Nationtime (10/23 -11/6)
Nationtime is the long-lost film that William Greaves made about the National Black Political Convention of 1972, when 10,000 Black politicians, activists and artists went to Gary, Indiana, to forge a national unity platform in advance of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions. The delegates included a wide array of political thinkers – Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, Pan-Africanist Amiri Baraka, PUSH founder Jesse Jackson, elected officials Ron Dellums, Charles Diggs, Walter Fauntroy, Richard Hatcher, Carl McCall, plus key women in the fight for racial equality — Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, Fannie Lou Hamer and Queen Mother Moore (who was arguing for reparations). Entertainers Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, Isaac Hayes and Richard Roundtree lent their star quality and entertained the crowds. Sidney Poitier & Harry Belafonte narrate the film.
The Apohadion Theater and SPACE are pleased to co-present Nationtime as part of an ongoing series of virtual film screenings in 2020.
“Buzzes with long-term historical power.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“This rousing and revelatory documentary celebrates a diversity of black voices, finding support and solidarity even amid expected tensions and divisions.”- Malin Kan, AFI Film Festival 2020
“The 52-year filmmaking career of Greaves has resulted in an immense, multi-faceted body of work. Greaves was able to defy social, racial and economic barriers to become one of the most prolific documentary filmmakers of his era.” – Scott MacDonald, William Greaves: Filmmaking as Mission (Columbia University Press, 2021)
