SPIRITS OF REBELLION: BLACK CINEMA FROM UCLA documents a small group of critically acclaimed, but relatively unknown, black filmmakers who were named by historians as the Los Angeles Rebellion. All of the filmmakers associated with this movement - including Zeinabu - attended UCLA between the "Watts riots" of 1965 and the "urban uprising" in LA that followed the Rodney King verdict in 1992. Headlined by Julie Dash, Charles Burnett, Jamaa Fanaka, Haile Gerima, Billy Woodberry, Barbara McCullough, Ben Caldwell, Alile Sharon Larkin and Larry Clark, the LA Rebellion filmmakers collectively imagined and created a black cinema against the conventions of Hollywood and Blaxploitation films. They are the first sustained movement in the United States by a collective of minority filmmakers who reimagined the production process to represent, reflect and enrich the daily lives of people in their own communities.

As part of this movement, and as a scholar of cinema herself, Zeinabu brings viewers into the lives and work of these makers with both intimacy and context. The project includes compelling and demonstrative examples of their work, and interviews with most of the makers, scholars, and critics. Younger, contemporary makers of "New Black Cinema" speak about the lasting influence of these creators. And we see them today as Zeinabu captures their continued activism, collective artistic production, and continued struggle.

Dir. Zeinabu Davis, 100 min, 2016, US, Documentary, English

Director/Producer: Zeinabu irene Davis
Cinematographer/Editor/Associate Producer: D. Andy Rice



2016 | ADIFF - African Diaspora Film Festival, New York, USA
* ADIFF 2016 Public Award, for the Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color (to Zeinabu Irene Davis)

2016 | AMAA Awards (African Movie Academy Awards, aka the African Oscars), Port Hartcourt, Nigeria, on June 11, 2016
* African Premiere
* Best Diaspora Documentary