Black August

Political Prisoner George Lester Jackson’s (Gary Dourdan, CSI) short life became a flashpoint for revolution, igniting the bloodiest riot in San Quentin’s history. In a story ripped from history’s headlines, Black August traces Jackson’s spiritual journey and violent fate, from being sent up on a one-year-to-life sentence for robbing a gas station of $71 to galvanizing the Black Guerrilla Family with his incendiary book of letters, Soledad Brother, to the fierce August day when his younger brother Jonathan shocked the world by taking a California courtroom hostage to protest Jackson’s upcoming trial. Tcinque Sampson talks to The Post about the film.
1. How did you get interested in filmmaking?

Sampson: We live in a media-crazed era in this period of our struggle. My need to transmute the deep rage of black/underclassed people in this nation into something constructive and creative, moved me to expressing myself on film.

2. What was your role in the film making process and what kind of production team do you work with?

I am writer, executive producer, and co-director of the film Black August. We worked with a full production crew. I made it a point to bring in as many local crew members, as possible from the bay Area to be a part of this historical effort to bring to film this controversial subject matter, which is an indigenous part of the Bay Area/national history of our struggle. This story stars Gary Dourdan (CSI’s Warrick Brown), as prison activist, revolutionary, and new York Times best selling author George Jackson. we shot on 35mm film, and albeit we started out indie, were subsequently picked up by Warner Brothers Pictures.

3. Describe the inspiration for your film?

I am one of the many beneficiaries of the legacy of George Lester Jackson. This is an important part of our national history, whose story and legacy has been recorded in multiple languages around the world, i.e., “Soledad Brother, (Prison Letters of George Jackson)”, “Blood in My Eye”, a posthumous release, following the death of George Jackson, killed by California Department of Corrections, prison guards at San Quentin on August 21, 1971.

This story is still news today, it is a period/shelf piece whose human story is a source of inspiration and positive force of motivation, still today, and appeals to the entire spectrum of our struggle, from academics to the most hard-core of our youth.

4. In what ways has Oakland influenced your filmmaking and artistic aesthetic?

Oakland is but a small part of my historical experience upon which I call upon to inspire the framing my work. I juxtapose the my experiences in the City of Oakland from which I sprang with the two decades I spent in captivity inside various units of the United States Industrial Prison Complex.

5. How would you describe the indie film scene in Oakland/the bay in general? Specifically for Black Filmmakers?

I was treated with much respect by many professionals on the Oakland Film scene. In particular, i give a solidarity shout out to Amy Zinns, of the Oakland Film Office, whose tireless efforts and guidance helped to get me through the growing pains of meeting constant opposition to the principle subject matter of Black August, and thus with her direction I found the course to make Black August a reality.

To the contrary, there are those on the Oakland film scene whom still carry the altruistic traits of their ex-slave masters, and whose soul purpose is to put out content for money, damn the effect. I personally commit to only doing works that move us to a new community order, a New Afrikan way of defining ourselves.

6. Would you move towards major distribution and studio support or are you focused on indie work?

I will always move in ways to exploit my work at the broadest range, and highest levels of exposure.

7. Where can people see more of your work? What’s next?

I am currently working to bring to the big screen, “From Superman to Man”, based on a novel by progressive writer/historian, J.A. Rogers.

I am an invader in this industry. Black August is my first work. Many say, I am “lucky”, to have been picked up by a major on my first time out on the dance floor. I intend to prove to “those of little faith”, how wrong they are on the luck theory. History will be the judge, as to whether I am truly a film-maker/story-teller with vision, or simply another il-legitimate capitalist, using Black suffering to bank on. we all need to eat, but we all have props to pay to those who made our struggle the more clear.

Black August Screening Friday, June 13, 6pm. Go to www.sfbff.com for information.