Remembering our Political Prisoners
Proceeds from our film festival are used
to supply commissary for Political Prisoners
October 3rd-5th, 2013
Maysles Cinema
343 Lenox Ave
New York, New York 10027
cinema@mayslesinstitute.org
Suggested $10 donation at the door for all screenings.
BUY TICKETS: http://
WE WANT freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
Friday, October 4th, 7:00pm
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
Stephen Vittoria, 2013, 120 min.
Stephen Vittoria, 2013, 120 min.
Before he was convicted of murdering a policeman in 1981 and sentenced to die, Philadelphia Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal was a gifted journalist and brilliant writer. Now after more than 30 years in prison and despite attempts to silence him, Mumia is not only still alive but continuing to report, educate, provoke and inspire. The film features many supporters of Mumia, including actress Ruby Dee, Cornell West, writer Tariq Ali, and author Michelle Alexander (“The New Jim Crow”).
Post-screening Q&A with director Stephen Vittoria.
Saturday, October 5th, 4:00pm
In My Own Words
2011, 48 min.
2011, 48 min.
Prison interview with the long-jailed Ojore Lutalo. Ojore touches on many issues, from what prisons are, to why he is in prison to the nature of the black radical struggle. Ojore was released in 2009, only to be rearrested a few months later as the alleged “Amtrak Terrorist” in Colorado. All charges were dropped after no one was able to provide any evidence of wrongdoing.
Post-screening Q&A with Ojore Lutalo & Bonnie Kerness
Saturday, October 5th, 7:00pm
Hard Time
Ronald Harpelle, 2013, 40 min.
Hard Time is a film about Robert Hillary King, the only one of the Angola 3 to have been released. King was a political prisoner who spent 29 years in solitary confinement in the infamous Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The film focuses on racism and human rights in the U.S. penal system, and draws attention to the plight of Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, the other members of the Angola 3, who have been held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years. Together they formed a prison chapter of the Black Panther Party to fight for better conditions, security for inmates and justice behind bars.
Herman’s House
Angad Bhalla, 2012, 80 min.
Herman Wallace may be the longest-serving prisoner in solitary confinement in the United States—he’s spent more than 40 years in a 6-by-9-foot cell in Louisiana. Imprisoned in 1967 for a robbery he admits, he was subsequently sentenced to life for a killing he vehemently denies. Herman’s House is a moving account of the remarkable expression his struggle found in an unusual project proposed by artist Jackie Sumell. Imagining Wallace’s “dream home” began as a game and became an interrogation of justice and punishment in America. The film takes us inside the duo’s unlikely 12-year friendship, revealing the transformative power of art. Update: Herman Wallace was recently released by a court who found his trial violated due process. Wallace is near death from cancer.
** Followed by Closing Reception and Party**
Invited Director: Melvin Van Peoples
Featured Speakers: Directors Margarita Rosario, Stephen Vittoria, & Joanne L. Hershifield. Attorneys Jill Soffiyah Elijah & Joan Gibbs. Panthers Bullwhip, Cleo Silvers, Pam Hanna, Cisco Torres, Shaba-Om, & Jamal Josephs. Also King Downing, Shaka Shakur, Ojore Lutalo and Bonnie Kerness.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE!