Ed Rampell

Ed Rampell is an L.A.-based film historian and critic, author of Progressive Hollywood: A People’s Film History of the United States, and co-author of The Hawaii Movie and Television Book. He has written for Variety, Television Quarterly, Cineaste, New Times L.A., and other publications. Rampell lived in Tahiti, Samoa, Hawaii, and Micronesia, reporting on the nuclear-free and independent Pacific and Hawaiian Sovereignty movements. Rampell’s novel about the Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Movement for Indigenous rights, The Disinherited: Blood Blalahs, is being published this year.

LATEST ARTICLES BY Ed Rampell

Culture

A crowning achievement: Fairy tale vs. reality in ‘The Crown’
April 23, 2021 By Ed Rampell
Watching "The Crown" only strengthened my conviction that inherited wealth, privilege, and status are inherently evil, and that the British monarchy needs to be immediately abolished.
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Culture

At PAFF: Nate Parker’s ‘American Skin’ plus Angela Davis
March 11, 2021 By Ed Rampell
The undaunted 29th Pan African Film Festival kicked off on the last day of Black History Month and runs through March 14.
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Culture

Life and death: Two shorts explore a taboo and new romance at PAFF
March 9, 2021 By Ed Rampell
America’s largest and best annual Black-themed filmfest since 1992 has moved online. This year’s 29th annual Pan African Virtual Film + Arts Festival kicked off on the last day of Black History Month and runs through...
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Culture

‘Back of the Moon’: A Noirish apartheid-era South African film
March 3, 2021 By Ed Rampell

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Culture

‘Hollywood’s Architect: The Paul R. Williams Story’ at PAFF
March 1, 2021 By Ed Rampell
I learned a lot from this very enjoyable, well-told 57-minute chronicle narrated by actor Courtney B. Vance that is about a truly admirable, gifted, dignified human being who defied the racism of his times by his...
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Culture

‘Finding Sally’: A filmic inquiry into the heart of Ethiopia’s revolutionary upheavals
February 25, 2021 By Ed Rampell
The absorbing, informative Finding Sally is Tamara Mariam Dawit’s first full-length documentary, but hopefully not her last.
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Culture

‘Executive Order’: A futuristic ‘final solution’ to the Brazilian ‘race problem’ at PAFF
February 24, 2021 By Ed Rampell
This imaginative movie is a highly recommended film from Brazil that personifies PAFF’s motion picture panache and ethos.
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Culture

‘Truth to Power: Barbara Lee Speaks for Me’ at Pan African Film Festival
February 23, 2021 By Ed Rampell
I enjoyed Truth, which has a joyous surprise ending that I didn’t see coming, it will leave you smiling. Which seems appropriate, considering the outstanding life story of this documentary’s admirable protagonist, who took the struggle...
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