When a Southern diplomat’s daughter falls in love with an ex-convict, she transforms into a glamorous leader of the Black Panther Party, joins her husband on the run to Paris and Algiers, and gets entangled in adultery, hijacking, and murder.
At its core, this film is about power, family, and freedom. Today, women around the world are in a fight for their lives and autonomy. We’re interrogating how some men expect us to sacrifice our dreams, contributions, and well-being at work and in relationships. Black women are also questioning how, in the name of racial justice, we’re expected to uplift men in our communities while masking our own needs. Speaking directly to these pressures and frustrations, LOVE FOR LIBERATION explores the universal question: What will we do for love?
LOVE FOR LIBERATION is inspired by the life of Kathleen Cleaver and based on the book nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in US history. It upends the “Great Person in History Biopic” genre because it is, first and foremost, a true crime romantic thriller with complex protagonists, escapist settings, violence, lawlessness, eroticism, and jaw-dropping plot twists. It will be the first feature since Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1968) about a real life outlaw romance during a significant period of American history that also speaks to the disillusionment and distress of contemporary youth. The film has a stylish, propulsive, and hyperrealistic feel influenced by progressive 20th century cinema movements. Kathleen Cleaver was featured in French New Wave progenitor Agnès Varda’s Black Panthers and Italian Neo-Realist icon Michelangelo Antonioni Zabriskie Point.
LOVE FOR LIBERATION is the perfect Date Night and Girls Night film for my communities of women, Black, Latine, and LGBTQ+ audiences (18+). It empathizes with how women and youths today must overcome various obstacles and offers the hopeful takeaway message that — in spite of these difficulties — we can unite in love and empower our communities.This film also affirms men through Nostalgia. The rebellious Sixties and the Black Panther Party remain iconic symbols of self-empowerment for all generations. LOVE FOR LIBERATION travels back to this era and explores how unity and rejecting toxic masculinity helped underdogs change the world. This film inspires audiences to be hopeful about what they can change in the present. Despite today’s challenges, there is a rising tide of love — for equality, for justice, and for the safety and power of Black women. LOVE FOR LIBERATION encourages audiences to ride this wave to a more joyful future.
Robin wrote the Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, LOVE FOR LIBERATION, and rose from Staff Writer to Co-Executive Producer on the forthcoming Fremantle series SANDOKAN (from the producers of TRANSFORMERS and QUEEN OF THE SOUTH). After graduating from St. George’s — an elite boarding school — and NYU, Robin joined a radical circus. She led dozens of humanitarian aid missions to rebel communities in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. At Yale, she completed a PhD in political science, then taught about international affairs, history, and social inequality at several prestigious institutions. Robin reinvented herself as an artist by writing, directing, and producing the award-winning documentary BLACK AND CUBA — which was exhibited at dozens of film festivals, museums, and universities in the US and abroad. It currently streams on Tubi and Peacock. In addition, Robin has collaborated on acclaimed films for Netflix, Hulu, and PBS, was selected for the Women in Film Shorts Lab (funded by Google), and funded by the the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Her creative work and research have brought her to over 30 countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Europe. A surfing, fine art, and fashion enthusiast who speaks Spanish and French, Robin currently lives in Venice, California.
