BAM is screening an important, provocative film series this month called “Say It Loud: Cinema in the Age of Black Power, 1966—1981,” in collaboration with Brooklyn Museum, whose “Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power” opens September 14. Considering the current big screen responses to racial discrimination and violence in films like Get Out and Sorry to Bother You, the time is ripe for us to revisit their cinematic precursors.
Monday is a chance to see Killer of Sheep, a poetic meditation on African-American working-class life in the L.A. neighborhood of Watts, and considered the best student film ever made. Passing Through, directed by Larry Clark and featuring the music of John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Sun Ra, is about a fresh-out-of-prison saxophonist who resists the white record label execs trying to commodify his music and screens on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday, two Melvin Van Peebles films are on offer, before BAM moves into a one-week run of his Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, which Black Panthers co-founder Huey Newton called “the first truly revolutionary Black film ever made.” Tickets to each are $15; the full lineup is here.
More ideas for Your Ideal Week here ⇨
“Blank Panthers” is why you shouldn’t let autocorrect be your proofreader.