New Film On ADODI Filmed Partially in Philadelphia, PA (On Saturday, September 8th, 2012) As Filmmaker ROD PATRICK RISBROOK Visits... by Tracy Gibson

New Film On ADODI Filmed Partially

in Philadelphia, PA

As Filmmaker ROD PATRICK RISBROOK Visits...

 by Brother Tracy Gibson

(A Guest Nubian Knight's Perspective)

A dozen courageous Black Same Gender Loving men came together at the Songhai City Cultural Center at 3117 West Master Street {The heart of North Philadelphia}, to pay homage to Brother Rod Patrick Risbrook's new documentary: "ADODI - 25 Years And Beyond: Claiming the Legacy, Continuing the Legend...'' The film is set to be released in August of 2013.

The film tells the story of ADODI --a support group for Black men who are Same Gender Loving and who refuse to be stereotyped, categorized and put down, but who insist on being treated--and treat each other--with dignity, respect, LOVE, kindness and as men of Tomorrow today. Men who are and will lead our people in a positive direction and men who take responsibility for their sexual activities and actions, deciding to act as responsible adults--not immature children.

ADODI was founded in May of 1986 by Creative Arts Therapist Clifford Rawlins, also an artist, who opened his home to create a warm and loving atmosphere each week on Sundays, that helped nurture and educate literally hundreds of Brothers through the beginning stages of the AIDS / HIV Crisis. Clifford held us spell-bound during those heady early days as we were surrounded by his fantastically gifted art work, the art work of other Black artists and luscious jazz music as we learned survival tactics, and techniques to help us build vital self-esteem that would carry most of us on into another millennium and another generation. Many more of us would have perished if it had not been for ADODI.

A brief trailer of Brother Risbrook's film was shown at this recent gathering of men and the courageous attending Brothers took the time to talk about the up-coming National election and how they think President Barack Obama will fair; the history of the Black man and the Black woman in business; The history of the Black church movement in Philadelphia; the expectations of Blacks in the Arts and film; the potential of this particular film and how it was conceived; the vast potential for a new Black Renaissance that will not only lift Black people locally, but lift our hearts and spirits as a Black Diaspora internationally. There was also talk of the White Male's penis envy of Black men.

The event was sponsored by the Black Millionaires Network and offered a chance for the filmmaker, a good Brother from Brooklyn, New York, to discuss his film {which is still in production}, and meet with some of the people that are part of the heart of its' creation--The ADODI Brothers themselves. {Earlier in the day, three ADODI Brothers, including myself, were interviewed on film as part of the production}.... The Brothers who attended this event had the courage to not be defined by there own fears nor by their supposed oppression, nor by the exclusivity, marginalization, discrimination and homophobic attitudes we often face from our own Black community and even our own Black families and Black churches. We had the courage to move forward and attend an event in the heart of North Philadelphia which is stereotyped as a violent, miseducated and oppressed neighborhood when in fact while there may be some aspects of North Philadelphia that are like that, there are and always have been Brothers and Sisters in North Philadelphia who have struggled for decades to improve the schools, improve living standards and improve the lives of Black North Philadelphia residents.

There were 38 empty seats at this event, but they were filled by our Ancestor's strong forthright, forward-moving and supportive spirits as the night went on and everyone enjoyed each other's company and the delicious vegetarian food prepared by Sister Atiya Ola, who catered the event and who owns a vegetarian restaurant at 4505 Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia...

When the film is released, this writer plans to help the producers and director get it seen widely throughout the country because the story of ADODI is close to my heart and it is a story that needs to be told.

SPECIAL THANKS

To Ado Ernest Duncan

For Taking The Photos
& Shooting The Video Interview

Watch “Nhojj – MUSIC and the Word”

                   

Nhojj LIVE @ The Brooklyn Museum [01-07-2012]
Copyright © 2012 ROD PATRICK RISBROOK

Nhojj – MUSIC and the Word chronicles homosexual indie singer-songwriter Nhojj in preparation for the landmark “Out & Proud” Brooklyn Museum First Saturday concert. Through interviews, rehearsal and performance footage, the 16 minute short elaborates on the power of music, and the positive messages behind the lyrics of his songs.

