Night Catches Us in some ways is a small movie, a quiet drama about two people trying to fall in love amid the fallout of the Black Panther movement. But for Tanya Hamilton, who developed this project as part of the Sundance Labs, it's a 10-year labor of love that's finally found a well-deserved premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Starring Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington, Night Catches Us is a historical document as well as an intimate human drama, about the legacy of the Black Panthers and the lasting effect the movement had on the people who founded it.
I talked to Hamilton earlier this week at Main Street art gallery, and asked her about the way she fused the historical record with the characters she had created, and what inspired her about the Black Panthers story to begin with. She also told a fascinating story about her own mother, which has nothing to do with the Black Panthers really, but would make an awesome movie of its own. Check out my 10-minute chat with Hamilton below.
For more of our Sundance 2010 coverage, click here.
