Revised March 23, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Saturday, March 28, 2015 in major cities across the country, hundreds of people will gather in prestigious theaters for the premiere screenings of the new film of the historic event that took place in New York City last fall: REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN. These screenings will kick off an online launch of the film that over the coming months needs to be seen by many tens of thousands of people.

Here are four points on why and how to make these premieres and the online launch big successes. If you are just finding out about this film for the first time and the trailer speaks to you, get a ticket for a premiere near you; but don’t stop there, be a part of making it happen. These points are for you. And, if you are active in the movement for revolution—go all out from now to March 28—taking up these same four points.

#1 WATCH, SHOW, DIG INTO, AND SPREAD THE POWERFUL ORGANIZING KIT of: [1] The trailer for the film; [2] the YouTube clip: “Why Are We Still Fighting For Justice in 2015?;” [3] the new clip from the film, “What if...?”; and [4] the interview, “Ardea Skybreak, On Attending the Dialogue Between Bob Avakian and Cornel West.” Ground yourself in the substance of the trailer, the two YouTube film clips, and Ardea Skybreak’s insightful discussion of the significance of the Dialogue. Then, get each and all of these out far and wide.

There is nothing else as impactful as watching the trailer to convey just what this film is and why it matters. Four minutes of Bob Avakian and Cornel West—the revolutionary substance, the love, the humor, the deep morality, and the need to act—it’s all there. Second, what could more cut to the core of the struggle against police murder and the whole program of slow genocide than the clip “Why Are We Still Fighting for Justice in 2015?” Third, the clip of BA posing: “What if...?” paints a stirring vision of a radically different world with liberating social relations. Fourth, Ardea Skybreak, in a down-to-earth and beautiful conversational piece, unfolds the historic significance of the Dialogue.

#2 MAKE THE PREMIERE THEATER SHOWINGS A BIG DEAL—a powerful launch for an ongoing campaign so that the film becomes a reference point throughout the country and around the world to all who yearn for a world free of oppression.

• The PREMIERES will contribute to launching the film online by making it known—on the ground, in the streets and schools, and in all different forms of media.
• Watching the film on the big screen with big sound with an incredible diverse mix of people will be a rich experience. People will feel inspired to get more deeply into the substance of the film and to spread the word and raise the funds so that it will be seen by many more.

#3 GET THE WORD OUT TO PEOPLE FAR AND WIDE

• In neighborhoods, schools, colleges, churches, and at big cultural events pass out palm cards; put up posters in stores and on bulletin boards. In key areas it should be unmistakable that the Premieres are happening and you need to be there.
• Through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and other social media, spread the trailer in imaginative ways so that 10,000 people view it over the next 10 days. Everyone who is outraged by the continuing brutality and murder of our people by the police needs to see the YouTube clip, “Why Are We Still Fighting for Justice in 2015?”
• Get the word out to media—on the Internet, in print, and on the air—to bloggers, reviewers, radio hosts, and writers. Send out links to the trailer and YouTube clips "Why Are We Still Fighting for Justice in 2015?" and "What if...?", to the online version of the interview with Ardea Skybreak as well as to www.revcom.us so that media can experience the full scope of the movement for revolution and Bob Avakian’s work.
• To maximize impact on a core audience for the film, FOCUS ON A FEW KEY STRATA: [1] Students and youth. [2] People who catch the hardest hell from this system, in the projects, ’hoods, and barrios. [3] The broad progressive middle class who are deeply concerned about the future, paying special attention to reaching out to the Black intelligentsia (professors, students, artists, journalists, etc.), many of whom are doing important new work on the roots of, and speaking to the current reality of the oppression of Black people.

#4 RAISE FUNDS so that the premieres and the online launch of the film can be broadly promoted and advertised as a first step in an ongoing campaign. Big funds are needed so that millions can know about this. Raising funds also involves people, building community.

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If we do all of this, putting the film before people with the trailer and the YouTube clips, making a big deal of it everywhere we go, the premiere screenings can be an empowering collective experience—a cohering of community and commitment—essential to forging a people who are struggling together for a radically different and better world.

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