Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary

The film was copyrighted under the title Angela, Portrait of a Revolutionary. According to contemporary news items and reviews, director Yolande du Luart (listed as Du Luart in some sources) was a French filmmaker who studied at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and was a student of then faculty member Angela Davis. The film was made by du Luart and other UCLA film students and was the only film produced by actress Mae Mercer. It is unclear at what point Mercer became involved in the project. The Variety review credits du Luart and Harold Batiste with writing a song for the film, but no title was given.
       Angela Davis was one of the most famous and controversial figures in the U.S. during the early 1970s. An African-American born in Birmingham, AL in 1944, Davis earned a master's degree from UC San Diego and a doctorate in philosophy from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. An avowed feminist and member of the Communist Party, she was openly sympathetic to the Black Panther party and was frequently in the news for her controversial public statements during her year as an acting assistant professor of philosophy at UCLA. In 1969 she was fired by the Board of Regents at the urging of then governor Ronald Reagan, according to news reports, but was rehired following student and community protests. In August 1970, during a highly publicized, deadly San Rafael, CA courtroom raid by Jonathan Jackson and two accomplices, a weapon used in the kidnapping and murder of Judge Harold Haley was found to be registered in Davis' name. Davis, who supported the release of several incarcerated Black Panther members, including Jackson's brother George, who were known as the "Soledad Brothers," was then named to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
       According to various sources, Davis left California and evaded capture until October 1970, when she was arrested in New York City. Davis was charged with being an accomplice to murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, but was acquitted of all charges. Following her acquittal, Davis continued to write and speak out on various political and social issues such as racism, feminism and the death penalty, but left the Communist Party. As of 2007, Davis is a tenured professor in the Department of the History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz.
       Although sources variously list the film's running time as 58, 60 and 64 minutes, most reviews give a running time of 60 minutes. The Box Office review lists a release date of March 1972, and names New Yorker Films as the releasing company, but the picture did not receive wide distribution. Instead it was shown at venues such as New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art and Los Angeles' Filmex film festival. Although various sources indicate that the film was televised in early 1970, the air date has not been determined. According to a Daily Variety article on April 26, 1973, the picture, which at that time was being distributed by the American Federation of Arts, was to be screened at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., but was cancelled because it was "not 'experimental,' and it had recently been on TV." The article went on to state that nothing had been mentioned about Davis' political affiliations.
       Program notes for the May 1972 Filmex screening of the picture stated that the film was completed three weeks before the courtroom shooting in San Rafael and that du Luart then took the footage to Paris, where the editing was completed. As noted in reviews, the film, including edited-in newsreels and original footage, was in black and white. Reviews also noted that the documentary did not dwell on Davis' personal life or the aftermath of the 1970 courtroom escape.