Black Horizons; 3301; Without Sanctuary

You You You didn't see that one. Oh, come on. You

saw that. Who's the name of it? Oh, that was the sweetest little thing I had tears in my head. You didn't see that. You got to get a copy of it. You Without sanctuary lynching in America opens in a day long event that's free to the public on Saturday, September 22nd. For more information, you can call the war hall at 412 -237 -8300. Coming soon to a theater near you

will be the fourth annual in BPC prize pieces film in video festival. The festival showcases the work of some of the country's best African -American filmmakers. And today we're proud to bring you a preview of one of those films entitled Who Killed America? Take a look. I Named him America when he was born because to me he symbolized hope. No, I'm not so sure He's been doing that every day since his cousin was killed back and forth as fast as he can. He pretends he's being chased. He's afraid they'll come after him like they did his cousin. I keep telling him it was an accident.

That they thought his cousin was a gang man. He doesn't understand. In the last two years, the United States is the only country in the world to execute its children. All he knows is Kevin was good to him like an older brother. It didn't matter to him. It didn't matter to them. Kevin was an honest student who everybody knew wanted to be a doctor. That the gang bangers used to protect him used to keep him off of the street and inside studying. To America, Kevin was his best friend. But to the police he was just another. It's ironic how these things happen to good people. Kevin had just turned 12.

I thought they were supposed to be on our side. I thought they were supposed to be on our side. I don't know how to get him to stop. How to get him to believe it won't happen to him. Maybe because I'm not sure it won't. We need a doctor or a nurse. Maybe I shouldn't have had something to say to press. Do I have to wear a badge to be media? Yes. It happens more often than I'd like to think. And always a mistake. The police first told my family that it was

suicide. Rarely investigated. Taisa Miller was shot unjustly without cause. And now two years later, a federal government is still dragging their feet. Rarely prosecuted and rarely apologized for. Brutalizing your own children. Kevin was hit in the head 31 times. Some kind of mistake. Because that night when he killed my father. Can you not kill him? Can you not kill him? Stop shooting him. There are thousands of Armando Diallo's lying in graves all across this country. This is not the world that I intended to turn over to my children. Sometimes he lies on his side in the driveway pretending they're beating him.

Sometimes he lies in the street pretending he's dead. This is not the America I dreamed of. Somebody please tell me who killed America. America is kind of like somebody's imagination. It's nice, you know, it doesn't really exist. He is the hedgehog. He's the size of a man. How many of you good? And here you go. And when you're on your exercise and you're right, If there are days in power, we're nothing. Our next guest is the

outreach director for the National Black Program in Consortium and prize pieces, Aisha White. Welcome to Program is White glad to have you here. Good to be here. Tell us a little bit about the NBPC. When was it formed? What is its purpose? The National Black Program in Consortium was formed in 1979 by some people who worked in public television who felt that there was a grave need for more diversity in the National PBS schedule and so NBPC was formed at that time. And they tried to get more of the film and video, more diverse brand of it out to the public. It's my understanding that there are tons of independent filmmakers, men and women making videos like the one that we just saw but they never have a place to be seen. Is that true? Right and I think typically what happens is those films do make the independent film festival circuit and that means that there's a small festival in a town somewhere and people who are in that area get to see the film but if you're not there you don't learn

about it. There's not the national publicity that films such as rush hour would get so people around the country don't know about films that may be shown on the west coast, east coast etc. Also rush hour is a Hollywood type film with a central comedy kind of plot to it and people act in pretty goofy. I don't think that they would touch the subject matter of the film that we just saw. Right for a variety of reasons. One is it doesn't necessarily have mass appeal. Not in the way that a rush hour would because it's not entertaining somebody. It's actually entertaining and educating somebody. And so for Hollywood films what they're looking for is films that will draw a huge audience so they can make up the money that went into the development of the film. The lowest common denominator kind of thing. Definitely. Tell me about the festival what's going to happen in win. The festival begins on Thursday September the 27th. It opens with a special screening at Wilkinsburg High School with a film by Carl Clay

