This Deep Focus discussion in our Black Independent Film series is led by Princeton University Professor Kinohi Nishikawa. Recorded on August 9, 2022.

Film Description: Who is the man who would risk his neck for his brother man? Shaft is our inaugural film in our black independent film series. Richard Roundtree plays the titular private eye who is enlisted by a Harlem crime boss to help return his daughter who was kidnapped by the mafia. Parks’s Shaft, featuring an iconic soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, is one of the films credited in creating the blaxploitation genre.