Angela Davis
Nacimiento : 1944-01-26, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Historia
Angela Davis is an American political activist, academic scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her interests include prisoner rights; she co-founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She was a professor (now retired) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in its History of Consciousness Department and a former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.
"Betye Saar: Drifting Toward Twilight" covers renowned American artist Betye Saar’s large-scale work “Drifting Toward Twilight”—recently commissioned by The Huntington— a site-specific installation that features a 17-foot-long vintage wooden canoe and found objects, including birdcages, antlers, and natural materials harvested by Saar from The Huntington’s grounds. This film captures the artist's process in preparation for her upcoming exhibition, while also homaging Betye's life and work throughout her career. We are producing this project in collaboration with Betye's studio, Roberts Project, and Sola Saar Augusston, granddaughter of Betye and co-curator of the exhibit for the Huntington Museum. It will be exhibited in an annex next to the artist's piece within the Huntington's Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art.
Self
Las raíces y evolución de los conceptos racistas en Estados Unidos para comprender la sociedad actual.
Self
In an Argentina divided between a deep conservatism and an unprecedented momentum in feminism, the film delves into the political journey and intimate lives of Claudia and Violeta. Trans women who identify as transvestites, the fight they lead with their comrades against the patriarchal violence is visceral and embodied. Convinced of their roles at the center of an ongoing revolution that intersects with so many struggles, in defiance of the old world they redouble their energy to invent a new present, to love and stay alive.
Self (archive footage)
In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.
Self (archive footage)
Con escenas de su concierto en el Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, el rapero y activista Emicida celebra el gran legado de la cultura afro en Brasil.
Through clippings, the film draws a narrative line between the construction of racism in Brazil and the United States, having as base the European invasion of the continent, police violence, the genocide of the black people, the massacre of indigenous peoples, religious violence, the criminalization of funk music, structural racism in art and education, the importance of quota policy and the need urgent historical repair as a commitment by the Brazilian state to the black people.
Self
Esta meditación artística e íntima sobre lalegendaria narradora de historias examina su vida, sus obras y los poderosos temas que ha enfrentado a lo largo de su carrera literaria.
Herself
While the 2016 election catalyzed the Women’s March and a new era of feminist activism, Tamika Mallory and Erika Andiola have been fighting for their communities for decades. Their stories expose the fundamental connection between personal and political and raise the question: what's intersectionality and can it save the world?
Self
Una mirada en profundidad al sistema carcelario en los Estados Unidos y cómo revela la historia de la nación de la desigualdad racial.
An intimate documentary exploration of heritage and history against the backdrop of a brewing Afro-centric revolution as the U.S. government prepares to invade the island nation of Grenada. First hand accounts from activists Angela Davis, Fania Davis and Fannie Haughton weave together director Damani Baker’s family portrait of utopian dreams, resistance and civil unrest with a film score composed by music luminary Meshell Ndegeocello.
Herself
Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is America's first lady of literature. Her books encompass black American history but live and breathe in the present, rich in vivid characters, haunted by ghosts. Born poor in Ohio in 1931, she now lives in New York. She tells Alan Yentob how her father hated whites so much he wouldn't let them in the house. Her masterpiece, Beloved, shows the horrors of slavery perhaps better than any other artwork. She talks as she writes - with warmth and wit. Contributors include Angela Davis (whose biography she edited) and singer Jessye Norman.
Herself
Criminal Queers visualizes a radical trans/queer struggle against the prison industrial complex and toward a world without walls. Remembering that prison breaks are both a theoretical and material practice of freedom, this film imagines what spaces might be opened up if crowbars, wigs, and metal files become tools for transformation.
Herself
FREE ANGELA is 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 terrorist and simultaneously spurred a worldwide political movement for her freedom.
Self (voice)
Durante más de treinta años ha permanecido oculto en una televisión sueca un material inédito sobre el movimiento estadounidense Black Power, pero ahora, una vez rescatado, se han puesto a disposición de todos las entrevistas, vídeos y reportajes que realizaron algunos periodistas del país nórdico en Estados Unidos, entre los años 1967 y 1975. Black Power fue un movimiento de defensa de los derechos de ciudadanos negros que se desarrolló en EEUU a finales de los sesenta y principios de los setenta. La protesta social reivindicaba el orgullo racial y cultural que suponía ser negro y demandaba igualdad de derechos políticos y sociales para toda la sociedad, independientemente de su raza.
Herself
Thirteen years, two inspiring women, both radical activists-one conversation. MOUNTAINS THAT TAKE WING is a historically rich and unique documentary about two formidable women who share a profound passion for justice. Through conversations that are intimate and profound, we learn about Davis, an internationally renowned scholar, writer and activist, and 88-year-old Kochiyama, a revered grassroots community activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. Their shared experience as political prisoners and their dedication to Civil Rights embody personal and political experiences as well as the diverse lives of women doing liberatory cultural work.
Herself
THE BLACK LIST: VOL. 2 profiles some of today's most fascinating African-Americans. From the childhood inspirations that shaped their ambitions, to the evolving American landscape they helped define, to the importance of preserving a unique cultural identity for future generations, these prominent individuals offer a unique look into the zeitgeist of black America, redefining the traditional pejorative notion of a blacklist.
