Picture This! The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

Tonight's program is presented in honor of Patrick J. Germany (1959 - 2022), a member from age 10 and Minister for Defense of the San Diego Original Black Panther Party for Community Empowerment (SDOBPPCE).

Featuring a live performance by Bloodstone the Street Preacher and XSTRANGERX plus remarks from San Diego Original Black Panther Party for Community Empowerment (SDOBPPCE) members. SDOBPPCE will also be on-site providing informational resources.

Pre-screening programming begins around 6:15, with the film starting at 6:30.

Synopsis

In the turbulent 1960s, change was coming to America and the fault lines could no longer be ignored — cities were burning, Vietnam was exploding, and disputes raged over equality and civil rights. A new revolutionary culture was emerging and it sought to drastically transform the system. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would, for a short time, put itself at the vanguard of that change.  The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature-length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails.

Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the diverse group of voices of the people who were there: police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, and Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party and those who left it.

Featuring Kathleen Cleaver, Jamal Joseph, Ericka Huggins, and dozens of others, as well as archival footage of the late Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution tells the story of a pivotal movement that gave rise to a new revolutionary culture in America.  Their causes, with slogans like “power to the people” and “creating a better world” are relevant again in an era that has seen the rise of the “Black Lives Matter” movement and tense relations between African American communities and the police. The Black Panthers condemnations of injustice, oppression and brutality in the late ’60s and early ’70s reverberate again in one city after another.

Production

NR | 120 minutes | Documentary | Directed by Stanley Nelson | 2015

Picture This features free film screenings every Monday at 6:30 pm in the Central Library's Neil Morgan Auditorium. Check back here, in the library calendar, for the most up-to-date lineup of films.

This program is free and open to the public; no registration is required. Underground parking can be accessed from 11th Ave and is free for 2 hours with validation in the main lobby. The Central Library entrance is also conveniently located along the Blue and Orange trolley lines, between the Park/Market and 12th/Imperial trolley stops.