AncientFaces Your browser does not support JavaScript!
Please enable JavaScript to view the entire contents of this page.

Jamaa Fanaka 1942 - 2012

Jamaa Fanaka was born on September 6, 1942 at Jackson MS, USA, and died at age 69 years old on April 1, 2012 at South Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Jamaa Fanaka.

Jamaa Fanaka

September 6, 1942

Jackson MS, USA

April 1, 2012

South Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States

Male

Looking for someone else

Jamaa Fanaka Jamaa Fanaka (1942 - 2012)

ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM

This page exists for YOU
and everyone who remembers Jamaa.

Share what you know,
even ask what you wish you knew.

Invite others to do the same,
but don't worry if you can't...

Someone, somewhere will find this page,
and we'll notify you when they do.

Jamaa Fanaka's History: 1942 - 2012

Uncover new discoveries and connections today by sharing about people & moments from yesterday.

- Discover how AncientFaces works.

Introduction

Jamaa Fanaka was an American filmmaker. He is best known for his 1979 film, Penitentiary, and was one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement. Born: September 6, 1942, Jackson, MS Died: April 1, 2012, South Los Angeles, CA Education: Compton High School Compton College University of California, Los Angeles, CA
09/6

1942

Birthday

September 6, 1942

Birthdate

Jackson MS, USA

Birthplace

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Ethnicity & Family History

Mr. Fanaka was born Walter Gordon on Sept. 6, 1942, in Jackson, Miss., one of five children of Robert and Beatrice Gordon. His parents moved to the Los Angeles area when he was a boy. His father was an electrician.
Military Service

After serving in the Air Force, he told interviewers, he was adrift until he entered a community college film program, which led him to the U.C.L.A. film school.
Professional Career

He made three commercial feature films before graduating: “Welcome Home, Brother Charles” (1975), “Emma Mae” (1976). and “Penitentiary.” He graduated summa cum laude and by then had changed his name to Jamaa Fanaka, derived from the Swahili for “together we will find success.”
Personal Life & Family

His survivors include three daughters, Tracey Gordon, Twyla Louis, and Katina Scott; a son, Michael Gordon; his parents, Robert and Beatrice Gordon; two brothers, Joseph and Robert Gordon; a sister, Carmen Sanford; and nine grandchildren.
04/1

2012

Death

April 1, 2012

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

South Los Angeles in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California United States
Death location

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Obituary

NEW YORK TIMES Jamaa Fanaka, Film Director, Dies at 69 By Paul Vitello April 12, 2012 Jamaa Fanaka, a filmmaker who had considerable success in 1979 with “Penitentiary,” a feature-length movie he made while still in film school, but who claimed to have been blacklisted afterward for raising questions about a dearth of jobs for black directors in Hollywood, died on April 1 in Los Angeles. He was 69. The cause was complications of diabetes, his family said. Mr. Fanaka was part of what film scholars called the L.A. Rebellion, a small group of black U.C.L.A. film school graduates who came of age in the late 1970s, near the end of the so-called blaxploitation era. The group’s defining aesthetic was to move beyond pimp stereotypes and funk soundtracks in film portrayals of blacks. Unlike most of the others, including the avant-garde filmmakers Charles Burnett (“Killer of Sheep,” “My Brother’s Wedding”) and Julie Dash (“Daughters of the Dust”), Mr. Fanaka, a Billy Wilder fan, wanted to make movies that were both serious and popular. “Penitentiary,” starring Leon Isaac Kennedy as a wrongfully imprisoned man who finds redemption as a prison boxer, received mixed reviews but became the most financially successful independent movie of 1979. As luck would have it he released it during the first boom in affordable VCRs and movies on videocassette. He made sequels to “Penitentiary” in 1982 and 1987. The film was also considered an artistic breakthrough. Allyson Nadia Field, a professor of cinema studies at U.C.L.A. who last year helped organize a retrospective featuring the movies of the L.A. Rebellion, called “Penitentiary” “the transition moment between blaxploitation and independent black film-making.” “People think the beginning of independent black film-making was ‘She’s Gotta Have It,’ ” she said, referring to Spike Lee’s 1986 watershed hit. “But really, it was Fanaka’s ‘Penitentiary.’ ” Mr. Fanaka became one of the few black members of the Directors Guild of America, but he found the guild to be insular — pretty much like the rest of the film industry, he told interviewers — saying it rarely acted on its promises to encourage studios to hire more women and members of minority groups. When his attempts to change that quietly were ignored, Mr. Fanaka became dogged. He brought a series of class-action lawsuits against the guild in the early 1990s, claiming that its word-of-mouth system of alerting directors about job opportunities was inherently discriminatory and a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The suits sought a more transparent system of notification and the establishment of minority training programs. But a federal judge later threw them out on technicalities, and Mr. Fanaka was termed “a vexatious litigant.” (The Directors Guild declined to comment.) “He wrote the briefs himself; he paid the court costs; it became his mission for future filmmakers, was how he saw it,” said Jacqueline Stewart, a professor of radio, television, and film and African-American studies at Northwestern University, who interviewed Mr. Fanaka for the L.A. Rebellion retrospective. “It was very upsetting for him to talk about it,” she added. “He said he felt like he had been erased from history. It’s hard to prove these things, but I think it’s safe to say at the very least that his career suffered.” Mr. Fanaka rejected some movie opportunities after “Penitentiary” because he considered them to be in the blaxploitation mold, Ms. Stewart said. Jan-Christopher Horak, director of the U.C.L.A. film and television archive, said of Mr. Fanaka: “In a way his major accomplishment was a kind of a failure — to have tried and failed to significantly change the racial politics of his profession. He was punished for it. The Guild, the studios, they treated him like a crank. But he was not a crank. He was legitimately concerned about the future.” Mr. Fanaka was born Walter Gordon on Sept. 6, 1942, in Jackson, Miss., one of five children of Robert and Beatrice Gordon. His parents moved to the Los Angeles area when he was a boy. His father was an electrician. After serving in the Air Force, he told interviewers, he was adrift until he entered a community college film program, which led him to the U.C.L.A. film school. He made three commercial feature films before graduating: “Welcome Home, Brother Charles” (1975), “Emma Mae” (1976). and “Penitentiary.” He graduated summa cum laude and by then had changed his name to Jamaa Fanaka, derived from the Swahili for “together we will find success.” His survivors include three daughters, Tracey Gordon, Twyla Louis, and Katina Scott; a son, Michael Gordon; his parents, Robert and Beatrice Gordon; two brothers, Joseph and Robert Gordon; a sister, Carmen Sanford; and nine grandchildren. At his death, Mr. Fanaka was working on his eighth film, a documentary about hip-hop culture. He told the film blogger Jeff Brummett recently that he wished he had made more films, but that he was proud of what he had accomplished, both as a filmmaker and as an activist. “I exposed the Achilles’ heel of Hollywood,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Looking for more information?
share

