• Black Panther

  • Schmeerguntz

  • Black Panther



Out of the Vault: Radical Shorts



BAMPFA Collection Prints

  • Headshots of members of the collective, The Black Aesthetic. From left: Ra Malika Imhotep, Leila Weefur, and Jamal Batts.
    Introduction
    The Black Aesthetic

    The Black Aesthetic is a creative organization whose mission is to curate and assemble a collective and distinct understanding of black visual culture.

During the 1960s, experimental shorts proliferated, offering alternative viewpoints and innovative aesthetics. Among the many local productions of the Newsreel collective are two raw, vibrant films relating the positions of the Black Panthers and students striking at San Francisco State for ethnic studies programs. When Gunvor Nelson and Dorothy Wiley turned to film to express women’s concerns, the resulting Schmeerguntz was called “one raucous belch in the face of the American Home.” In Cuba, Santiago Álvarez examined racism in the US and the life of Ho Chi-Minh in two of his collage newsreels: “Give me two photos, music, and a moviola,” he said, “and I’ll give you a movie.”

Films in this Screening

An American Time Capsule

Charles Braverman, United States, 1968

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 3 mins
source
  • BAMPFA

Now!

Santiago Álvarez, Cuba, 1965

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 5 mins
source
  • BAMPFA

Schmeerguntz

Gunvor Nelson, Dorothy Wiley, United States, 1965

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 15 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
Additional Info
  • BAMPFA preservation print Preservation funded by AFI Challenge Grant for Film Preservation

Black Panther
(Off the Pig)

Newsreel, United States, 1968

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 15 mins
source
  • Canyon Cinema

San Francisco State on Strike

Newsreel, United States, 1969

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 25 mins
source
  • BAMPFA

79 Springtimes

Santiago Álvarez, Cuba, 1969

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 25 mins
source
  • BAMPFA