#DeColonizeLACityHall, a direct political action as occupation by Black Lives Matter-LA (BLMLA), is in it’s 38th consecutive day. Tents went up on July 12th in response to the LA Police Commission announcement that the 2015 police killing of Redel Jones was deemed in policy. Since then it’s been the biggest, most undereported historic local event since Occupy LA took the City Hall grounds for 3 months in 2011.

Janelle Monáe’s anthemic, Hell You Talmbout tests the limits of a small Bluetooth speaker; ricochets off the hard surfaces of downtown as sidewalk sleepers emerge from a cluster of fifteen tents on the plaza at City Hall East in Los Angeles at 6:00 am. A few feet away a big red bus hacks up a dark plume that settles on a large yellow banner propped up near the curb spelling “Say Her Name” in big red letters. Another sign, “Fire Chief Beck” leans against a traffic signal, staring blankly at the Mayor’s office just across the street. The Black Lives Matter (BLMLA) encampment is exactly what you’d expect to find at the bleeding edge of the Black Liberation Movement; a tightly organized, clean, open but guarded, kid friendly, abundant, creative, gay-trans-ally friendly, loving, matriarchal space.   BLMLA Camp, LA City Hall_8/16   Melina Abdullah packs a few essentials into a bag near the food table as she begins her day. A founding, core member of BLMLA, the mother of three, tenured professor and Pan-African Studies department chair at Cal State, Los Angeles is a guiding presence here. A practiced communicator, she breaks from the scrip to consider what they’ve created at City Hall; “I don’t think we’d really articulated it before, but it’s a really beautiful loving space. We’re building the community we want to live in,” she says and excuses herself to help unload a car that has pulled up to drop off supplies. The spontaneous action dubbed “Decolonize LA City Hall” began on Tuesday, July 12, just after the Los Angeles Police Commission announced that the 2015 police killing of a black woman named Redel Jones was deemed in policy. Shortly after tents went up at City Hall a block away from...

Radicalized has been a journey; a wild ride and a crash course in the fundamentals of independent distribution and self promotion.  After we finished the cut, we we're incredibly lucky to connect to Indie Rights, a small, independent distribution company out of downtown L.A., for some essential lessons in the basics. That segued into the Los Angeles festival premiere opening night at the DFFLA at the Regent theatre, after which we had a very successful theatrical run at Arena Cinema in Hollywood before finding our way into the A&E section of the LA Times, after which they gave us a decidedly lovely review. Since then, we’ve been busy doing special screenings all over the place. We're currently setting up screenings from Munich, Germany to Oakland, CA, Appleton WI, Portland, OR, Vermont and lots more. (*Sign up for updates on RadicalizedMovie.com) Some recent screenings include the following: (*All have been free or fundraising screenings benefiting these groups exclusively.) KPFK Radicalized Screening, North Hollywood. The Topanga Peace Alliance, Topanga, CA. Association of Raza Educators, Orange Co, CA. Orange County Anarchist Book Fair Collective, Fullerton CA. Occupy Los Angeles Four Year Reunion at City Hall, LA, CA. Rose City Underground / The Refuge, Pana, IL. Radicalized is available on all major platforms; Google Play, Amazon, iTunes and most recently Vimeo. FOLLOW US: FaceBook Twitter Instagram YouTube Theatrical Trailer...