In the Order of Weapons: 50 Years of Community Film Across Black America

In the Order of Weapons: 50 Years of Community Film Across Black America

$10 General Admission, $7 Members, Free for all Festival Pass holders

“Films from a black perspective are films that are more in the order of weapons in the struggle for freedom, for equality, for liberation and self-expression, and for all those human rights…”

William Greaves, filmmaker.

As we celebrate 50 years of the Newark Black Film Festival, we reflect on a legacy of bold vision and voices in Black film. This program celebrates the community as filmmaker. These films were not made to sell tickets in movie theaters — they were collectively created by community entities to confront local power, preserve local histories and effect local change.  

Join us for this dynamic curation of radical short documentaries, made across geographies, over the past 50 years, about, by and in service to Black communities across the United States.   

Panther AKA Off The Pig (1967)

• by San Francisco Newsreel (15 mins)
• A compelling document of the Black Panther Party leadership in 1967.  One of Newsreel’s most widely distributed films, it was originally released as “Off the Pig.” This short film features drawings from activist artist Emory Douglas.

The Taking of One Liberty Place (1987)

• by Louis Massiah, Carlton Jones, Scribe Video Center (8 mins)
• A moving, “you-are-there” document of the October 1, 1987 sit-in and occupation of Philadelphia’s newest and largest office building, One Liberty Place. The demonstrators, many of whom were homeless and/or members of the National Homeless Union, chose this building as a symbol of both misplaced corporate and government priorities.

Black Women, Sexual Politics and Revolution (1992)

• by Not Channel Zero Collective (29 mins)
• Black women speak candidly on issues of sex, class and gender roles. The video examines how African American women deal with issues of poverty, abortion, battering and lack of health care, and addresses how women’s roles in community struggle and activism are often overlooked or ignored. The video also looks at media portrayals with an emphasis on the representation of Black women in music videos.

Mothers of Terrell Homes (2019)

• by Rita Fortenberry, Dorothy Brazell, Rosemary Horsley, Rhonda Napier, Valerie Hall, Betty Brazell, Isaac Green Diebboll,  (21 mins)
• A multi-generational matriarchy fights to protect their home, a 275 unit public housing complex in the Ironbound Neighborhood of Newark, NJ that has been slated for demolition.

Following this screening will be a panel discussion featuring MacArthur prize-winning documentary filmmaker and founding executive director of Philadelphia’s Scribe Video Center, Louis Massiah.  The panel will be moderated by Yvonne Michelle Shirley, director of Express Newark’s Community Media Center. 

This program is inspired by the 2022 WE TELL: Fifty Years of Community Participatory Media National Touring Exhibition.