Remastered Film Showcases Philly Police Assault on MOVE Organization

FEATURING JANINE AFRICA AND RAMONA AFRICA – As a national conversation about racist police brutality continues with the trial of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd, the sordid history of police violence against Black Americans is perhaps most shockingly symbolized by the Philadelphia police department’s relentless assault on the MOVE organization in the 1970s and 80s. To this day most Americans have likely not heard of the only aerial police bombing on US soil when Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on top of a house inhabited by members MOVE, in a predominantly black neighborhood in 1985.

Eleven people were killed, among them 5 children. The horrific bombing came after years of police targeting and violence captured in a 1978 documentary called MOVE: Confrontation in Philadelphia. The film is an astounding, award-winning account of one of many assaults on MOVE. It was shot on the ground during the August 8, 1978, siege of the MOVE home in Powelton Village by police, which first-time filmmakers Karen Pomer and Jane Mancini risked their lives to record. Footage from the film has been included in more recent documentaries about MOVE such as 40 Years a Prisoner and Let the Fire Burn. MOVE: Confrontation in Philadelphia is about to be released for the first time in its entirety online in an newly digitized format.

The film will be available starting Wednesday, March 24 at 2PM PST / 5PM EST. **Also available on Demand Mar 25-29**

Sign-up for the screening HERE. There’s a $5 charge to join Metrograph.

Janine Africa, MOVE9 survivor of the 1978 police assault on MOVE who spent 40 years in prison and Ramona Africa, the sole-adult survivor of the 1985 police bombing of MOVE and who spent 7 years in prison.