The Spook Who Sat by the Door (Special Premiere Event)

One of the most radical, revolutionary statements in film history, Ivan Dixon’s explosive adaptation of the novel by Sam Greenlee follows the fictional first Black CIA agent (Cook), who uses his specialized training to build a guerrilla army intent on government overthrow. So potent is the film’s call to revolution that it was pulled from theaters within days of opening. BAM is thrilled to present this long-unavailable masterwork of American cinema, a treasured classic and 2012 National Film Registry selection. Presented in collaboration with Film Desk.

Restored by The Library of Congress and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. 

The screening is followed by a live panel discussion with Dr. Khalid El-Hakim, founder of the Black History Mobile Museum; Dr. Laurence Ralph, professor of anthropology at Princeton; and  Dr. Racquel Gates, associate professor of film and media studies at Columbia. Michael Gillespie, film historian, professor, and author of Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film, will moderate.