Still from The Black Panthers: The Vanguard of the Revolution

Sundance Film Review: The Black Panthers: The Vanguard of the Revolution

Events

The Black Panthers: The Vanguard of the Revolution

Sundance Film Festival

Director: Stanley Nelson

With the heightened sense of racism that has been projected in the media in the last 12 months (not that it didn’t exist without all the publicity), director Stanley Nelson’s recollection of the fight for civil rights with The Black Panthers on the front lines seems highly appropriate at this juncture. While some deemed the party’s actions as bold and arrogant, the passion for equal rights was front and center. Nelson divulges frank interviews with former Black Panther members as they discuss their methods that exploited the media to further their cause as well as the rallies that ignited the streets with support and outrage. The true enthrallment comes from the dastardly deeds of J. Edgar Hoover and his Counterintelligence Program that tracked, tapped, and falsified personal letters to members of the Black Panther party. The first Director of the FBI even convinced detained party members to turn on their organization and become government informants. It’s an accounting with so many outrageous points it has to be true. –Jimmy Martin

 Time: Saturday, Jan. 31 @ 6:00 p.m. Venue: Yarrow Hotel Theatre, Park City

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