Join Firelight Media and PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel for a special live Q&A to discuss The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, the first feature-length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party and its significance to the broader American culture. The conversation includes filmmaker Stanley Nelson & special guests Shaka King, Ericka Huggins, Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, Laurens Grant, and moderator Tabitha Jackson.
The Black Panther Party has re-entered the public discourse in a major way with the recent release of the feature film Judas and the Black Messiah. To discuss the legacy of the Panther Party and its impact on social movements today, join acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson and producer Laurens Grant for a discussion inspired by their 2016 documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. Joining the conversation is Shaka King, director of Judas the Black Messiah, alongside Ericka Huggins, activist and leading Black Panther Party member, and Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, the former National Strategies and Partnerships Director at The Movement for Black Lives. The discussion will be moderated by Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Sundance Film Festival.
Presented by Firelight Media and PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel in collaboration with PBS and ITVS.
To register to watch the film, click here. Please note, a limited number of tickets are available. The event may "sell out."
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is available to stream on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel and PBS Passport, a PBS member benefit within the PBS Video App.
More about our panelists
Stanley Nelson is today’s leading documentarian of the African-American experience. His films combine compelling narratives with rich historical detail to shine new light on the under-explored American past. Awards received over the course of his career include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and lifetime achievement awards from the Emmys and IDA. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama. In 2019, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was nominated by the GRAMMYs for Best Music Film. Nelson’s latest documentary, Crack: Cocaine, Conspiracy, Corruption debuted on Netflix in 2021.
In 2000, Mr. Nelson, and his wife, Marcia Smith, co-founded Firelight Media, a non-profit
production company dedicated to advancing contemporary social justice issues, amplifying
underrepresented narratives, and fostering a new generation of diverse filmmakers.
Shaka King is an emergent, auteur filmmaker with a body of work that spans the film and television arenas. King is the director, co-writer and producer behind the highly-anticipated feature, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, starring Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya. The film, which marks his studio feature directorial debut, centers on Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal. King was recently nominated for a PGA Award and for a WGA Award on behalf of the film, and Kaluuya won the Golden Globe Award and the Critics’ Choice Award. for his performance. The film has already been recognized by the National Board of Review and AFI has one of the top films of the year. King was also recognized with the Director Award at the Critics’ Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema event this year. In 2020, he was selected as one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch in conjunction with his work on the feature. For television, King directed multiple episodes of SHRILL for Hulu, and before that, was a writer and co-director on RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS for HBO. Previously, he directed multiple episodes of PEOPLE OF EARTH for TBS, as well as HIGH MAINTENANCE for HBO. He is the writer and director who won the coveted “Someone to Watch” honor at the Independent Spirit Awards on behalf of his feature directorial debut, NEWLYWEEDS, which premiered at Sundance in 2013. King currently resides in New York.
Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is a father, husband, longtime community organizer and educator from Central Brooklyn. Lumumba is the former National Strategies and Partnerships Director at The Movement for Black Lives. From 2011 to 2020, Lumumba served as the Director of Community Organizing at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. From 2002 to 2007 Lumumba served as a counselor and lecturer at Medgar Evers College/CUNY. Fall 2019, Lumumba taught an Introduction to Ethnic Studies course at San Francisco State University. Lumumba continues to teach his community organizing class as an adjunct lecturer within the City University of New York. From 1994 – 1998 Lumumba served as programming coordinator at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCC). During his tenure at CCC, he also co-found Azabache, an organizers training conference and workshop series for young activists. All the while as a Black Studies Major at City College of NY/CUNY. He went on to receive his Masters in Human Service from Lincoln University in 1998. As a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele helped establish its campaign to counter police abuse and misconduct. He also co-founded the world renowned Black August Hip Hop Project. Black August raises awareness and support for political prisoners in the United States. Lumumba currently serves as a board member for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center, and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
Ericka Huggins is an educator, leading Black Panther Party member, former political prisoner, human rights advocate, and poet.
For 45 years Ericka has lectured in the United States, and internationally, on the principles of racial equity in our personal and work lives, as well as abolishing punitive practices and establishing restorative practices as we shift from mass incarceration.
Ericka was professor of Sociology and African American Studies from 2008 through 2015 in the Peralta Community College District and, from 2003 to 2011 at California State Universities, East Bay and San Francisco.
Ericka is a Racial Equity workshop and Learning Lab facilitator for WORLD TRUST Educational Services. She curates conversations focused on the individual and collective work of becoming equitable in our daily lives, as well as the workplace. Additionally, she facilitates workshops on the benefit of spiritual practice in creating social change, and the importance of self-care.
Tabitha Jackson was appointed Director of the Sundance Film Festival in February 2020, having previously served as Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute since 2013. Throughout her career in film and public broadcasting she has been committed to supporting the independent voice, championing the social and cultural power of artful cinema, and furthering the mission of uplifting a more expansive set of makers and forms.
