Within Our Gates
Within Our Gates is a podcast on Cinema and the arts from a Marxist perspective. Hosted by Filmmaker and Professor Mtume Gant, bi-weekly he has guests where they cover cinematic works or scholarship on the arts and always from a perspective focused on revolutionary analysis and dialectical materialist principles.
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Hip Hop and Revolution? A Critical Balance Sheet w/Jared Ball
11/14/2025
Hip Hop and Revolution? A Critical Balance Sheet w/Jared Ball
For this episode of Within Our Gates I am joined by my comrade Jared Ball to do a long awaited talk on Hip Hop and its politics. We dig into some significant, yet under known projects that looked to deepen Hip hop's connection to the broader movement of Black revolutionary history such as the Black August Hip Hop project, and what this period history uncovered about the issues of the artist/celebrity in liberal capitalist culture in the context of wedding them with political movements. We dig into a rather unseen documentary on the project as well as some other sources. Its a dope episode and frankly one of the first in a series of episodes I plan on doing with Jared on this subject. Looking forward to hearing thoughts! Check out some of these links before the episode drops! Dr. Jared A. Ball is a Professor of Communications Studies and Black/Africana Studies at Morgan State University, author of I Mix What I Like!: A Mixtape Manifesto: The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, host of iMiXWHATiLiKE!, co-founder of Black Liberation Media, and co-host of Saturdays with Renee: You can find his work on YouTube at and To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on and make sure to if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
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The Spook Who Sat By The Door w/Adam Thomas
11/01/2025
The Spook Who Sat By The Door w/Adam Thomas
Peace Comrades! This episode is actually one I recorded October of last year, but was only exclusive on my Patreon, but it was too good of an episode and too important in terms of topic to NOT release to you all. So here it goes. I am joined once again by my friend Adam Thomas to talk about the then recent rerelease of The Spook Who Sat by Door, and how this film has a shaky reputation with the Black professional managerial class. We also dig into how Spook got made, the differences between the film and the book, how it existed in its time and even do some side convos on how cold war logic for Gen X audiences effect how the film is remembered. Hope you all enjoy! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on and make sure to if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
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Report From the Battlefront. Third Cinema in a Second Cinema World.
10/18/2025
Report From the Battlefront. Third Cinema in a Second Cinema World.
Peace Everyone. Im back with another solo episode talking about the world premiere of my feature length film The Hand that Feeds, and my thoughts around the current state of independent cinema. I wrestle with the contradictions of Second Cinema and how under its heavy hand a truly radical cinema can never materialize. I also speak on what I believe is the need for a Revolutionary Arts International, and address some (unprincipled) criticism thrown my way. Looking forward to hearing comments on this one! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on and make sure to if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
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Listener Questions Answered! A Special Within Our Gates Episode!
10/03/2025
Listener Questions Answered! A Special Within Our Gates Episode!
Peace Folks. For this episode I am doing something a bit different. I decided to solicit questions from my listeners and answer them! And boy did I get some fantastic questions and hopefully the answers I give are up to snuff. I tackle things from the Hollywood response to the genocide in Gaza, my opinion of Fourth Cinema, how art fits into the Marxist concept of the superstructure, the work of David Lynch and some other things. This is something Ill be looking to do at least a few times a year. I hope you all enjoy! Shout out to the Patrons who sent in these (great) questions! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on and make sure to if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
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Entertainments Imperial Training Grounds w/ Samantha Youssef
09/11/2025
Entertainments Imperial Training Grounds w/ Samantha Youssef
Joining me on Within Our Gates is Animator and Scholar to to talk about the entertainment industry and how it uses often initially well meaning artists to uphold Hollywood's imperial messaging system. Samantha and I take a deep and personal dive into our experiences in the training grounds of arts/entertainment, we compare and contrast our similarities and differences but ultimately come to conclusions that all the methods point in the same pernicious direction. Its a great talk and look forward to more with Samantha on these topics. Here are some things to check out that feature Samantha speaking about her work and experiences. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Additionally, check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's, a series I co-hosted with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism. We take a dive into the wild world of 80's Hollywood and uncover what it has to say about this imperial project called The United States. You can find us on and make sure to if you want to catch the livestreams Tumes
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Mississippi Masala and the Cross Cultural Conundrum w/ Sudip Bhattacharya
08/29/2025
Mississippi Masala and the Cross Cultural Conundrum w/ Sudip Bhattacharya
