A community based film festival where social justice intersects with human rights, grounded by the teachings and legacy of Malcolm X

Presented by the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee (MXCC) in partnership with the Community Media Center (CMC) at Express Newark, the community arts venue at Rutgers University Newark.

The 1st Annual Malcolm X Human Rights Film Festival is a community based festival where social justice intersects with human rights, using Malcolm X as its anchor. The Festival is the manifestation of a long simmering idea inspired by the documentary work on Malcolm by the late Gil Noble. Noble, who hosted the long standing community television show Like It Is on WABC TV.

Across two days, the festival will present dynamic films that chronicle battles for human rights, uplift figures who have stood on those front lines, and tell stories that inspire and challenge us as a community.

FRIDAY 6PM-8:30PM

Feature Presentation:

Two Suns of Georgia

Hafiz Farid (Director, Producer)

40 mins

The film centers on the important, but often forgotten, historic meeting of Dr Martin Luther King Jr and the Nation Of Islam’s leader Elijah Muhammad in 1966. 1966 saw Dr King literally move to Chicago and live in one of its most impoverished housing complexes to dramatize American poverty in anticipation of his organization’s Poor People’s Campaign. This year marks 60 years since that pivotal meeting.

Talkback with Hafiz Farid and Larry Hamm

SATURDAY 12PM-8PM

Free Joan Little

Yoruba Richen (Director) Christalyn Hampton (Producer)

35 mins

Free Joan Little tells the story of the landmark 1975 murder trial of the first woman in U.S. history to be acquitted for using deadly force to resist sexual assault. At 20 years old, Joan (pronounced Jo-Ann) Little was incarcerated in North Carolina when she killed a white jailer who she said tried to rape her. Her trial drew national attention, becoming a rallying point for civil rights, women’s rights and prison reform. The case brought together activists including Angela Davis and Rosa Parks, and catalyzed a national conversation about sexual assault and racial justice. Little’s fight for freedom remains a defining moment in American legal and social history.

Talkback with Christalyn Hampton, Producer (virtual)

Durban 400

Al Santana Director (Director)

55 minutes

Durban 400 captures a pivotal moment at the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa, where a delegation of Pan African activists from Diaspora united to compel that international forum to have the TransAtlantic Slave Trade declared a crime against humanity; meriting reparations. It was a pivotal moment for thequest for Reparations.

Talkback with Omowale Clay and Jean Pierre Brutus

Justice on Trial

Johanna Fernandez (Director)

68 Minutes

Justice on Trial takes on the long-suppressed evidence surrounding the case of imprisoned journalist Mumia Abu Jamal and the incredible lengths gone to deny him justice. It is being shown to honor the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party. The film is also being screened in homage to its director and producer Johanna Fernandez who passed away in recent months.

NORMAN/NORMAN

Gabrielle Blackwood and Charles Warburton (Directors)

82 minutes

Norman/Norman, a heartbreaking film capturing the story of recent Rutgers alum Norman Davy’s own ordeal with Domestic Violence losing his mother to it as a child, and seeking reconciliation with his long estranged father. The City of Newark’s Office of Violence Prevention will be a special partner for that film’s screening.

Talkback with Norman Davy

All of the films will be shown at Express Newark, located at 54 Halsey Street Newark. There is no admission fee.

The Festival is being co-curated by Zayid Muhammad for MXCC and Yvonne Shirley for CMC.

Doors will open Friday evening at 6pm.

Doors will open Saturday afternoon at 12 noon.

For more information on the work of the Malcolm X Commemoration Committee, now in its 33rd year, please text

Zayid Muhammad at 973 202 0745…