Authorized Afeni Shakur Biopic in the Works, With Jasmine Guy and Jamal Joseph on Board (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorA biopic of Afeni Shakur — the late mother of rapper Tupac and a prominent member of the Black Panther party — is in the works from Amaru Entertainment and the Shakur Estate.Titled “Peace, Love & Respect; the Afeni Shakur/Panther 21 story,” actor/singer Jasmine Guy and writer/director Jamal Joseph — who was arrested as one of the “Panther 21” with Afeni — are on board as executive producers, while Dina LaPolt, who worked with the estate for many years, is a producer.

The film, titled “Peace, Love & Respect, the Afeni Shakur/Panther 21 story,” is the first to have the full backing and approval of the Shakur estate.The doc will span a pivotal two-year period — from April 2, 1969, when she and 20 other Black Panthers were arrested and charged with conspiracy to bomb police stations in New York, through June 16, 1971, the day Tupac was born — along with flashbacks to childhood and teenage years.

LaPolt — who worked for many years with Afeni to settle Tupac’s estate, ultimately releasing nine posthumous albums as well as books and a documentary — says the story is close to her heart, as Afeni was a hero to LaPolt’s activist mother. “My mother was very much a part of the civil rights movement — she taught me about Afeni and how she was arrested as a member of the ‘Panther 21.’”Born in North Carolina as Alice Faye Williams in 1947, Afeni Shakur moved to the Bronx with her mother as an 11-year-old.

She joined the Panthers after hearing Bobby Seale speak in 1968, and married Lumumba Shakur, Tupac’s father, soon after.“When the trial started, Afeni had gotten pregnant when she was out on bail,” LaPolt continues. “Two of the Panthers absconded, the judge freaked out and Afeni got put back in jail.