Joining me for this episode is writer and political theorist as we dig into Mira Nair's cult favorite film Mississippi Masala. We dig into its attempt to have commentary on the conundrums of cross cultural exchange and how the film fits into the trajectory of liberal diversity projects in American Cinema during the early 90's. We also fit this into work Sudip has done on the topic of culture from a socialist/Marxist perspective in order to deepen our convo on what was/is missing then and now in works like Masala and others. We also have some great digressions talking about Domenico Losurdo's work, the conservative nature of Spike Lee, the Birth of a Nation level racism of Indiana Jones Temple of Doom and the grave problem of socialist groups like Platypus Affiliated Society. Its a top notch convo and the first of many to come with Sudip. Enjoy and let me know what you think! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out and become a subscriber! Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the
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Within Our Gates - Capitalism, Tech and the Artists Tools w/ Dwayne Monroe
08/07/2025
Within Our Gates - Capitalism, Tech and the Artists Tools w/ Dwayne Monroe
How are the arts in the vaunted "age of tech" affected? And how do we study these effects with a materialist approach? To answer these questions I have with me Dwayne Monroe who is a technologist with decades of experience in the US and Europe. He intimately knows how technologies the media describes as ethereal really work, where they come from, and how they are used in the multinational corporations and governments dominating our lives. He applies what he calls a Noir Marxist lens (stylistically informed by the work of Raymond Chandler, analytically informed by Marxian materialism) to dissecting the tech industry. We have a fantastic conversation covering everything from so called Artificial Intelligence, how the creative class is a deployment zone for tech industry shenanigans, the sordid history of camera technology within the world atomic bomb testing and military projects and what radicals need to consider when integrating tech in their lives and organizations. Its really an important convo and one of the first of many I plan to have with Dwayne. For some links to Dwayne's work check it here: My main blog, 'Computational Impacts' - Verdigris (the literary journal I started with a few friends, I typed the wrong URL in the label I used for the show) - The film podcast, Film Conversations (we talk about films and the industry overall from a grounded perspective) - And here is a link to the film we discussed in the episode: Also two of Dwayne's recent appearances on MAKC: To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out and become a subscriber! Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the
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Decoding the False Notions of Black Hollywood w/ Chad Murdock
07/24/2025
Decoding the False Notions of Black Hollywood w/ Chad Murdock
Is it Black Cinema or Black Hollywood? To me this is an essential question and for this reason I had to bring on Filmmaker Chad Murdock to talk about with me. We dig into a piece that Chad written called where he does a material analysis on images that are routinely dispersed currently throughout popular Black movies. We also speak about his recently released film, , and dig into the origins of Chad's development as an artist, his politicization and how thats informed his mode of production. We go a lot of angles, dig into a lotta artists from Ousmane Sembene to Yukio Mishima. Its rich and robust and frankly will be the first of many! Chad also has a special on-line screening of his work on Check it out! For more on Chad's work check his . To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out and become a subscriber! Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! Also check out my new colaboration co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the
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Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s w/ Julia Alekseyeva
07/10/2025
Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s w/ Julia Alekseyeva
This week I'm joined by to talk their book published by University of California Press. Julia is an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as well an artist and activist. We have a fantastic conversation about the book which covers the leftist filmmakers of Japan and France who helped revolutionize the documentary form (and cinema overall) and what does this period of radical practice inform us about cinema, and the politics of art both in form and content more broadly. Its a rich conversation that has many angles, I think you will all enjoy! I highly recommend picking up the text and following Julia's work. To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out and become a subscriber! Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now! I also have a special co-hosted series beginning with my friends over at We kick off July 15th at 10AM with Sylvester Stallone's First Blood. It will be exciting! Tumes
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70's Class Struggle: Analyzing Paul Schrader's Blue Collar w/ Jared Ball and Jared Ware
06/26/2025
70's Class Struggle: Analyzing Paul Schrader's Blue Collar w/ Jared Ball and Jared Ware
Peace Comrades! For this episode I am joined by two great guests who I plan to have here regularly to discuss Paul Schrader's 1978 film, Blue Collar starring Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel. Jared Ball is a professor of communication studies and Africana / Black Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Ball is also host of the podcast and a co-founder of Jared Ware is the co-host of the anti-imperialist podcast , and also the host their . We take a deep dive into Schraders film, with a strong emphasis of the history that lies within the film, and also wrestle with the living history Schrader looks to exclude from the film. Through this process we come to conclusions around the political unconscious that lie in the film and American ideology overall. Its an exciting convo, looking forward to folks thoughts and responses! Note - if my mic is not as robust as usual is because of a recording mistake I made. Its all clear, and I did some good treatment of it in post, but its not to my standard. The two Jared's sound fantastic though, and thats whats important, ha! To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out and become a subscriber! Tumes
