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Black Panthers
In 1967, Agnès Varda was living in California when one of the Black Panthers’ founders, Huey P. Newton, was arrested during a traffic stop for killing a police officer—a clear case of racial injustice, according to the Panthers. The following summer, Varda took her 16mm camera to a “Free Huey” demonstration in Oakland.
The atmosphere is festive, with children dancing and people lying in the grass, often holding copies of the Marxist-Leninist Little Red Book. But this is neither a picnic nor a party, Varda says in the voice-over. A Panther makes a passionate plea for employment, decent housing, and education, for an end to police brutality, and the release of black prisoners.
Black Panthers was scheduled to air on French television in late 1968 but was canceled at the last minute—according to Varda, because censors feared the film would “reawaken the students’ anger.”
Bio Agnès Varda
Agnès Varda (1928-2019) was a Belgian-born French film director. She studied Art History at the École du Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts but also held a Bachelor’s in Literature and Psychology from the Sorbonne. While working as a photographer, Varda became interested in making a film, even though she knew little about the industry. Varda’s feature film debut was La Pointe Courte (1955), but her film Cléo de 5 à 7 (1961) established her name and became a landmark of the French New Wave. Varda wanted to make films in line with her time, rather than focusing on traditions or classical standards.
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- This film was #22 in the “Greatest” Short Films of All Time 2025