Black Kung Fu Experience

Event information

This action-packed documentary chronicles kungfu’s black pioneers and heroes, exploring the intersection of African American and Asian cultures from Bruce Lee to the Wu-Tang Clan. The film traces the rise of the black kungfu experience in the 1960s and 1970s, and then reconnects with the contemporary martial arts scene at the 1,500-year-old Shaolin Temple, legendary birthplace of kungfu. The film underscores the Chinese and African American experiences as they evolve differently yet converge in unexpected ways, and how they challenge political and social persecution — as diverse as the Qing government’s oppressive rule in China, British colonialism in Hong Kong, and entrenched American racism — with the unique vehicle of kungfu.

The Black Kungfu Experience chronicles black pioneers, including famous actors and lesser-known practitioners, who became respected masters in a world dominated by Chinese and white men, as well as two younger martial artists who take us to the cutting edge of modern kungfu. Theirs is a story of transformation tracing how kungfu was — and still is — a unique crucible of the black experience. This story also illustrates that kungfu is frequently less about flash and style, kicks and punches, than it is about community, identity, and building bridges.

The art that emerges from this multi-ethnic synthesis includes the “Blaxploitation” kungfu genre of the early 1970s, kungfu imagery in the Jamaican reggae world, and finally, the absorption of kungfu iconography in hip-hop music and urban youth culture