Join Firelight Media and PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel for a special live Q&A to discuss The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, the first feature-length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party and its significance to the broader American culture. The conversation includes filmmaker Stanley Nelson & special guests Shaka King, Ericka Huggins, Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, Laurens Grant, and moderator Tabitha Jackson.
The Black Panther Party has re-entered the public discourse in a major way with the recent release of the feature film Judas and the Black Messiah. To discuss the legacy of the Panther Party and its impact on social movements today, join acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson and producer Laurens Grant for a discussion inspired by their 2016 documentary The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution. Joining the conversation is Shaka King, director of Judas the Black Messiah, alongside Ericka Huggins, activist and leading Black Panther Party member, and Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele, the former National Strategies and Partnerships Director at The Movement for Black Lives. The discussion will be moderated by Tabitha Jackson, Director of the Sundance Film Festival.
Presented by Firelight Media and PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel in collaboration with PBS and ITVS.
To register to watch the film, click here. Please note, a limited number of tickets are available. The event may "sell out."
The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is available to stream on the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel and PBS Passport, a PBS member benefit within the PBS Video App.
More about our panelists
Stanley Nelson is today’s leading documentarian of the African-American experience. His films combine compelling narratives with rich historical detail to shine new light on the under-explored American past. Awards received over the course of his career include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and lifetime achievement awards from the Emmys and IDA. In 2013, Nelson received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Obama. In 2019, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool was nominated by the GRAMMYs for Best Music Film. Nelson’s latest documentary, Crack: Cocaine, Conspiracy, Corruption debuted on Netflix in 2021.
In 2000, Mr. Nelson, and his wife, Marcia Smith, co-founded Firelight Media, a non-profit
production company dedicated to advancing contemporary social justice issues, amplifying
underrepresented narratives, and fostering a new generation of diverse filmmakers.
Shaka King is an emergent, auteur filmmaker with a body of work that spans the film and television arenas. King is the director, co-writer and producer behind the highly-anticipated feature, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH, starring Lakeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya. The film, which marks his studio feature directorial debut, centers on Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton and his fateful betrayal by FBI informant William O’Neal. King was recently nominated for a PGA Award and for a WGA Award on behalf of the film, and Kaluuya won the Golden Globe Award and the Critics’ Choice Award. for his performance. The film has already been recognized by the National Board of Review and AFI has one of the top films of the year. King was also recognized with the Director Award at the Critics’ Choice Association’s Celebration of Black Cinema event this year. In 2020, he was selected as one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch in conjunction with his work on the feature. For television, King directed multiple episodes of SHRILL for Hulu, and before that, was a writer and co-director on RANDOM ACTS OF FLYNESS for HBO. Previously, he directed multiple episodes of PEOPLE OF EARTH for TBS, as well as HIGH MAINTENANCE for HBO. He is the writer and director who won the coveted “Someone to Watch” honor at the Independent Spirit Awards on behalf of his feature directorial debut, NEWLYWEEDS, which premiered at Sundance in 2013. King currently resides in New York.
Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is a father, husband, longtime community organizer and educator from Central Brooklyn. Lumumba is the former National Strategies and Partnerships Director at The Movement for Black Lives. From 2011 to 2020, Lumumba served as the Director of Community Organizing at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. From 2002 to 2007 Lumumba served as a counselor and lecturer at Medgar Evers College/CUNY. Fall 2019, Lumumba taught an Introduction to Ethnic Studies course at San Francisco State University. Lumumba continues to teach his community organizing class as an adjunct lecturer within the City University of New York. From 1994 – 1998 Lumumba served as programming coordinator at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCC). During his tenure at CCC, he also co-found Azabache, an organizers training conference and workshop series for young activists. All the while as a Black Studies Major at City College of NY/CUNY. He went on to receive his Masters in Human Service from Lincoln University in 1998. As a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele helped establish its campaign to counter police abuse and misconduct. He also co-founded the world renowned Black August Hip Hop Project. Black August raises awareness and support for political prisoners in the United States. Lumumba currently serves as a board member for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Education Center, and the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute.
Ericka Huggins is an educator, leading Black Panther Party member, former political prisoner, human rights advocate, and poet.
For 45 years Ericka has lectured in the United States, and internationally, on the principles of racial equity in our personal and work lives, as well as abolishing punitive practices and establishing restorative practices as we shift from mass incarceration.
Ericka was professor of Sociology and African American Studies from 2008 through 2015 in the Peralta Community College District and, from 2003 to 2011 at California State Universities, East Bay and San Francisco.
Ericka is a Racial Equity workshop and Learning Lab facilitator for WORLD TRUST Educational Services. She curates conversations focused on the individual and collective work of becoming equitable in our daily lives, as well as the workplace. Additionally, she facilitates workshops on the benefit of spiritual practice in creating social change, and the importance of self-care.
Tabitha Jackson was appointed Director of the Sundance Film Festival in February 2020, having previously served as Director of the Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute since 2013. Throughout her career in film and public broadcasting she has been committed to supporting the independent voice, championing the social and cultural power of artful cinema, and furthering the mission of uplifting a more expansive set of makers and forms.