Solomon King

Solomon King is a long-lost, independently financed, Black urban crime drama written, directed, and produced by Sal Watts.

Shot in Oakland, CA in 1973 with a cast of mostly non-professional actors, a stunning soul-funk soundtrack, and incredible costumes from Watts’s own “Mr. Sal’s Fashion Stores”, the newly restored film is a time capsule of a bygone era. One of the first action films produced, written, and directed by a Black filmmaker during the era of blaxploitation, the film stars Watts as Solomon King, a night club owner and former CIA agent, who seeks vengeance against an oil-rich, Middle Eastern sheikdom following the murder of his former lover, Princess Oneeba (Claudia Russo).

This new 4K restoration from Deaf Crocodile Films was produced with the cooperation of the filmmaker’s widow, Belinda Burton-Watts, utilizing one of the only surviving complete prints of the film from the UCLA Film & TV Archive alongside the original soundtrack elements.

Stay tuned after the screening for a conversation with Belinda Burton-Watts about the process of restoring this landmark of Black cinema.

Part of our Restorations & Rediscoveries series

more info at this website: www.deafcrocodile.com/solomon-king-1974