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Sunday, February 12 at 11 p.m. – The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, an Independent Lens presentation

(Rochester, NY) – The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, airing Sunday, February 12 at 11 p.m. on WXXI-TV/HD (DT 21.1/cable 1011 and 11), combines startlingly fresh and candid 16mm footage that had lain undiscovered in the cellar of Swedish Television for the past 30 years. With contemporary audio interviews from leading African-American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars, Mixtape looks at the people, society, culture and style that fueled an era of convulsive change, 1967-1975. Utilizing an innovative format that riffs on the popular 1970s mixtape format, this is a cinematic and musical journey into the black communities of America.

Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement – Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver among them-the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this lush collection was found languishing in the basement of Swedish Television. Director Göran Olsson and co-producer Danny Glover bring this footage to light in a mosaic of images, music, and narration chronicling the evolution, one of our nation's most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Music by Questlove and Om'Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle – including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Melvin Van Peebles – give the historical footage a fresh, contemporary resonance and makes the film an exhilarating, unprecedented account of an American revolution.

Pictured: Angela Davis:
Credit: Courtesy of Tommy Goetz

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