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Jamaa Fanaka

Directing

Jamaa Fanaka

Born September 6, 1942 · Jackson, Mississippi, USA

Died April 1, 2012 · aged 69

Jamaa Fanaka was an American filmmaker. He is best known for his 1979 film, Penitentiary, and is one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement. The L.A. Rebellion film movement, sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers", or the UCLA Rebellion, refers to the new generation of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film Sc…

Known For

Penitentiary IIIPenitentiary III · 1987
Penitentiary III
★ 5.51987
MovieActionCrime
A man is framed for murder and sent to prison. He is beaten and tortured, then forced to fight the prison's worst killer, a martial-arts fighting midget called Thud.
Penitentiary IIPenitentiary II · 1982
Penitentiary II
★ 4.41982
MovieActionThriller
An ex-con, on parole and trying to straighten his life out, decides to resume his boxing career when one of his prison enemies escapes and kills his girlfriend.
Emma MaeEmma Mae · 1976
Emma Mae
★ 5.81976
MovieComedyDrama
A naive young woman moves from the South to stay with her aunt and uncle in Compton. As an outsider, she struggles at first to find her footing, but soon falls into the middle of a community of rebellious youth. She soon becomes more and more aware of the social injustices of the big city.
PenitentiaryPenitentiary · 1979
Penitentiary
★ 5.31979
MovieActionDrama
A hitchhiker named Martel Gordone gets in a fight with two bikers over a prostitute, and one of the bikers is killed. Gordone is arrested and sent to prison, where he joins the prison's boxing team in an effort to secure an early parole and to establish his dominance over the prison's toughest gang.
Welcome Home Brother CharlesWelcome Home Brother Charles · 1975
Welcome Home Brother Charles
★ 4.91975
MovieActionThriller
After wrongly doing time in prison for murder, a man seeks revenge on a racist law enforcement system and the detective who framed him.
Street WarsStreet Wars · 1991
Street Wars
★ 5.31991
MovieActionDrama
A young man takes over as the head of a crack dealing outfit after his brother, the gang's leader, is murdered.
A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment PlanA Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan · 1972
A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan
1972
MovieFantasy
Jamaa Fanaka’s first project plays off the Blaxploitation’s genre conventions, an adaption of Goethe’s “Faust” presented with a non-synchronous soundtrack and superimposed over a remake of Super Fly (1972). Often out of focus with an overactive camera, the film immediately exudes nervous energy, but unlike Priest’s elegant cocaine consumption in Super Fly, Willie’s arm gushes blood as he injects heroin. A morality tale in two reels. —Jan-Christopher Horak

Filmography

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