POST ATLANTIC
The Art of Dewey Crumpler
2025, 29 Minutes
Produced and Directed by Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman
Edited by Gregory Scharpen
World Premiere: Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, February 2025
NATIONAL BROADCAST PREMIERE:KQED-9, Northern California: Friday, June 13 at 7:30pm and Saturday, June 14 at 10:30pm.
POST ATLANTIC will also be broadcast on over 200 public television stations as well as on the WORLD channel (distributed by American Public Television with WGBH & WNET). Check local listings for dates and times on a public television station near you.
Distributed by Bullfrog Films. To preview or purchase: https://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/post.html Educational/Institutional, community group, and home video rates available.
What is it to resist?… to persist in opposition to those in power? POST ATLANTIC explores the visionary world of legendary African American painter and philosopher Dewey Crumpler as he connects the slave trade to modern globalization and demonstrates what it means to be a working artist with a conscience in today’s society.
Dewey was a prominent voice in our recent film TOWN DESTROYER – a study of the culture war over New Deal murals about George Washington – Indian killer, slave owner, real estate speculator, and first among the Founders. In POST ATLANTIC, Dewey re-weaves together the threads of African thought through beautiful, often abstract paintings that address the Atlantic slave trade, resistance, and globalization. A crucial figure in the Black Arts Movement from his youth working with the Black Panther Party to his teaching young luminaries like Kehinde Wiley and Adrian Burrell at the San Francisco Art Institute, Dewey has challenged orthodoxies, exclusions, and foregone conclusions. POST ATLANTIC tells Crumpler’s story and follows him in his studio, at home, around the Bay, and at a recent high-profile opening of his new work – “Post Atlantic” – at a New York gallery. The film is not hagiography, but a portal through which we see a creator engaging with history and the future, and persisting against adversity.
“Post Atlantic captures the expansive practice of this important painter and muralist. The film seamlessly weaves Crumpler’s creative journey into the fabric of contemporary culture and social politics of the past fifty years. Inspiring.” –Margaret Winslow, Delaware Art Museum
“Dewey is a vibe. He’s a situation.” –Kehinde Wiley
“Looking at Dewey’s art and listening to him speak truly define the struggles and spiritual journeys in the African Diaspora. He connects us with Ancestor Brilliance, and a path for those yet to come.” –Lincoln Beauchamp, Art Ensemble of Chicago
“Post Atlantic is at once self-portrait, artist showcase, and cultural meditation. Artist Dewey Crumpler shares his work and ongoing artistic convictions in a film that is rich in insight, visuals, and music.” –Steven Garabedian, Marist University
