Welcome Home Brother Charles / Emma Mae (DVD)

Before directing the legendary PENITENTIARY trilogy, Jamaa Fanaka helmed these two offbeat genre films, which helped catapult him to recognition as one of the most important black filmmakers working in 70s independent cinema.In Fanakas debut feature, WELCOME HOME BROTHER CHARLES, a young black man is sent to prison, after being brutalized by a corrupt racist cop. Upon release, he takes deadly revenge against the cops, lawyers, and thugs who got him busted, using a most unusual weapon As much a parody of exploitation films as it is a proud piece of genre cinema, BROTHER CHARLES combines horror and blaxploitation tropes with stirring social subtext resulting in a drive-in movie unlike any other.Fanakas second feature, EMMA MAE, tells the story of a naive young woman who moves from the Deep South to Watts. Initially finding herself at odds with her surroundings, Emma eventually gains acceptance from a local drug addict and dealer. But when hes arrested and jailed, she plans a daring bank