FILM FESTIVAL: "Real to Reel: Documenting Empowerment, Equality, Inclusion" (The Ross Theater, Lincoln, NE, April 16-20, 2009 - FREE/open to public)

The African and African American Studies Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is sponsoring our second "Blacks In Film Festival" in mid-April. This time around we are focusing on documentary films and asking some broad questions...

• How has documentary film been used to tell meaningful stories about black people in Africa and the United States?  What is the process of putting these stories together on film?  What makes a compelling documentary film?  

•  What kinds of (intellectual, cultural, social, etc.) spaces do these films open up for audiences to consider race relations and black experience in new or meaningful ways?

• Can documentary film play a role in political struggle?  Can documentary film be a "weapon of the oppressed," an agent of change?  If so, how? If not, why not?

• And does the relationship between the filmmaker and the subject matter in documentary films matter?  Explain.

Here is the poster for the film festival (click image to enlarge)

Here are the films we are screening at The Ross FREE and open to the public...

-  "What We Want, What We Believe... the Black Panthers" (on the Black Panther Party)

-  "Mo & Me" (filmmakers exploration of his father's - Mo Amin - life)

-  "God Grew Tired of Us" (on Sudan's "Lost Boys")

-  "Wattstax" (the 1973 "Black Woodstock" concert in Los Angeles, featuring Staxx Records musicians and Richard Pryor interludes)

-  "When We Were Kings" (on famed "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire)

-  "Amandla:  A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony" (on role of music in South African freedom movement)

-  "Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes" (on sexism and homophobia in hip hop)

-  "Hip Hop Colony" (on hip hop in Africa)

For full film festival information (including brief bios of our two keynote filmmakers, a detailed schedule of all events, and synopses of each film) click here.

Please spread the word...

"Violence is Golden, It Seems"

My friend Roger German has penned a response to the recent cancellation of Bill Ayers' visit to Lincoln. Recall that University officials claimed it was threats of violence that forced the "disinvitation." What is the lesson from all of this, asks German:

So, what have we learned today, students?

We have learned that Ayers was absolutely right back in the ’60s.

If you want something done in the United States of America, you need to resort to violence, or the threat of violence. That is the way you make your voice heard. You don’t discuss, you don’t vote, you don’t talk about it; you threaten and intimidate.

There are approximately 47,808 students in the University of Nebraska system in Lincoln, Omaha, Bellevue, Creighton and Kearney.

They all learned a very important lesson this week. Violence is golden.

Check out the whole thing...

The Progressive Writes About UNL's Decision to "Disinvite" Ayers to Campus

Well, there has been a controversy swirling at UNL over the last week after university administrators forced the education school to cancel a scheduled visit by WIlliam Ayers (yes, THAT Bill Ayers) in mid-November for an education conference. It is a very problematic move by the University in terms of academic freedom. I am an acquaintance of Matt Rothschild, editor of The Progressive Magazine, and after speaking with him about the flap, he decided to write a story on the issue for the magazine. Check it out here.

In addition, a group of academics, nationwide, has joined together to defend Ayers and support academic freedom. They have a petition, if you are interested in signing...

"Die-In" at UNL

Yesterday, about 15-20 people participated in a symbolic "die-in" on the University of Nebraska campus to dramatize the human toll of the war in Iraq and challenge the link between Iraq and 9/11. Most of the folks were members of the Lincoln Coalition for Peace. A few local media outlets turned out to film the protest and a couple dozen students milled around commenting on the scene. In a moment of candor, one pro-war student blurted out to Sarah McCammon, our friendly NPR reporter, something to the effect: "We're going to need their oil sooner or later anyhow, so we might as well go in now and take it." Well, at least she is straight-up about it...

Members of the UNL chapter of Nebraskans for Peace plan a similar, but larger, protest before the much-hyped primetime USC-Nebraska football game here in Lincoln this Saturday night. ESPN will even be in town...

This event was also a precursor to a city-wide rally/protest to be held earlier on Saturday in conjunction with the national day of action. The demonstration begins at 11am in front of the Federal Building in downtown Lincoln and will feature music by RC Dub, our favorite local reggae band! (RC Dub website)

Here are some photos I took at the "die-in" (click any photo to enlarge):