WATTSTAX

(1973, 102m) dir Mel Stuart, w/ Richard Pryor, Isaac Hayes, Rance Allen, Mavis Staples, Ruby Dee, Melvin Van Peebles, Jesse Jackson.

On August 20, 1972, the independent record label Stax organized a 7-hour, non-stop, Black music festival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to mark seven years since the 1965 Watts Uprisings in LA. Mel Stuart’s concert documentary captures the political energy and musical catharsis of the event, including performances by The Staple Singers, Albert King, Rance Allen, and Isaac Hayes, as well as comic interludes by Richard Pryor, interviews with Watts residents, and Jesse Jackson’s recitation of “I Am Somebody.”

Thanks to Sound Unseen for their promotional support.

*DCP courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment. This screening was made possible by the University of Minnesota Imagine Fund.

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