A PANTHER IN AFRICA American Directions

A PANTHER IN AFRICA skillfully draw in the audience, documenting the charismatic Pete O’Neal, one of the last American exiles from an era when activists considered themselves at war with the US government.

More than 30 years ago, O’Neal, a young Black Panthers arrested on false charges. He fled to Tanzania, where he has lived ever since as part of the Wameru tribe. There he started an intercontinental cultural exchange program for underprivileged African Americans and Tanzanians. Intertwined with O’Neal’s story is that of Geronimo Pratt, another falsely accused Black Panther, also living in Tanzania. Both men are active members of their adopted community. But while Pratt was cleared of any wrongdoing and lives as a free man, O’Neal remains in exile, a man living between two worlds-America and Africa.

Matthews shoots O’Neal verite style, drinking in the day-to-day reality of O’Neal’s life in limbo, documenting his powerful journey as he reconciles his radical past and paves the way for his uncertain future.