   

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 A Compilation Documentary Film About The Black Power Movement

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975

SYNOPSIS:

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 is an award winning compilation feature documentary that displays the story of the African-American community 1967-1975, the people, the society and the style that fueled a change. Told with sparkling, beautiful and deep footage, lost in the archives in Sweden for 30 years.

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale , Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this lush collection was found languishing in the basement of Swedish Television.

Running Time: 1hr 40min‎‎
Genre: Compilation Documentary‎
Written and Directed by: Göran Hugo Olsson
Produced by: Annika Rogell, Story AB
Co-Produced by: Joslyn Barnes & Danny Glover, Louverture Films
Art Director: Stefania Malmsten
Edited by: Göran Hugo Olsson & Hanna Lejonqvist
Including appearances by: Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Dr. Martin Luther King, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte, Erykah Badu, Ahmir-Khalib Thompson, Talib Kweli

Currently playing in New York City at
IFC Center
323 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenues)
(between West 3rd & West 4th Street in the heart of The Village)
New York City, NY
Official Website: ifccenter.com
Travel: A, B, C, D, E, F & M trains to West 4th Street;
#1 train to Christopher Street
‎GOOGLE MAPS


Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
1886 Broadway
(between 62nd & 63rd Streets)
New York City, NY
Official Website: lincolnplazacinema.com
Travel: A, B, C, D and #1 trains to 59th Street Columbus Circle
‎GOOGLE MAPS

Opens in California on Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Activist Stokely Carmichael

Power To The People

Black Panther Party

Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing And The Fight For Fairness A Documentary Film On Same-Sex Marriage From An African-American Perspective

Denise & Mattie's Wedding Day

Dear Rod,

How are you? Hope you are having a great summer. We were hoping you could help regarding our new project.

I am an associate producer on Thomas Allen Harris' new upcoming documentary project about Same Sex marriage from an African American perspective entitled Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight for Fairness. The film was commissioned by Tribeca All Access Program and the Nelson Mandela Foundation in South Africa to highlight individuals who embody the principals of Nelson Mandela. We chose to focus on Massachusetts State Representative and Civil Rights Movement veteran Byron Rushing, who together with a group of progressive Black leaders, successfully confronted African American clergy to win hearts, minds and votes on the emotionally divisive issue of same-sex marriage, which is now legal in Massachusetts. Byron, who is heterosexual, is perhaps an unlikely same gender loving hero.

Byron Rushing

Although we have made great progress we are still trying to reach our fundraising goal of $10K with only 6 days left via the United Artists website listed below. You can view a clip of the film (below)...

Arnold & Joseph
(Together For 40 Years, Married 5 Years)

Any mention on your blog would help us greatly as did a recent mention in Indiewire's In The Works. Can you do this? Any support would be greatly appreciated.

Please feel free to contact me with any other outreach suggestions as well, thanks.

greg

Chipanzee Productions
68 East 131st Street, Suite #700
Harlem, NY 10037
(212) 281-6002 Office
(212) 234-7032 Fax
(917) 312-1433 Cell

Geoffrey A. Davis Presents Murder At City Hall, Councilman James E. Davis Story - A Mini Documentary

Geoffrey A. Davis Presents
Murder at City Hall, Councilman James E. Davis Story
April 5th, 2010 @ 7PM
BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Avenue
(between Ashland Place & St. Felix Street)
Brooklyn, New York 11243


On July 23, 2003, New York City peace activist and councilman James E. Davis was assassinated at City Hall. Learn more about Davis’ work and legacy in this mini-documentary followed by Q&A and post-screening reception. Call 718.221.2911 to RSVP.

A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada, A New Documentary Film

Official Website: apastdenied.ca

History is not the past, it is how we recount the past. A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada is a feature-length documentary by independent filmmaker Mike Barber. The film, which is currently in production, explores how a false sense of history—both taught in the classroom and repeated throughout our national historical narrative—impinges on the present. It examines how 200 years of institutional slavery during Canada’s formation has been kept out of Canadian classrooms, textbooks and social consciousness.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade effectively started in 1444 when Portuguese pirates, operating under the auspices of Prince Henrique, kidnapped 235 Africans from a village near the mouth of the Senegal River and brought them back to Portugal where they were sold as slaves. From that point forward, over 15,000,000 Africans would be forcibly removed from their homeland and sold into slavery in Europe and the Americas; over 30,000,000 others would die in slave wars, work camps, or during transit aboard slave ships until the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade ended in the 1860s.

