How Accurately Are the Black Panthers Depicted in Movies? Former BPP Leader Elaine Brown Rates 6 Films

Elaine Brown during her interview for Jean Seberg: Actress. Activist. Icon.

Former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown was recently asked to rate six films involving the Black Panther Party for realism. Brown, a BBP contact and close friend of Jean Seberg's, provided a riveting interview for the new documentary Jean Seberg: Actress. Activist. Icon. (currently in distribution review). Among the films she rated is SEBERG starring Kristen Stewart released in 2019.

2021 Oscar nominated "Judas and the Black Messiah".

INSIDER noted: "Brown joined the Black Panther Party in 1968 and was the acting chair of the party from 1974 to 1977 while Black Panther cofounder Huey Newton was in self-imposed exile in Cuba. The Black Panther Party was an organization focused on creating a revolution for Black freedom, housing rights, the end of police violence against Black people, and other social causes. It was founded by Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966 in Oakland, California. Its ideology incorporated socialism, Marxism-Leninism, and Black nationalism. The party was active between 1966 and 1982 and had chapters across the United States. Brown discusses the accuracy of the portrayal of the Black Panther Party in films such as "Judas and the Black Messiah" (2021), "Forrest Gump" (1994), and "The Butler" (2013). Brown has personal connections to Seale, Fred Hampton, and Jean Seberg, and she comments on their depictions in "Panther" (1995), "The Trial of the Chicago 7" (2020), and "Seberg" (2019)."

"Seberg" (2019).

DISCLAIMER: Please note that the interview subtitles are inaccurate with numerous errors and misspellings. View Elaine Brown's INSIDER interview HERE!

Garry McGee is the co-producer-director-writer of Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon (now in the distribution phase). He is the Emmy® nominated filmmaker behind the documentary The Last Wright (co-produced with Lucille Carra) and the author of Jean Seberg--Breathless, Neutralized: the FBI vs. Jean Seberg (with Jean Russell Larson) and The Films of Jean Seberg (with Michael Coates-Smith). 

The award-winning documentary Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon tells the true story of Hollywood and heartbreak, beginning when an unknown 17-year-old Iowa girl who beat out 18,000 actresses to play Saint Joan in Otto Preminger's 1957 film. The documentary goes behind the scenes of her rocky life in the international film spotlight, her civil rights activism that drew FBI attention, and her mysterious death in Paris in 1979 - deemed a "probable suicide." Produced by Emmy-nominated and award-winning filmmakers Garry McGee (McMarr Ltd.), and Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle (Fourth Wall Films).

Visit JeanSebergMovie for updates on the documentary, glimpses behind-the-scenes, all things Jean Seberg, and upcoming news on the film's release.