The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975

This afternoon I saw a preview of The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975, a Swedish documentary by Göran Hugo Olsson about the Black Power movement. The film is assembled from archival footage from Swedish TV, with voice-over commentary from activists, academics & musicians viewing the clips from the vantage point of 2010. The Vietnam War caused a diplomatic rift between Sweden & the US during the film's time frame, & this forms part of the context for what we see. The selected clips get straight to the point. We see the UC Berkeley campus looking like a war zone, a helicopter flying overhead while police shoot into the crowd. Sitting in a jail cell, Angela Davis takes a reporter to school about growing up black in the South. Louis Farrakhan, in a theater-like office in 1974, delivers a controlled rant that ends with a tirade against eating "swine." I left feeling that the struggle for empowerment continues.

Black Power Mixtape plays at the San Francisco International Film Festival on Saturday, April 30 & Tuesday, May 3.

§ The Black Power Mixtape 1967 - 1975
Director, Göran Hugo Olsson
Documentary, Sweden/USA, 2011, 96 min