I’m Free Now, You Are Free is a short documentary about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr and his mother Debbie Africa—a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE9.

In 1978, Debbie, then 8 months pregnant, and many other MOVE family members were arrested after an attack by the Philadelphia Police Department; born in a prison cell, Mike Africa Jr. spent just three days with his mother before guards wrenched him away, and they spent the next 40 years struggling for freedom and for each other. In 2018, Mike Africa Jr. successfully organized to have his parents released on parole. “I realized that I had never seen her feet before,” was a remark he made when he reflected on Debbie’s homecoming. This film meditates on Black family preservation as resistance against the brutal legacies of state sanctioned family separation.

We will screen the 15 min documentary, and discuss the role of political prisoners and the importance of organizing for their liberation—especially during COVID.
Featuring: Introduction by Johanna Fernández , Conversation with Mike Afria Jr., Debbie Africa, Mike Africa Sr., & Filmmakers

A film of Common Notions, with support from the Jacob Burns Film Center, NeXt Doc, & The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre by the City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in association with The New York Foundation for the Arts.
Sponsored by: Common Notions, Campaign To Bring Mumia Home, and COVID Bail Out NYC.