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Making Contact
"Making Contact" is produced by International Media Project, an independent, non-profit organization founded in 1994, committed to investigative journalism, in-depth critical analysis, the promotion of civic participation and the dissemination of educational material. Its core focus is National Radio Project, the team that creates Making Contact.
Unlike any other film, book, or article produced about Mumia Abu-Jamal, “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” focuses on his career as a prolific author and broadcaster from Pennsylvania’s Death Row. In fact, the film does not deal with Abu-Jamal’s case, but rather chronicles his life and work as a journalist and revolutionary – both prior and post incarceration. After Abu-Jamal is convicted for the murder of of Philadelphia patrolman Daniel Faulkner, the story then exposes Abu-Jamal’s battles with the American court system to continue his work from prison- a battle he continues to wage to this very day. The film was written, produced and directed by Stephen Vittoria.
Abu-Jamal is an activist, former Black Panther and radical journalist. Mumia has been imprisoned for 35 years. He spent the first 28.5 years of his imprisonment on Pennsylvanias death row. In 2011, his death sentence was confirmed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court and he is now serving a sentence of life in prison without parole. He is charged with the 1981 murder, in Philadelphia, of police officer Daniel Faulkner.
Featuring:
Cornel West, philosopher, author, civil rights activist, and professor at the Union Theological Seminary; Alice Walker, Pulitzer Prize winning author, poet, and civil rights activist; Angela Davis, professor, scholar, author, and political activist; Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, former middleweight boxer and former Executive Director of the Association in Defense of the Wrongly Convicted; Ruby Dee, actress, poet, journalist, and activist; Giancarlo Esposito, actor and director; Peter Coyote, actor, author, director, and screenwriter; Dick Gregory, author, comedian, and social activist; Amy Goodman, author, journalist, investigative reporter, and host of Democracy Now!; Tariq Ali, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, and historian; M-1 aka Mutulu Olugbala, rapper (Dead Prez), author, and activist; Aya De Leon, professor, writer, poet, and spoken word artist; Michael Parenti, author and historian; Ramona Africa, Minister of Communication, MOVE; Dave Zirin, author and sports journalist; Johanna Fernandez, author and professor at Baruch College, City University of New York; Ramsey Clark, Former US Attorney General and activist; Michelle Alexander, author and professor of law at Ohio State University; author of The New Jim Crow; Juan Gonzalez, columnist for the New York Daily News, journalist, investigative reporter, and co-host of Democracy Now!; Jerry Quickley, journalist and performance poet; Emory Douglas, artist and former member of The Black Panther Party.
Credits:
Host: Anita Johnson
Producers: Marie Choi, RJ Lozada, Anita Johnson, and Monica Lopez
Executive Director: Lisa Rudman
Web Editor and Audience Engagement Director: Sabine Blaizin
Development Associate: Vera Tykulsker
