Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films Picks Up Angela Davis Documentary
Codeblack Films has acquired the theatrical rights to the documentary Free Angela and All Political Prisoners. Written and directed by Shola Lynch, the film about Angela Davis premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year. Free Angela chronicles how the young college professor became one of America’s most renowned revolutionaries and ended up on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. Presented by BET Networks, the film will be released exclusively in select AMC theatres in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Oakland, Philadelphia and Atlanta on April 5, 2013. “We knew that this film was important and would not only shed a spotlight on history, but provide a flashlight for our future. Angela Davis is a staple in history and continues to cross generational and cultural lines in her plight to fight for the freedom of all people,” said Jeff Clanagan, CEO of Codeblack Enterprises in a statement Wednesday. Codeblack Films was launched by Lionsgate in May 2012 to develop and distribute films and other media for the urban market.
This is Lynch’s second film about activism and upheaval in the early Seventies. In 2004 the filmmaker debuted with Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed about the African-American Congresswomen’s unsuccessful run for the Democratic Party’s 1972 Presidential nomination. Lynch, Carole Lambert, Carine Ruszniewski, and Sidra Smith produce Free Angela. The executive producers are Overbrook Entertainment, founded by Will Smith and James Lassiter, and run with partner Jada Pinkett Smith, and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter’s Roc Nation.
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