Black August Official Movie Site

Synopsis

Warner Home Video presents Black August, a searing account of the life and death of George L. Jackson, prison activist and author of the incendiary New York Times bestseller Soledad Brother. Gary Dourdan (of the CBS hit series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) is electrifying as Jackson, an icon of the revolutionary 1960s prisoners’ rights movement and philosophical inspiration for the most militant civil rights movement in American history. As the world outside Jackson’s prison walls roiled with long-suppressed resentment, he expressed his fury at the dehumanizing conditions in which he lived and outlined the world-shattering political philosophy that drove the Black Guerilla Family.

“Black August is a fascinating film that both educates and entertains,” said Jeffrey Baker, Warner Home Video Senior Vice President and General Manager, Theatrical Catalog. “We hope it inspires viewers to reflect on a critical moment in Black history.”

Co-directed by TCinque Sampson and Samm Styles, this dramatic recreation of a legendary provocateur and innovative thinker’s life comes to DVD in time for Black History Month. Black August tells the story of the last event-filled months of Jackson’s journey from street tough to political martyr. After moving with his family from Chicago to Los Angeles, Jackson was arrested for a $70 gas station robbery and received a sentence of one year to life. During his eleven years in prison, Jackson studied Marx, Mao and other revolutionary thinkers. He channeled the explosive rage of an oppressed and exploited community into a powerful indictment of the racial status quo in a series of passionate and poetic letters that were collected and published in the volume Soledad Brother. Part of a legacy that includes Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis, Jackson’s writings made him both a best-selling author and a lightening rod for controversy in one of America’s most politically polarized eras.

From a script by co-director Sampson, who also served as executive producer, Black August is a provocative social drama that uses Jackson’s shocking and revealing writings to craft a fascinating portrait of a man who preferred to “die on his feet rather than live one minute on his knees.”

Black August also stars Darren Bridgett as David Dryer, the idealistic young editor who helped shape Jackson’s letters into a classic book, Ezra Stanley as Jackson’s teenaged brother Jonathan and Tina Marie Murray as legendary political activist Angela Davis.

In Black August, Jackson and Dryer work below the prison radar to edit a book based on his letters. Charged with killing a prison guard in retaliation for the shooting deaths of three black inmates at Soledad State Prison in California, Jackson has become a cause célèbre in radical circles where it is believed that the authorities are framing him because of his political activities. In one of the film’s most chilling moments, Jackson’s 17-year-old brother Jonathan commands the attention of the world with an ill-fated attempt to take hostages to gain the release of George and his co-defendants, known as the “Soledad Brothers.” One year later, George Jackson becomes the flashpoint for the bloodiest day in the history of San Quentin.

Black August traces Jackson’s spiritual journey and violent fate, a subject matter still so contentious that a law enforcement officer tried to block the use of the Marin County Hall of Justice to recreate a pivotal scene for the film.

Sampson brings a powerful authenticity to this explosive story, having himself spent 22 years in prison—including a stint at San Quentin in a cell neighboring the one Jackson occupied years earlier. After his release, Sampson says he was motivated to turn his prison writings about Jackson into a movie in order to bring its subject to a wider audience.

“People have heard about George Jackson and Angela Davis, but they don’t know much about them or their work,” says Sampson. “George Jackson was a man who believed that human life is meaningless if it is not accompanied by the power to determine its quality. And he knew those in control never concede anything unless it is demanded of them.”

Directed by Samm Styles

DVD Special Features:

" Deleted Scenes.

Cast:

  • Gary Dourdan as George Jackson
  • Darren Bridgett as David Dryer
  • Ezra Stanley as Jonathan Jackson
  • 'Big' LeRoy Mobley as Lumumba
  • Don Williams as FBI Agent Walker