Amiri Baraka
The New-Ark (1968)
In 1968, poet, playwright, and activist Amiri Baraka (aka LeRoi Jones) and cinematographer James Hinton were commissioned by the Public Broadcasting Laboratory to document Black Power activism in Newark, New Jersey. Beginning as an ode to the city, the film highlights the critical organizing done shortly after a tumultuous period of protest, violence, and upheaval. The focus of this creative documentary is Spirit House, a center for radical black pedagogy, community re-building, and flourishing Black Arts, where people engaged with black education, public street theater, music, dance, and political consciousness–raising. Lost for years and recently rediscovered, The New-Ark was restored and preserved by the Harvard Film Archive. 1968, 16mm-to-digital, 25 minutes. Digitized by Anthology Film Archives from the collection of Harvard Film Archive.
Preceded by
Agnès Varda
Black Panthers (1968)
After relocating to California, French New Wave filmmaker Agnès Varda traveled to Oakland to interview activists involved with the Black Panther Party and revolution. Skillfully interwoven with this footage is her observational recording of an Oakland demonstration against the imprisonment of activist and Black Panther Party cofounder Huey P. Newton. 1968, DCP, 28 minutes.
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