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Black Hollywood's Sins w/ Marcus Pinn
06/13/2025
Black Hollywood's Sins w/ Marcus Pinn
This week I have my dear friend Marcus Pinn from the longstanding film blog with me. Marcus and I have a more freewheeling talk focused around written pieces that come from the both of us, one is Marcus's review of the film and the other is my critique from a few years ago of the film . Where they connect is Marcus's (on-point) analysis that Black Hollywood has entered a period of "Get Out-Sploitation" films, and how Sinners, amongst others, fits the mold. This is a necessary convo where we unpack whats been happening, and the pernicious character of this crop of Black Hollywood. To get a jump on the shows a few days early and also recieve up 1 bonus video episode on per month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study check out and become a subscriber! Tumes
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Coppola's The Conversation w/Yasmin Nair
05/29/2025
Coppola's The Conversation w/Yasmin Nair
This week I'm happy to have Yasmin Nair back with me to talk about Francis Ford Coppola's classic film The Conversation. The idea came to us after the recent passing of Gene Hackman and both of us speaking about the respect we have for much of the work Hackman did as an actor over the years. It led us to one of his finer films, The Conversation, which is also one of Coppola's very best works. In our investigation about the film, we dig into conversations around the surveillance state, the American obsession with privacy, the character of the American businessman and much more. It’s a rich conversation. Yasmin will also be back in the near future to do some discussion on the work of Stuart Hall which I am really looking forward to! If you would like to check out more of Yasmin's work (and you should) you can go to her website: Looking forward to hearing folks' thoughts on the episode! To get a jump on the shows a few days early and also recieve up 1 bonus video episode on per month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study check out and become a subscriber! Tumes
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The Cinematic Dialectic. Paul McIsaac on his work with Robert Kramer.
05/19/2025
The Cinematic Dialectic. Paul McIsaac on his work with Robert Kramer.
Very special episode this go' round. I have with me Paul McIsaac one of the principal actors in the cinema of the late great Robert Kramer. I take a tour with Paul not only about his work with Kramer, but on the radical tendencies of the 60's, how radical artists looked to integrate with the movement, the different tendencies of the "New Left" and the postmortem that followed which created rich works. All of this is done in an effort to understand the social context of which Kramer's films was made, and what we can learn from these truly significant contributions, and we get to learn from one of his most important collaborators. Its a conversation with a lot of angles, so buckle up. To get a jump on the shows a few days early and also recieve up 1 bonus episode on video per month, plus other content check out and become a subscriber! Tumes
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Black Noir 92 Part II, Goin' Deep Cover w/ Adam Thomas
04/28/2025
Black Noir 92 Part II, Goin' Deep Cover w/ Adam Thomas
Peace Comrades! For this episode we conclude our Black Noir 92 double bill with Bill Duke's Deep Cover. Joining me again is Adam Thomas, and we dig into Duke's then timely work about the myths of the drug trade. Deep Cover is a fascinating work as it deals with not only with the issues fake war, but also the complications of capitalist ascension for non white folks. It also has one of the more fascinating depictions of Jewishness and how it pertains to whiteness ever depicted through the character of David Jason played by Jeff Goldblum, and we dig into that. We also give that era of Larry Fishburne the props it deserves. Let us know what you think! To get a jump on the shows a few days early and also recieve up 1 bonus episode on video per month, plus other content check out and become a subscriber! Tumes
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The Encampments w/ Kei Pritsker and Ben Becker
04/11/2025
The Encampments w/ Kei Pritsker and Ben Becker
Peace Comrades! Super excited for a special episode of Within Our Gates. Joining me is Kei Pritsker and Ben Becker, two of the makers of the very important and timely documentary a film which tells the tale of student uprisings across the country in protest to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The Encampments is currently playing in theatre's Nationwide and I encourage everyone to see it as it sets the record straight and fights the media propaganda which looked to depict the student encampments as acts of terror and not as acts of principled protests. Kei, Ben and I have a really in depth conversation on the politics of making documentary, how do we approach form and content from a political framework and why its important to document moments of political and revolutionary significance. We also speak about the urgency of getting this documentary out now in order to continue to support individuals like and others currently being falsely detained in order to suppress the growing support for the Palestinian cause. Hope all find this convo as fruitful as I do, and go see ! To get a jump on the shows a week early and also recieve bonus content check out and become a subscriber!
