentary, Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. And not only will this be the film's first public screening since its Toronto International Film Festival debut last September, we've also learned from the festival exclusively that the subject of the film, Angela Davis, and one of its celebrity executive producers, Jada Pinkett Smith, will be special guests in attendance of that closing night screening. So those of you who'll be present should consider yourselves extra lucky! ...
- 2/12/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Tags: Morning BrewGrammy AwardsEllen DeGeneresPortia de RossiKaty PerryJanis IanFreja Beha ErichsenAlison BechdelAngela DavisStrange FrameLela McArthurFree Angela and All Political PrisonersKate McKinnonHer HRCIMDbRuta GedmintasCasey LeglerPast Obsessions
Good morning! Did you watch the Grammys last night? Well here are some of the most lesbian photos from the evening.
The only out lesbian winner of the whole affair was Janis Ian, who won for Best Spoken Word album.
Last week Fox News accidentally posted a photo of a lesbian couple's wedding for an article that praised traditional gender roles. Stephanie Fiagrelle was the one mistaken for a man by Fox, and decided to post a response on her Facebook. Here's part of it:
Instead of answering salivating reporters, I’ll post here. Yes, I’m aware that I look like a dude. I have known this my entire life- I’ll prove it by sharing baby photos sometime. I’ve gotten bullied, hit...
Good morning! Did you watch the Grammys last night? Well here are some of the most lesbian photos from the evening.
The only out lesbian winner of the whole affair was Janis Ian, who won for Best Spoken Word album.
Last week Fox News accidentally posted a photo of a lesbian couple's wedding for an article that praised traditional gender roles. Stephanie Fiagrelle was the one mistaken for a man by Fox, and decided to post a response on her Facebook. Here's part of it:
Instead of answering salivating reporters, I’ll post here. Yes, I’m aware that I look like a dude. I have known this my entire life- I’ll prove it by sharing baby photos sometime. I’ve gotten bullied, hit...
- 2/11/2013
- by trishbendix
- AfterEllen.com
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey With Mumia Abul-jamal is a documentary from producer, director, cinematographer Stephen Vittoria about convicted cop killer and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal (real name: Wesley Cook), an articulate, relatively intelligent radical with a distinctive speaking voice and a passion for public relations. Slickly produced, and with an excellent original score by Robert Guillory, the film is presented as a collective form of tribute to Mumia, with dozens of “witnesses” including Amy Goodman, Angela Davis, Dick Gregory, Ruby Dee, Cornel West, Peter Coyote, Lydia Barashango, Juan Gonzalez, and Linn Washington, all testifying on-camera to the brilliance of the subject’s writing skills. Mumia himself is represented through archival footage, voice-over, prison visitation footage, and by an actor portraying the convicted killer moping in his prison cell.
Before viewing, I had never paid much attention to the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, but the film inspired me to do some research.
Before viewing, I had never paid much attention to the Mumia Abu-Jamal case, but the film inspired me to do some research.
- 2/5/2013
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Shola Lynch's Angela Davis documentary, Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. will be the closing night film at this year's Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles. It's worth noting that this will be the film's first public screening since its Toronto International Film Festival debut last Septmber, so those of you who'll be attending the Paff next month should consider yourselves lucky! Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is described as: ... a feature-length documentary about Angela Davis and the high stakes crime, political movement, and trial that catapults the 26 year-old newly appointed philosophy professor at the...
- 1/28/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Paul Thomas Anderson has refused to discuss Tom Cruise's reaction to The Master. The director reacted with annoyance when asked about what the famous Scientologist thought of the film. "Do you know the answer to this?" he said when asked about Cruise by Angela Davis on Australia's Network 10. "Alright, then don't ask." "It's between us," he added. Anderson held a private screening for Cruise, who he worked with (more)...
- 12/7/2012
- by By Hugh Armitage
- Digital Spy
The press and publicity tour for a movie can be a grind for anybody, as actors and directors must remain fresh and upbeat, even as they must answer the same, usually mundane questions from every outlet on the planet. But again, talent are usually more than champs and good sports, and are gracious and patient even if it means answering "How did you get involved with this project" for the 29th time. But sometimes, enough is enough. Ever since the film made its official premiere at the Venice Film Festival (after some sneak screenings in the United States), Paul Thomas Anderson has gamely done the rounds for "The Master," where the repeated question in almost every interview has been whether or not actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise has seen the movie (which he was already reported to have watched in the spring) and what his reaction was. Anderson has been...
- 12/6/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Tags: Morning BrewAngela DavisHalle BerryOlivia ThirlbyEmma DonoghueSally KohnIMDb
Good morning! I hope all of you on the East Coast are staying safe!
I'd like to take a minute to wish my Gal Pal Emily a very happy 30th birthday! Because her birthday is the day before Halloween, she's always gotten really into the holiday. We had a Halloween party at her house this year and went as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. Schwing!
Just in case you want to remind yourself of celebrities who have come out, Radar has created a handy slideshow.
The Guardian has a great piece on the new popularity of queer literature in India. Out lesbian publisher Shobhna Kumar and editor Minal Hajratwala have just released a new anthology, Out! Stories from the New Queer India, too.
The New York Times has a profile of out Fox News pundit Sally Kohn. I love seeing a lesbian on Fox.
Good morning! I hope all of you on the East Coast are staying safe!
I'd like to take a minute to wish my Gal Pal Emily a very happy 30th birthday! Because her birthday is the day before Halloween, she's always gotten really into the holiday. We had a Halloween party at her house this year and went as Wayne and Garth from Wayne's World. Schwing!
Just in case you want to remind yourself of celebrities who have come out, Radar has created a handy slideshow.
The Guardian has a great piece on the new popularity of queer literature in India. Out lesbian publisher Shobhna Kumar and editor Minal Hajratwala have just released a new anthology, Out! Stories from the New Queer India, too.
The New York Times has a profile of out Fox News pundit Sally Kohn. I love seeing a lesbian on Fox.
- 10/30/2012
- by trishbendix
- AfterEllen.com
It was in January 2011, almost 2 years ago, that Halle Berry first voiced her interest in exploring the life of Angela Davis on screen in a scripted film; in an issue of Jet magazine, January 2011, which included an interview with Halle Berry, she said the following: “I’ll probably never get to play it in my life and I am going to be sad until the day I die, but I really want to play Angela Davis-badly. So badly. I just think she’s fascinating and I think I would love to tell a story from her perspective about that time in our history and what it was all about with the black panthers.“ Skip ahead to this month, to the most recent issue of In Style...
- 10/29/2012
- by Courtney
- ShadowAndAct
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