RIVERBEND: Sam Firstenberg’s Long-Lost Action Classic Takes The American Cinematheque In October!
Heralded action filmmaker Sam Firstenberg’s Black American classic, Riverbend, is poised for a one-night only screening at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles on October 14 at 7:30pm PST. The film will be screened from a pristine, never-before-projected 35mm print discovered in Amazon MGM’s vaults.
Conceived by Samuel and Valerie Vance, Riverbend was independently financed and shot on location near Dallas, Texas. Late action legend Steve James joins his American Ninja director for a story set in 1966, and centered on three Black Vietnam soldiers who escape a corrupt court-martial and find refuge in a segregated Georgia town. There, they discover a community living in fear under a brutal sheriff (Tony Frank) and are persuaded by a widowed woman to help. The soldiers train the townspeople to rise up and fight back—launching a rebellion that cannot be ignored.
The event marks the latest stop for the 1989 action classic which fell into obscurity for more than three decades, resulting in a years-long search and revival of the film and the tedious high-end restoration of the film’s original elements, led by Firstenberg and by Michael J. Dennis of Philadelphia-based Reelblack Renaissance Inc. The film was also screened in DC back in July in an event hosted by Shaolin Jazz at the Songbyrd Music House, and is currently getting a 6K restoration for a planned theatrical and Blu-ray release in early 2026.
Firstenberg, Dennis, and actress Avery (Oscar nominee, The Color Purple) will be in attendance along with co-stars Julius Tennon (G20, The Woman King) and Alex Morris (Malcolm in the Middle, Baskets), as well Debbi James, daughter of the film’s late leading man, Steve James, co-producer and uncredited co-writer Valerie Vance, poster artist Aaron Kai, and more.
Visit the American Cinematheque official website for more information and ticket availability. An official trailer via Firstenberg’s YouTube channel is available in this link here, but do be mindful of your viewing surroundings and the NSFW language included.