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Sean Baker and The Golden Elevator Ruse w/ Skinner Myers
03/31/2025
Sean Baker and The Golden Elevator Ruse w/ Skinner Myers
Peace folks. Excited to once again be in conversation with an old friend, Filmmaker Skinner Myers. We talk this time about the state of independent film, Sean Bakers recent Oscar win, and his statement about indie film and figures like Baker represent a pernicious category indie movie making that is still fundamentally aligned with the imperialist project. We also touch on our experiences as micro-budget free range filmmakers, and the conundrums that currently exist. Looking forward to hearing folks on thoughts on this one! Leave' em in the comments! - Tumes To get a jump on the shows a week early and also recieve bonus content check out and become a subscriber!
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The Communist Arts, Exploring Alexander Bogdanov's Art and the Working Class w/ Taylor Genovese
03/10/2025
The Communist Arts, Exploring Alexander Bogdanov's Art and the Working Class w/ Taylor Genovese
Extremely honored this week to have Taylor Genovese from to talk about a truly special text, Alexander Bogdanov's . Art and the Working Class is a rare text that we are lucky Iskra has taken on the task of translating and doing an edition for todays reader. This book has massive utility as discussions around class struggle have become once again prevalent and questions of how does the artist situate themselves within the struggle towards awakening the revolutionary consciousness of the working class remain of high importance. Equally as interesting as the text is Bogdanov himself, a truly significant member of the Bolshevik's, and an extremely important figure in revolutionary politics, science and literature. Genovese and I discuss Bogdanov's ideas around communism, the arts, dialectical materialism, revolution and many more subjects. We also discuss Genovese's approach to translating the text and what engaging with Bogdanov's concepts has done for him as an artist, scholar and Marxist. Its truly a rich conversation, and look forward to you all engaging with it. If you are interesting purchasing the text you can buy it . To get a jump on the shows a week early and also recieve bonus content check out and become a subscriber!
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Black Noir '92 Part 1, Digging into One False Move w/ Adam Thomas
02/24/2025
Black Noir '92 Part 1, Digging into One False Move w/ Adam Thomas
Peace Comrades. For our next episode we have Adam Thomas joining for what is the first part of a 2 part series of episodes called Black Noir '92 where we dig into two Black American Film Noirs that hold interesting analysis on American culture in what is supposes to be "The End of History" when it comes to Liberal Democracy. Our first film is One False Move (1992) Directed by Carl Franklin. It stars Bill Paxton, Cynda Williams, Billy Bob Thornton, and Michael Beach. One False Move is a bit of a cult legend of a film and Adam and I dig into the meat of the film, what it has to say about Race and American Society. Our second film for Black Noir 92 will be Bill Duke's Deep Cover which will come in a few months. To get a jump on the shows a week early and also recieve bonus content check out and become a subscriber!
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Theory Corner - Towards a Revolutionary Cinema
02/10/2025
Theory Corner - Towards a Revolutionary Cinema
For the first episode of Within Our Gates Theory Corner I take a dive into the structure and inspirations for my new framework of this podcast. I touch on why Third Cinema still matters, Walter Rodney's thoughts around Marxism as methodology, Clyde Taylor's intervention on aesthetics and what does this all mean for the artist who aims to make art a revolutionary weapon. Texts discussed/referenced: Toward a Third Cinema by Fernando Solanas and Octavio Getino Marxism and Africa by Walter Rodney The Mask of Art by Clyde Taylor The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction by Walter Benjamin To get a jump on the shows a week early and also recieve bonus content check out and become a subscriber!
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Liberal Struggle Sessions: An analysis of Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, Israelism and Dahomey
01/24/2025
Liberal Struggle Sessions: An analysis of Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat, Israelism and Dahomey
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