and it's about how kids should act when they're stopped by the police and there's going to be a workshop following that screening. In the evening at 730 there's going to be a film called Fakine. It's by women. Let's just stop. Let's go back to that one because if you're taking that at the Wilkinsburg High School that's going to be pretty important especially with the follow -up workshop. Have you seen the film? Do you do you have any expectations as to how the young people in at the High School are going to react to it and what they're going to say or want to know? Well my coworker has seen the film. I haven't seen the film. However the filmmaker has been working with young people for quite a while and he's done a lot of these trainings at public high schools and follow -up workshops at public high schools so he's pretty well prepared for presenting this film with young people. Okay now let's go back to that evening in the next film. The next film is called Fakine. It's by Usman Simben who is the premier African filmmaker and it's about an African -American professional I'm sorry an

African professional woman. She's the manager of a gas station and it's all about her life as a single mother. Where? What's going to be shown at the Carnegie M油? No no I mean where is the film where it's you say it's an African woman. It doesn't take place in America. Is it in Africa? She's running a gas station? Yeah it's filmed in Africa. In Africa okay. And I lost my train of thought. Then you were about to say about the next film I think. Okay the next film that we're going to show is a film called Our Song. It's about young girls in New York. It's three young girls and it's a non -stereotypical vision of what their daily lives are like and that's by a filmmaker named Jim McKay. Non -stereotypical so they're not just going you go girl or something like that. Right so it's not going to show focus primarily on poverty or on teenage pregnancy. It's what they go through on a daily basis. You think people will be surprised by some of the things they're going through?

Yeah I do. Okay and is there another one? Is there one more? There's two more. Okay. That are that we are actually showcasing because there's a total of over 20 films that are going to be shown as part of the film festival. Okay well the two you showcase. The other two that we're showcasing is one called a Hueypin Newton story. That is a theatrical rendition of a play, a one -man play that was as a matter of fact here in Pittsburgh by the actor Robert Grenier. Yeah I think I've seen it before what he was saying. It's spelling to his name which is why it's kind of difficult to pronounce it and that is a film that was directed by Spike Lee. He looks a lot like Hueypin Newton when he assumes the role. Yes and he actually begins to take on the persona of Hueypin Newton because he's managed to I guess watch enough footage of Huey and be able to do the performance and look just like Hueypin Newton. And there's one more that portrays an African leader of note right? Yes La Mamba

and that's a film by Raul Peck and it's about the last days of Patrice La Mamba who was a leader in the Congo for a very brief period of time. Does it get into the complicity of the American CIA and his death and all of that? I'm not sure it goes into too much detail about that. There have been other films where that does happen but this one focuses more on his last days. What can you say to the public about the importance of getting out and seeing these films being informed by them, entertained by them, not all of them because I've seen some of the other film festivals are just films that are just oh such strong subjects. Some of them are just very entertaining and a slice of life. Like I imagine the one about the three girls that's non stereotypical. It just may be very engrossing. Yeah and what happens is these films touch you in a different kind of way because I think when people go to see Hollywood type films you see basically what you expect. And a lot of times

when you see these films you see something in a different angle you see some you learn some information that you didn't already have and it's that sort of thing to get you to sort of talking about the issues and that's really what we want. Okay well I should wait. Thank you for being here and telling us about the NBPC's prize pieces film and video festival. We appreciate it and we hope everybody gets out to take a look at them. Okay. Thank you for having me. Prize pieces films will be broadcast here on WQED September 21st and September 28th. And you can catch the films on the big screen September 27th through the 30th. For film locations and times call the NBPC at 412 -622 -1466. That number again is 412 -622 -1466. If you're a regular QED viewer you may have caught one of the popular do -up specials that run during pledge season. But did you know that Black Horizons went behind the scenes at do -up 50 and caught

many of the performers up close and personal. It's true. Here's do -up Black Horizons style.