Black Panthers (1968)

Director:

Agnès Varda

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Tagline:

Black is beautiful! We want to free Huey Newton!

Cast

H. Rap Brown	...	Himself
Stokely Carmichael	...	Himself
Eldridge Cleaver	...	Himself
Ron Dellums
James Forman
Huey P. Newton	...	Himself
Bobby Seale	...	Himself

Also Known As:

Huey (USA)

Runtime:

31 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Oakland, California, USA

Company:

Ciné Tamaris

Movie Connections:

Featured in Berkeley in the Sixties (1990)

A look at a rally to free Huey Newton

I hadn't seen any of Agnes Varda's films until I caught The Gleaners and I a few months ago at a film festival. I loved it, mainly because of Varda's extremely personal aproach to some interesting material and questions. I was recently doing some research on sixties activism when I stumbled across Black Panthers, Varda's 1968 documentary about the Black Panther Party.

The 30 minute long film looks at a rally to free the party's leader, Huey P. Newton. There's no pretense of objectivity -- the Black Panther Party shared in the copyright. Speakers at the rally included Bobby Seale, Stokely Carmichael, and H. Rap Brown, and there's also a short interview with Newton, in prison. Other segments include white people at a firing rage (some of which are children), and members of the police department explaining the gear they carry in the trunks of their cars.

This film documents some of the most important and controverial black leaders of the late 60s, and is a must see for anyone interested in sixties radicalism ot the Panthers.