Best known for his avant-garde meta-documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, William Greaves (1926–2014) was also the director of over 100 documentary films, the majority focused on African American history, politics, and culture.

NATIONTIME is the long-lost film that William Greaves made about the National Black Political Convention of 1972, when 10,000 black politicians, activists and artists went to Gary, Indiana, to forge a national unity platform in advance of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions. The delegates included a wide array of political thinkers — Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale, Pan-Africanist Amiri Baraka, PUSH founder Jesse Jackson, elected officials Ron Dellums, Charles Diggs, Walter Fauntroy, Richard Hatcher, Carl McCall, plus key women in the fight for racial equality -- Coretta Scott King, Betty Shabazz, Fannie Lou Hamer and Queen Mother Moore (who was arguing for reparations). Entertainers Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, Isaac Hayes and Richard Roundtree lent their star quality and entertained the crowds. Sidney Poitier & Harry Belafonte narrate the film.

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One of the most powerful films Greaves ever made, this is the director’s original 80-minute version that was never released. Found in a Pittsburgh warehouse in 2018, the 48-year-old negative was painstakingly restored by IndieCollect under the supervision of Louise Greaves, the director’s widow and filmmaking partner. (Kino Lorber)

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dir. William Greaves, 1972
United States, digital projection
80 min
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WEDNESDAY, 4/15
7:30 DOORS
8:00 SCREENING

$10 general admission, $9 for members.

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Whammy! is located in the REAR unit of 2514 Sunset Blvd, entrance access is via Rampart Blvd.