Our first FAB Flicks in Clinton Hill this season is an important film with local significance!
The Sun Rises in the East is a chronicle of the birth, rise, and legacy of The East, a pan-African cultural organization founded in 1969 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn that embodied Black self-determination. The East built dozens of institutions, including its own African-centered school, food co-op, publisher, and record label; hosted world-famous jazz musicians and poets; and served as an epicenter for political contemporaries including the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, and the Congress of Afrikan People. In effect, The East built an independent Black nation in the heart of Central Brooklyn.
Run time: 58 min
Free admission; limited seating starts at 7:00 pm. (Feel free to bring your own lawn chair.) Come early for a short program, including:
7 PM: tunes by DJ Tara, who recently penned an article on the documentary in Wax Poetics online magazine. Slide show presented by Msaidia McLaughlin, East Family Member and long-time Brooklyn community educator and activist.
8 PM: reflections by Cynthia Gordy Giwa and Tayo Giwa (founders of @blackownedbklyn and the directors of the film), and Attika J. Torrence, an EAST legacy member.
8:30-ish: film begins at sundown – bring a chair and good vibes.
(Image: Osei T. Chandler)