''LA 92'' is a 2017 American
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
about the
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...
, directed by
Daniel Lindsay
Dan Lindsay is a documentary filmmaker. He is the co-director, producer and an editor of the 2011 sports documentary '' Undefeated'', which received the 2011 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Lindsay and T. J. Martin co-directed ''LA 92'' for ...
and
T. J. Martin. It premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
on April 21, 2017, opened in theaters on April 28, 2017 and aired on
National Geographic Channel on April 30, 2017.
Synopsis
Consisting entirely of
archival footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stoc ...
, the documentary chronicles the
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...
after 25 years have passed.
It includes film and video from the
1965 Watts Riots, the 1973 election of
Tom Bradley, the 1978 promotion of
Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates (born Darrel Francis Gates; August 30, 1926 – April 16, 2010) was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. As Chief ...
, the
shooting of Latasha Harlins, the
Rodney King videotape and the subsequent riots and violence that erupted after the acquittal of the officers involved in King's beating.
The footage includes public pronouncements by U.S. President
George H. W. Bush, presidential candidate
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, California governor
Pete Wilson
Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as a United States senator from California betw ...
, chief of the
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates (born Darrel Francis Gates; August 30, 1926 – April 16, 2010) was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) from 1978 to 1992. His length of tenure in this position was second only to that of William H. Parker. As Chief ...
(questioned by the LA city council at one point), judge
Joyce Karlin, US Congresswoman
Maxine Waters
Maxine Moore Waters (née Carr; born August 15, 1938) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, inc ...
, victim
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...
, and acquitted police officers
Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell.
Reception
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on 29 reviews, with an average rating of 7.53/10.
Accolades
The film won the
Primetime Emmy Award for
Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, beating out Oscar winners ''
O.J.: Made in America'' and ''
The White Helmets'' among others.
See also
*''
Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982–1992''
*
Culture of Los Angeles
The culture of Los Angeles is rich with arts and ethnically diverse. The greater Los Angeles metro area has several notable art museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the J. Paul Getty Museum on the Santa Monica Mountains ...
*''
Undefeated'' – 2011 Oscar-winning film directed by Lindsay and Martin
*
1992 in television
References
External links
Official website*
*
*
{{National Geographic Documentary Films
2017 films
2017 documentary films
American documentary films
Collage film
Documentary films about race and ethnicity in the United States
Documentary films about African Americans
Documentary films about Asian Americans
Films set in 1992
Documentary films about Los Angeles
Films set in the 1990s
National Geographic (American TV channel) original programming
1992 Los Angeles riots
Collage television
Television Academy Honors winners
Primetime Emmy Award-winning broadcasts
2010s English-language films
2010s American films