‘Once-Banned’ Film To Screen In Newark At Malcolm X Human Rights Fest

NEWARK, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of a Patch Newark community member. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.

On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC) will make its Newark, New Jersey debut with a special showing of the film that was once banned there … “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary,” by Newark native, Steve Vittoria.

The special screening is the unofficial launch of the organization's new project, The Malcolm X Human Rights Festival. It will take place at The REFAL Center, 271 South 9th Street, Newark, at 4 p.m. The event is free, but pre-registration is preferred. See the link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mumia-long-distance-revolutionary-documentary-film-screening-tickets-524328650107

At the heart of this project is the use of underappreciated film efforts that seek to support or initiate community organizing or education.

"This is not and will not be a 'celebrity' driven Film Festival," said organizer Zayid Muhammad.

"It will be driven by issues we are directly supporting or are engaged with."

The event will also be the first event for the MXCC in its 30th anniversary. Organizers plan to host an anniversary dinner tribute to founding chairman Herman Ferguson and Yuri Kochiyama, two movement legends who both joined Malcolm's Organization of Afro American Unity, dedicated to the family of Black political prisoners, sometime later this year.

They also intend to make the festival's 'official' launch by the year's end.

"There are a number of good underappreciated films that have been done on Malcolm that have powerful instructional value, " Muhammad explained.

"Those films will serve as the anchor for the new annual project."

Organizers are also considering doing the project in a number of other cities where they have developed support from the virtual work they have done in recent years.

This event is being done to reaffirm critical area support for journalist and Panther political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal, who has a critically important upcoming court hearing.

In 2013, organizers sought to have the film, which features appearances and commentary by legendary activist performers Ruby Dee and Dick Gregory, social justice legends Angela Davis and Juan Gonzalez, among others, shown at City Plex 12, Newark's only movie theater. However, law enforcement officials compelled the theater's management and ownership to not show the film.

The People's Organization for Progress and the New Black Panther Party protested the theater's 'banning.' It went on to be shown and celebrated all around the world in spite of the Newark controversy.

For more information, text 973-202-0745.

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