Herself
A documentary on the life of John Lennon, with a focus on the time in his life when he transformed from a musician into an antiwar activist.
Self
Amid an escalating war in Iraq, rising terror levels and the threat of nuclear attack, a growing body of intellectuals, religious leaders and community organizers are getting tough with their questions about peace -- and that's no oxymoron. To shed light on the answers, filmmakers Gabriele Zamparini and Lorenzo Meccoli record a variety of speakers, including Noam Chomsky, Desmond Tutu, Scott Ritter, Pete Seeger, Howard Zinn and Gore Vidal.
A Huey P. Newton Story is a 2001 film directed by Spike Lee. It is a filmed performance of Roger Guenveur Smith's one-man show of the same name. Smith sits in a chair on a stage and tells about the past, mostly dealing with Huey P. Newton's life and times.
Self
Black Is ... Black Ain't es una mirada descaradamente franca y honesta, y en ocasiones humorística, sobre la identidad negra en Estados Unidos. En su proyecto final antes de perder su batalla contra el sida, el aclamado director Marlon Riggs desafía la definición tradicional de negritud al tiempo que hace un sonoro llamado a los afroamericanos para que celebren la diversidad dentro de la comunidad para que se pueda lograr el sueño de la unidad. Una crítica poderosa e inteligente del racismo, el sexismo y la homofobia, la película entrena un foco brillante sobre la exclusividad y rigidez de las instituciones negras de la familia, la iglesia y la comunidad.
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Malcolm Little (1925–1965) nació en Omaha (Nebraska). Su padre, ministro baptista, murió siendo él niño, y su madre acabó en un psiquiátrico cuando el Ku Klux Klan incendió su casa. Después de ser rechazado por el ejército, cayó en la delincuencia y fue a parar a la cárcel. Allí se convirtió al Islam y cambió radicalmente su vida, convirtiéndose pronto en un carismático líder del movimiento de liberación de la comunidad negra norteamericana.
This celebration of African American women and their achievements features interviews with Angela Davis, June Jordan and Alice Walker. Within the context of the civil rights, Black power and feminist movements, the trio reassess how women such as Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hamer revolutionized American society. (IMDb)
Self
This vibrant and engaging video profiles the a capella activist group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. Singing to end the oppression of Black people world wide, SWEET HONEY embraces musical styles from spirituals and blues to calypso, and concerns ranging from feminism to ecology, peace and justice. This dynamic video features individual portraits, powerful concert footage and commentary by Angela Davis, Alice Walker and Holly Near.
Self/Cameo
United States of America, early 1980s. From the height of a fifty-story building located in the center of New York on a granite cliff in Manhattan, people on the streets seem small, and the problems that surround them from all sides are impossible to distinguish at all. But they are - these problems are difficult, painful and inescapable. In their tighter grip, today's America and its millions of citizens are beating...
A documentary dedicated to the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students held in East Berlin in the summer of 1973.
Self (archive footage)
James Earl Jones narrates this fascinating and moving documentary about the life of the assassinated black leader through various sources.
Self
"Director Yolande du Luart had been involved in Lettrist circles in France before decamping for California to study film at UCLA, where her classmates included Charles Burnett and Haile Gerima. During this time, UCLA professor Angela Davis was a subject of increasing scrutiny after coming out as a Communist, provoking the ire of administrators and governor Ronald Reagan. Believing that Davis would be an ideal film subject, du Luart immediately began making a documentary, though she would ultimately return to France to complete the project after receiving unwanted attention from the FBI. “Over the course of events,” writes Nicole Brenez, “this appreciative and sensitive portrait of a politically engaged philosopher had been transformed into a call for the liberation of an imprisoned activist and an internationalist revolutionary manifesto.”" - Film at Lincoln Center
Herself
In the aftermath of the arrest of Angela Davis, Jean Genet reads a text denouncing racist US policy, supporting the Black Panthers party and Angela Davis for a television show that will be completely censored.
Narrator
An experimental documentary, this work is unique as it portrays the injustices of the California prison system as seen through the eyes of HIV+ women incarcerated in this system. "Blind Eye To Justice" was named by Twillah Wallace, a current inmate and HIV+ woman. Animation and found footage create a powerful montage that evokes the atmosphere in women's prisons--the violations as well as the hope and courage of prison activists who fight quietly, and from the inside. As well as documenting the experience of many women including Patti Contrerras, Blind Eye To Justice educates audiences by providing an overview of the issues of human rights for HIV+ women caught in the criminal justice system.
Courtesy of The Freedom Archives 1972, 28 min. This extraordinary video is from a 16mm film “work print” made in 1971–1972, and includes interviews with George Jackson, Georgia Jackson (George and Jonathan Jackson’s mother) and Angela Davis, while she was still in the Marin County Courthouse Jail, before her acquittal. We have not been able to identify the other prisoners. As you will see, the film has no titles or other credits. The discovery of such amazing, previously unknown historic materials always leaves us thrilled and in awe, deepening our understanding of those times and affirming the mission of the Freedom Archives.