Classic Black Cinema Series: Uptight

This film is set in Cleveland, Ohio in April 1968, days after the assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis, Tennessee. The tragedy has a tremendous impact on the country, but is especially felt in the black community. Radical groups advocating violence spring into action, as the angry young black man Johnny Wells (Max Julien) and two cohorts, Rick (Ji-Tu Cumbuka) and Larry (John Wesley), get caught up in a robbery that has gone wrong. This results in a citywide manhunt and and ensuing drama and action.

Specifically designed as a vehicle to expose the community to the vast artistic value black film has had throughout the years, the goal of the film series is to appeal to as diverse a population as possible and further the appreciation of Black cinema. Curator and host, Felix Curtis, came to Charlotte from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay area where he curated The San Francisco Black Film Festival and Black Filmworks, the annual film festival component of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, where he later served as Executive Director.