Arts & Entertainment
Dante James: The Huey P. Newton Documentary
D
ante James is an Emmy
Award-winning independ-
ent filmmaker who has
produced and directed critically-
acclaimed documentary and dra-
matic films. He is also the
assistant director of the African
Cultural Center at North Carolina
State University (NCSU).
Prior to joining the faculty at
NCSU, he was an Artist in Resi-
dence and Instructor at Duke Uni-
versity. In 2006, he won a
National Emmy for his work as
series producer of the well-
received PBS series, “Slavery and
the Making of America.” James’
most recent offering, “Harlem in
Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story,”
was awarded Best Documentary at
the 2010 Pan African International
Film Festival in Cannes, France.
In 2008 he wrote, produced and
directed “The Doll,” an adaptation
of a classic short story by Charles
W. Chesnutt. That picture received
the Best Dramatic Short Film
Award at that year’s Hollywood
Black Film Festival.
Earlier in his career, Dante exec-
utive produced the PBS series,
“This Far by Faith” for Blackside
Films in Boston, Mass. He was
also honored with the DuPont
Columbia Silver Baton for his
work at Blackside.
Mr. James has a Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Grand Valley State
University and a Master of Arts in
Liberal Studies from Duke Uni-
versity. In 2008 he was awarded
an honorary Ph.D., a Doctorate of
Humane Letters by Grand Valley
State University.
During the summer of 2010 he
C ELEBRITY
I NTERVIEW
by Kam
Williams
served as a guest lecturer at the
University of Cape Town in South
Africa. And he plans to return to
Cape Town to make a film with a
black South African resident of the
Khayelitsha Township. A member
of the Directors Guild of America
and the Writers Guild of America,
Dante is currently developing an
independent feature-length docu-
mentary about Huey P. Newton
Emmy-Winning
Director Invites
Investors in Black
Panther Biopic
and the Black Panther Party. See:
http://www.kickstarter.com/pro-
jects/1649581507/the-story-of-
huey-p-newton-and-the-black-pan
ther-p
Kam Williams: Hi, Dante,
thanks for the interview. How ya
been, bro?
Dante James: Hi Kam, thank
you for your continued interest in
my work. The last few months
have been really busy. I’m enjoy-
ing my responsibilities as assistant
director of NCSU’s African-
American Cultural Center and all
of my film projects. The inde-
pendent feature and, of course, the
feature documentary on Huey P.
Newton and the Black Panther
Party are moving forward.
KW: What interested you in
doing a documentary about Huey
Newton?
DJ: As a young person, I was
interested in the Black Panther
Party and their efforts to serve the
needs of the community while
also having the courage to con-
front oppressive exploitative
forces in the community. That
interest grew as I got older and, as
you are aware, all of my films
explore some aspect of the
African American experience. So,
a film on Huey P. Newton and the
Black Panther Party is an opportu-
nity to grow intellectually while
also exploring an often misrepre-
sented movement.
KW: Do you think that the Pan-
thers have been slighted by history
because J. Edgar Hoover was so
successful at destroying the Party?
DJ: That is a very interesting
question. I think the misrepresen-
tations of the Black Panther Party
are certainly connected to J. Edgar
Hoover and his unrelenting efforts
to destroy the Party. For about ten
years, Hoover illegally used the
power of the federal government
along with black informants to
create dissention within the Party
and to present a negative image of
the Party to the general public.
Additionally, in concert with local
police officials, Hoover used bru-
tal force in his effort to destroy the
Black Panther Party. The images
and accounts of these efforts have
misrepresented the Black Panther
Party movement. Historically, and
even today, external forces includ-
ing the government, the main-
stream corporate media and
academics have defined the Black
Panther Party. This film will be the
first to tell the story of the Black
Panthers from inside the Party.
Black Panther Party members will
define themselves and their move-
ment.
KW: How did you get David
Hilliard to participate in the proj-
ect?
DJ: Actually David who was
Huey P. Newton’s childhood
friend, a founding member of the
Party and its Chief of Staff,
approached me. David also led the
Party during the time that Huey
and Bobby Seale were incarcerat-
ed. David and I spent several
months talking about the film in
terms of a conceptual framework
at the same time that I conducted
my own research. During these
conversations David would tell me
these incredible stories about
Huey’s vision for the party, the
inner workings of the party, the
mistakes they made, the success-
ful maneuvers, and the pain and
agony of the murder of Party
members. One of the main mis-
conceptions of the party is ground-
ed in the concept of armed
struggle. While there were fac-
tions of the party who pushed an
armed struggle agenda, that was
not Huey’s vision. This was a
leading source of tension within
the Party.
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July 11, 2012 The Seattle Skanner Page 5