Today in North America, the use of African slave labour is seen as a uniquely American institution. Canada is reputed as being the promised land to the North to where slaves could escape and live as free men and women. The Underground Railroad is our claim to fame, and we toot that horn proudly. Our history textbooks—and much less, our national historical narrative—rarely, if ever mention the two centuries of institutionalized slavery and its role in the founding of Canada.

The version of history taught in Canadian schools tends to serve the interests of nationalist pride rather than education. Figures such as René Bourassa, Colin McNabb, Joseph Papineau and Peter Russell have been made into historical icons, honoured in our texts and on our landscape. All were slave owners and some were rabid advocates of slavery, though today one would never know it. Among the multitude of authoritative biographies on such founding figures, these facts have a tendency to escape any mention, either because the authors chose not to include these facts or because they simply were not aware. Whether this act of censorship is intentional or not the error is compounded, the cycle of ignorance is perpetuated.
History Matters

The subtle underlying message this selective and filtered history conveys is one of white superiority. When students are taught that it is only white people who tend to do anything of historical importance it effectively instills them with a “white people belong on top, people of colour belong on the bottom” outlook on the world. Fed the same false sense of history, white students feel good about their heritage at the expense of non-white students who feel alienated to the point that they begin to tune out. According to figures from the Toronto District School Board, by age 16 more than half of black male teens are at risk of dropping out. In Montréal, the dropout rate among black youth is an estimated 48 per cent. The history curriculum is not solely responsible for these alarming statistics, but it is culpable.

There is a direct cause-and-effect relationship with our collective past and our collective present, as well as our collective future. To fully understand the context of current conflicts and events, we need to know the relevant past and its causal relationship. In his book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, historian and sociologist James Loewen explains “slavery’s twin legacies” to the present as “the social and economic inferiority it conferred upon blacks and the cultural racism it instilled in whites.” Both of which, he adds, “continue to haunt our society.” Removing this substantial part of our nation’s development from our historical narrative is not just an academic or moral problem. It has deprived and continues to deprive generations of the ability to identify “the dynamic interplay between slavery as a socioeconomic system and racism as an idea system.”

The film will show the connections between the practice of slavery in the past with racial disparity, tensions, and racism in the present. It will illustrate why telling history in a neutral, accurate and more complete manner is vital to understanding the causal relationship between past, present and future. The overarching point being more than just “history matters,” but rather honest history matters.

A Walk Through Fort Greene TRAILER By Writer / Director / Historian Nelson George A Film About A Neighborhood Of Black Artists In Brooklyn,NY

A Walk Through Fort Greene - TRAILER from Diane Paragas on Vimeo.

A feature length documentary of the black arts movement that exploded in Fort Greene from the mid 1980s through the 90s as intimately told by writer, historian and director, Nelson George. The film features Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Rosie Perez, Branford Marsalis, Vernon Reid, Carl Hancock Rux, Saul Williams, Lorna Simpson, Alva Rogers, Kevin Powell, Toure, Bill Stephany to name a few.

Directors: Nelson George & Diane Paragas
Writer: Nelson George
Editor: Diane Paragas
Cinematography: Diane Paragas, Francisco Aliwalis
Music: Dreaming in Fort Greene by Poogie Bell
Producer: Nicole Nelch

The film is currently in production.

ROD Gives A SPECIAL THANKS TO NEO~GRIOT

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots A 4 Hour HD Documentary Narrated by Avery Brooks 10 YEARS IN THE MAKING!!

For Love of Liberty Official Website

THE REVOLUTION

THE WAR OF 1812

THE CIVIL WAR

THE INDIAN WARS

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

WORLD WAR I

WORLD WAR II

THE KOREAN WAR

THE VIETNAM WAR

THE MIDDLE EAST

We encourage you, your family and friends
to watch and be inspired by an extraordinary film, titled
For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots.

