A film we’ve been tracking since 2012 (and featured its Kickstarter campaign in 2013), "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez," from directors Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, is being distributed by California Newsreel, and will be making its New York City premiere next month (November) at the DOC NYC festival (Nov 12-19).

California Newsreel also has a trailer for the film (we’ve never had one) which was actually released about a month ago, but I’m only just learned of its existence. The trailer is embedded below.

Appropriately-titled "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez," the project focuses on the life of the 81-year-old poet (born Wilsonia Benita Driver) – her emergence as a seminal figure in the 1960s Black Arts Movement, to civil rights activism, women’s liberation as a poet, playwright, teacher, activist and early champion of the spoken word. In the film, rich with readings and jazz-accompanied performances of Sanchez’s work, a life unfolds. Despite her achievements, there hasn’t been a major film documenting her life and the impact of her work; until this one. The film takes a look at Sanchez as writer and at the groundbreaking artistic and political movements she embraced and influenced. At the heart of the film are her performances: Her powerful "spoken word" reading style often segues into song or chant and can include instrumentation and spontaneous or choreographed dance.

This documentary’s title is drawn from Sanchez’s second book of poetry, "We a BaddDDD People." 

Courtesy of California Newsreel, the  91 minute film will screen at DOC NYC on Wednesday, November 18 at 12:30 pm and again on Thursday, November 19 at 7:15 pm, both at the IFC center.

Directors Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Sonia Sanchez herself, will all be present for post-screening conversations.

For tickets and more info on the film, visit: http://www.docnyc.net/film/baddddd-sonia-sanchez/#.VjOd4LerSJC.

Check out the trailer for "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez" below: