Talking Pictures: Night Catches Us’ Tanya Hamilton

Usually when a filmmaker tackles the Black Panthers, we get something sensationalistic. Writer-director Tanya Hamilton wanted to take a different approach. Her thoughtful debut feature Night Catches Us looks at the legacy of the Black Power movement on a Philadelphia neighborhood from the perspective of the ’70s. The Hurt Locker‘s Anthony Mackie is an ex-Panther who hooks up with a fellow activist vet (Kerry Washington), during the long, hot summer of 1976. Another reason to be excited: There’s music by the Roots, too. Hamilton spoke to the Los Angeles Times at Sundance and explained why it took her a decade to bring Night to the screen.