WE MADE IT!! Thank you to the hundreds who contributed in large amounts and small, thank you to everyone who helped call people, attended house parties, participated in bake sales and more! All of us together accomplished a very important thing in raising and contributing the funds so this film can be produced and released. The community that came together to fund this film can grow further as the film is released... and every single donation that came in will help reach a greater community and audience from here forward. We will keep everyone posted on developments with the film. Thank you!
Any additional contributions will help the completed film have a wider release and bigger impact. Make checks out to Fractured Atlas and send to Revolution Books, 146 W 26th St, New York, NY 10001
***
THE
STORY
April
2011 marked the release of BAsics,
a book by Bob Avakian, the revolutionary leader who has developed a
new synthesis of communism. This book of quotations and essays speaks
to essential questions of revolution and human emancipation. On this
occasion, a range of artists, musicians, dancers and actors from a
diversity of perspectives came together in a unique cultural event to
celebrate revolution and the vision of a new world.
This
film will tell the story of what those artists did and why they did
it. It will bring a taste of the remarkable connection between these
artists and the hundreds in the audience that night.
For
everyone who has dreamed of a different and better world or wondered
how art and culture can be part of creating it, this is a film that
needs to be seen.
But
it won't be made without your support.
Contribute
toward the production and release of the upcoming full length film
about this event (currently set for late winter). Be part of
something that can be a source of great inspiration, enabling
imagination to take flight with revolution and envisioning a whole
other way the world can be.
See
the full list of participants below.
WHAT WE NEED AND WHAT YOU GET
$23,000 is needed for the production and release of
the film.
Production includes the cost of filming interviews, film
and sound editing. The film will be released in late winter. The release costs will include renting
theaters in several cities for film premieres and release parties, promotion
and a print run of DVD's.
In return you will get signed copies of the poster
for the event, the beautifully designed program, a thank you memento that was
given to participants on the night itself, a copy of BAsics � the book
that occasioned this event, and other special gifts from the performers and
artists who took part in this historic event including original artwork from
Dread Scott, Emory Douglas and even a chance to have dinner with the mc's of
the event, Sunsara Taylor and Herb Boyd.
And more than anything you'll be contributing to
impacting society with a vibrant and moving celebration of revolution and the
vision of a new world.
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP!
This will not happen without you! Many thousands of
people have to hear about this with hundreds contributing in large and small
amounts. Please tell others... invite ten friends to give and tell them
why you gave, comment on this page about why you gave, post the link on
Facebook, twitter, on your blog or website, and pick up the phone.
Please send us any further suggestions and/or any
other ideas on how you can help.
Participants in this Celebration of Revolution and
the Vision of a New World:
The film will include performances and interviews
with a range of participants in the event who included, Aladdin, actor
and playwright; Guillermo Brown, musician; Maggie Brown, singer; Richard
Brown, former member Black Panther Party and co-founder of The Committee
for the Defense of Human Rights, founded by the SF8; reg e. gaines, poet
and playwright; Moist Paula Henderson, baritone sax player and composer;
Maluca; David Murray, jazz musician; Outernational; Abiodun
Oyewole from The Last Poets; Ted Rall, cartoonist and author;
excerpts from Tapsploitation; and jazz musicians Matthew Shipp
and William Parker. Readings
of letters from prisoners and others from Bridgit Antoinette Evans, Raul
Castillo, Brian Dykstra and Nitya Vidyasagar. The event was
directed by Leah Bonvissuto.
A visual arts exhibition specially curated for the
night included the work of Derrick Adams, Wafaa Bilal, Emory
Douglas, Richard Duardo, Skylar Fein, Kyle Goen, Guerrilla
Girls Broadband, Steve Lambert, Wangechi Mutu, Dread Scott,
SenOne UZN and Hank Willis Thomas.
The April 11 Host Committee, in association with
Revolution Books, included Aladdin, actor and playwright; Rafael
Agustin, writer and actor; Rafael Angulo, Professor of Social Work,
University of Southern California*; Paul Von Blum, Senior Lecturer
Emeritus, African American Studies and Communication Studies, UCLA *, Herb
Boyd, journalist and author; Elaine Brower, National Steering
Committee of World Can't Wait* and anti-war military mom; Dr. Robert Keith
Collins, anthropologist; The Committee For the Defense of Human Rights,
founded by the SF8; Carl Dix, founding member of the Revolutionary
Communist Party; Jessica Green, media maker and co-director, Maysles
Cinema*; Nicholas Heyward, Sr., father of Nicholas Heyward, Jr.
(murdered by the NYPD in 1994); Russ Jennings, theatre producer and
writer; Erin Aubry Kaplan, journalist and author; Rev. Earl
Kooperkamp, St. Mary's Church*, Harlem; Mike Ladd, poet and music
producer; Harry Lennix, actor and producer; Philip Maysles,
visual artist, co-director, Maysles Cinema*; John Santos, musician; Matthew
Shipp, musician; Dr. Tolbert Small, poet, co-founder and physician
at the Harriet Tubman Medical Office* in East Oakland, CA and former physician
to the founding chapter of the Black Panther Party; Clarence Taylor,
Professor of History, Baruch College*; Cornel West, Professor of
Religion, Princeton University*; Robert M. Young, film maker and David
Zeiger, film maker. (* for identification purposes only) [READ THEIR STATEMENTS HERE]
To find out more about Bob
Avakian and BAsics, go to
revcom.us/basics