The film is a powerful, four-hour, two-part, HD production hosted by Halle Berry, narrated by Avery Brooks, introduced by General Colin Powell and featuring more than 50 of America's leading entertainers, including Morgan Freeman, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Angela Bassett, and many others.

Ten years in the making, For Love of Liberty dramatically brings to life the tragedies and triumphs of African Americans who bravely fought to serve this country while fighting for the right to serve. Their gripping personal stories paint a deeply moving chronicle of sacrifice and service, from the Revolutionary War to the current battle against global terrorism. For Love of Liberty is an epic saga of perseverance and triumph. Its theme, the price of liberty, is timeless.

Filmmaker George Lucas describes For Love of Liberty as "a long-overdue document celebrating, commemorating, and at long last, acknowledging the heroic efforts of our country's African-American soldiers," while award-winning documentarian Ken Burns says, "I believe this is a story - both entertaining and educational - that is relevant to all Americans." The film has received support from Congressman Charles Rangel, Senator John McCain, Senator Carl Levin, many major veterans organizations and all branches of the United States military.

The film will air through Memorial Day on Public Television. Call your local affiliate for dates and times and please help us spread the word. If you're interested in setting up a screening event, the film's education task force will provide free discs to assist you.

The media may choose to ignore this important documentary, but you cannot! Please support the African-American servicemen and women who deserve to have their stories told.

For more information, log on to www.forloveofliberty.org or contact the film's producer/director Frank Martin at liberty1[at]eleventhday.com. We also encourage you to join us on Facebook.com. Search: For Love of Liberty

IT'S IMPORTANT THAT YOU PUT
"For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots"
ON YOUR VIEWING LIST!

Download the For Love of Liberty Press Packet (PDF)

UPDATE (Thursday, March 3rd, 2010):

I just started watching the opening credits to Part 1 of this 4-hour documentary and I just wanted to make note of the artistic heavy hitters of the African Diaspora who have lent their voice (literally) to this projects.

It's quite an INCREDIBLE list.You will notice that some of these artists have passed (Ibaye) onto the ancestors:

Angela Bassett
Roscoe Lee Brown
LeVar Burton
Anthony Chisholm
Bill Cosby
Ossie Davis
Michael Clarke Duncan
Charles S. Dutton
Morgan Freeman
Danny Glover
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Isaac Hayes
Ice-T
Eriq LaSalle
Delroy Lindo
Jesse L. Martin
Harold Perrineau, Jr.
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Larenz Tate (AH! My Cutie! LOL! )
Robert Townsend
Glynn Turman
Blair Underwood
Courtney B. Vance
Isaiah Washington
Alfre Woodard
Jeffrey Wright

SCARRED JUSTICE:The Orangeburg Massacre of 1968Screening at The Gatehouse (Aaron Davis Hall)Friday, October 16th, 2009 @ 7:30PM (NYC)

SCARRED JUSTICE: The Orangeburg Massacre of 1968
Post-screening CONVERSATION w/filmmaker Judy Richardson
Friday • October 16th, 2009 • 7:30 pm • The Gatehouse

Harlem Stage Tickets 212.281.9240 Ext. 19 or 20

Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Avenue (at West 135th Street)
New York, NY 10031

Tickets are $5.00

This gut-wrenching documentary film explores the events of February 8, 1968, two nights after students from a predominately Black college attempted to bowl at the city’s only bowling alley, where the owner refused. Tensions rose and violence erupted as gunfire from white police officers left three African-American students dead and 27 wounded on the campus of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, S.C.

Join filmmaker Judy Richardson after the presentation of SCARRED JUSTICE: The Orangeburg Massacre of 1968 for a discussion and reception.

Bestor Cram, director/producer/cinematographer, has dedicated his career to focusing on issues of social justice and history. As the founder of Northern Light Productions, Cram’s films have received numerous festival awards, and his work has been screened at Sundance Film Festival and broadcasted on PBS.

Judy Richardson is a notable documentary filmmaker and Civil Rights activist. She gained her notoriety as the educational director for the critically acclaimed PBS documentary film series “Eyes on the Prize,” which received the Peabody Award as well as several Emmys. Richardson continues to be one of the most influential forces behind documenting and commemorating the African-American experience.

Co-presented with Black Documentary Collective. A presentation of the Harlem Stage Partners Program.