Memories

below

Join one other
who remembers Jamaa

Select options below to share special moments.

Nationality & Locations Early Life & Education Baptism Religious Beliefs Gravesite & Burial Add Memory Add Photo Ask others to share How this works

Share what you remember.
Ask what you wish to know.
Connect to discover more.
Advertisement
Did you know?

Jamaa Fanaka lived 1 years shorter than the average family member when died at the age of 69.

ADVERTISEMENT BY
Looking for more information?
share

Memories

below

7 Memories, Stories & Photos about Jamaa

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka - Filmmaker

His films.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka

Posters of his films are behind him.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka Film

A Poster.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka

Portrait.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka

Smiling portrait.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka

Close-up.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.8k+ favorites

12/06/2023

Jamaa Fanaka

Scene from a film.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

Comments

Loading...one moment please

- See how biographies work.

Be the 1st to share and we'll let you know when others do the same.

ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM

Jamaa Fanaka's Family Tree & Friends

Jamaa Fanaka's Family Tree

Parent

Jamaa Fanaka Sep 6, 1942 - Apr 1, 2012

Partner

Child

Sibling

Friendships

Jamaa's Friends

1 Follower & Sources

Connect with others who remember Jamaa Fanaka to share and discover more memories. People who have contributed to this page are listed below and in the Biography History of changes. Sign in to your free account to view changes.

ADVERTISEMENT BY ANCESTRY.COM

Other Biographies

Mancheff, Louis (May 15, 1899 - Nov 1977) Mancheff, Mary (Aug 15, 1901 - Oct 17, 1977) Muntean, Nicholas (Nov 22, 1921 - May 23, 1971) Brock, Vera (Nov 18, 1920 - Jun 2, 2009) Boatenreiter, Michael (Jun 19, 1946 - Jun 3, 1994) Uzdrowski, Leonard (Jan 7, 1925 - Sep 6, 1995)

Steele , Mary (1903 - Nov 10, 1974) Fetterman, Mary (Died Jul 4, 2009) Miles, Richard (Mar 15, 1927 - Jan 10, 1993) Clark, Michelle (Dec 15, 1964 - Mar 22, 2022) Nimmons, Harold (Born May 4) Brock, Oscar (Aug 2, 1921 - Aug 14, 1997)

About the AncientFaces Community

Jamaa Fanaka 1942 - 2012

Jamaa Fanaka's History: 1942 - 2012

Introduction

Birthday

Ethnicity & Family History

Military Service

Professional Career

Personal Life & Family

Death

Obituary

7 Memories, Stories & Photos about Jamaa

Jamaa Fanaka's Family Tree & Friends

Jamaa Fanaka's Family Tree

Jamaa's Friends

Other Biographies