WILMINGTON 10 – USA 10,000

Director: Haile Gerima

1979 | 120 minutes | USA | Color. English. DCP. 

Restoration by the Academy Film Archive

Doors open at 6 pm, film starts at 6:30 pm

followed by Q&A with descendants, relatives and actual members of the Wilmington 10

Showing for the first time ever in Wilmington, NC is the premiere of the groundbreaking, newly restored Haile Gerima (“Sankofa”, “Bush Mama”) 1979 documentary WILMINGTON 10 - USA 10,000.  

Gerima’s first-ever documentary delves into the 1971 case of ten men and women―nine Black and one white, almost all high school students― wrongfully convicted & imprisoned for 282 collective years for arson of a white-owned business in which no one was killed.  But really, the conviction was for speaking out against racial injustice in Wilmington and The 10 became a cause célèbre, igniting international demand for their exoneration.  Gerima goes deep, exploring the human relationships to injustice through interviews of The 10, their families, the Wilmington community, and fellow political prisoner Assata Shakur, filmed just before her escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility. 

But most urgently, Gerima shows Black Americas existent, prolonged struggle against white supremacy, of which the Wilmington 10 are only one tragically prescient component.

Presented by BLK Docs, The Luminal Theater, Speller Street Films, and Support The Port, WILMINGTON 10 – USA 10,000 will screen at Reparations Week in Wilmington, NC on October 18th at 6pm. This event includes a panel discussion with relatives and descendants of The Wilmington 10. 

Dedicated to Larry Reni Thomas. Special thanks to The Gerima Family, the Academy FIlm Archive, and Jengo’s Playhouse

Funding provided in part by Color Congress

preview image courtesy of the filmmaker