Independent Lens
Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities
Tell Them We Are Rising explores the pivotal role historically black colleges and universities have played in America.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
The Black Panther Party has a reviled, adored, misunderstood, and mythologized history. They sought to drastically transform the system.
- Series
- Independent Lens
- Premiere Date
- February 16, 2016
- Length
- 120 minutes
- Funding Initiative
- Series and Special Projects
Producer/Director
Stanley Nelson
Stanley Nelson is an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, MacArthur “genius” Fellow, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in August 2014. Nelson has directed and produced numerous acclaimed films, including Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (Independent Lens), Freedom Summer, Freedom Riders, Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple… Show more
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The Film
Change was coming to America and the fault lines were no longer ignorable — cities were burning, Vietnam was exploding, and disputes raged over equality and civil rights. A new revolutionary culture was emerging and it sought to drastically transform the system. The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would, for a short time, put itself at the vanguard of that change.
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is the first feature length documentary to showcase the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its cultural and political awakening for black people, and the painful lessons wrought when a movement derails. Master documentarian Stanley Nelson goes straight to the source, weaving a treasure of rare archival footage with the voices of the people who were there: police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, and Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party and those who left it. The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, chronicles this pivotal movement that birthed a new revolutionary culture in America.
