Friday, April 3, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
In the most commercially successful Black comedy feature of its era, Eddie Murphy stands at the center of the Black Pack as Prince Akeem, heir to the throne of Zamunda, who leaves royal luxury for Queens, New York, in search of love on his own terms. Robert Townsend’s audacious directorial debut remains a razor-sharp satire of Hollywood’s degrading and limited roles for Black actors. Townsend stars as Bobby Taylor, an aspiring actor pressured to erase himself to fit an “Eddie Murphy type” while auditioning for an outlandish Blaxploitation knockoff. A foundational text of the Black Pack collective, the independently produced film insists on comedy as social critique — using satire not as escapism, but as a strategy to expose industry gatekeeping, reclaim authorship and speak truth to power.—*guest programmer Artel Great* Director: Robert Townsend. Screenwriters: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Robert Townsend. With: Robert Townsend, Anne-Marie Johnson, Helen Martin.