+powerful. educational. inspirational documentary film “Black August Hip Hop Project” directed by Dream Hampton | Los Angeles screenings: Sat, Feb 19th @10:00pm; Wed, Feb 23rd @6:40pm | Culver Plaza Theatres: 9919 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232* | dig deeper…
LA WEEKLY Recommendations : Pan African Film Festival 2011*
Hip-hop cultural critic–turned-filmmaker Dream Hampton‘s Black August (U.S.) is an engrossing critique of the creation and incarceration of America’s political prisoners (in this case, African-American political activists). The film is deft and fast-moving, and Hampton shrewdly introduces the subject by having Dave Chappelle function as a kind of clueless Everyman, explaining the historical meaning and connotations of the term “Black August” by first admitting he only recently heard the term, before breaking down its significance: Black Panther George Jackson was murdered by San Quentin prison guards in August 1971, kicking off a lineage of African-American political tragedies that would occur over the years in the month of August. With crisply shot concert footage from the annual consciousness-raising, New York–based Black August Hip-Hop Festival (performers include Mos Def, Common, Talib Kweli and Dead Prez) juxtaposed against interviews with political exiles Nehanda Abiodun and Assata Shakur, the documentary is the perfect blend of sleek professionalism and gritty substance.
By Ernest Hardy
*follow link to continue reading: http://www.laweekly.com/2011-02-17/film-tv/pan-african-film-festival-2011
Trailer:
to buy tickets please visit the box office (Culver Plaza Theatres: 9919 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232) or visit: http://www.paff.org/panafricanfilmfestival/tickets
weflyink : conexão 