Praise for Stephen Vittoria's MUMIA: Long Distance Revolutionary

"Coverage of public discourse in the United States often makes it seem as if the only ideologies still in the game were the far right and the moderate everybody else. But “Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary” is proof that there are still outspoken champions of views too radicalized to qualify as left-wing: people distrustful of law enforcement, the political system, the justice system, the news media and the very notion that America is at heart the land of the free. Getting a concentrated dose of activists like Angela Davis and Dick Gregory, academics like Cornel West and Michelle Alexander, and the many other talking heads in this film is certainly a bracing change from the usual back-and-forth of the evening news." - Neil, Genzlinger, The New York Times

"Tracing the path of a brilliant journalist whose message cannot be silenced...this passionate advocacy docu should spark debate. Part of Abu-Jamal's persuasive power flows from the specificity of his analysis of black history and his ability to see the struggle for freedom in larger, nonexclusive terms. Vittoria closely follows the government's desperate efforts to silence Abu-Jamal...[and] triumphantly heralds his return to the political scene as a rallying cry for an alternate political discourse joyously shared by the film's community of interviewees." -Ronnie Scheib, Variety

"A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal... a firebrand intellectual, a political prisoner, a man of eloquence and insight... Vittoria offers lots of context - about the Black Panthers, MOVE, George Wallace, and Frank Rizzo... Abu-Jamal writing and talking about "mass incarceration," about Nat Turner and Frederick Douglass, from his tiny cell."
- Philadelphia Inquirer

"The film is part biography, part commentary... and part drama. ("Mumia") is a film that provokes and entertains." - Counterpunch

"Passionate, partisan, and persuasive!  A compelling documentary about a riveting historical figure, with a who’s who of storytellers woven by Vittoria into coherent narrative, with each one playing a brilliantly cast role: their own. It retells a history that is almost unbelievable if one did not experience it firsthand." -Eric Mann, War Resister's League

"Puts a human face on its subject, for so long now just an anti-capital-punishment icon… also makes the case, COINTELPRO and beyond, that power is hardly to be trusted in America." - Michael Atkinson, Time Out NY

"Juicy, visual…Vittoria does a fine job setting the stage and dissecting racial tensions in Philadelphia." - New York Daily News

"Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is one of the early part of this year’s crowning gems... And it’s as great a film as we’ve seen now a month into 2013."
-Joshua Brunsting, Criterion Cast

"! Doesn’t seek so much to clear the controversial figure’s name as to showcase his intellect and longstanding defiance of ‘The Establishment’." - Kam Williams, Philadelphia Sunday

"Vittoria constructs a powerful narrative of Abu-Jamal’s life and career as a journalist and social critic." - Jay Cassano, Inter Press Service

"Uncompromising, disturbing…Abu-Jamal’s voice has the clarity and candor of a man whose impending death emboldens him to say what is on his mind without fear of consequence." - The Boston Globe 

"Long Distance Revolutionary is a blistering indictment of institutionalized racism and also a sensitive picture of a fascinating human being." - Jamie Rich, The Oregonian

"Vittoria tells of an exceptional black Philly kid growing up in the days when police chief Frank Rizzo was attempting to beat the civil rights movement back with 1,000 nightsticks. (The film) sets Mumia the statue aglow." -The Village Voice

"Did Abu-Jamal really kill the officer, or was he railroaded because of his activism and ties to the Black Panthers?  'Mumia' raises issues of racism in America (flashback to George Wallace) that are worthy of discussion." -V.A. Musetto, New York Post

"Tells the story of a man who expresses deep compassion and public-mindedness, despite existing in Hellish conditions." -Yolande Brener, Harlem World

"Fascinating and persuasive. Vittoria creates a context that suggests how easily innocents could be railroaded.  The result is not unlike Oliver Stone’s rewrite of U.S. history." 
- John Hartl, Seattle Times

"Study of the civil rights era tends to end with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  ‘Mumia’ is fascinating because it covers the overlooked time period -- the late sixties through the seventies -- by examining race relations within the northern city of Philadelphia, a place not popularly associated with racial injustice." - Alicia Fox, Student Handouts

"'Mumia' is a vital documentary." - Wolf Entertainment Guide

"Vittoria creates a tantalizing tension... (Mumia) has a prophet's insight into our nation's racial and judicial ills... he's clearly a singular intellect and writer." - Seattle Weekly

"Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary is a remarkable and necessary film... (the film) is an invaluable and moving portrayal... as Alice Walker puts it, the ability "to maintain one's humanity in the face of injustice."  - Socialist Worker :