Black Filmmaker Dies Suffering in Segregated Memphis Film Culture: Anthony “Amp” Elmore Issues National Indictment of Memphis Mayor Paul Young & Shelby County Film Commission Ahead of Oct. 3 Memorial

MEMPHIS, TN, September 30, 2026/ 24-7PressRelease/ — As Memphis gets ready for the October 3, 2026 funeral of pioneering independent documentary filmmaker and photojournalist George W. Tillman Jr. (1955– 2026) five-time World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion, leader 35mm filmmaker, and cultural historian Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes: “Although George W. Tillman Jr. was recognized in Memphis and regional media, there is no known record of his life and accomplishments being presented through a nationally distributed news release network. This release brings the story of the pioneering Black Memphis filmmaker to a national audience for the first time.” Anthony “Amp” Elmore keeps in mind that this story brings George W. Tillman to the National phase for the 1st time.

Click on this link to see the Youtube video entitled: Anthony “Amp” Elmore Tribute to George W Tillman

Filmmaker Anthony “Amp” Elmore developed a 20 minute Youtube Video whereas George W. Tillman informs his own story. Anthony has actually provided an immediate nationwide call to conscience. Elmore charges that Tillman passed away in innovative and monetary distress– a direct casualty of an openly moneyed, segregated cultural device supervised by Memphis Mayor Paul Young, Shelby County management, and the Memphis & & Shelby County Film and Television Commission.

Click on this link to see video entitled: Tyler Perry’s Warning to Memphis: Exposing Linn Sitler and The Erasure of Black Cinema

In concerns to the betrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. there exists in Memphis, Tennessee a culture of White Supremacy, Racism and Black on Black Racism whereas Blacks and Whites in Memphis operate in performance to neglect marginalize and eliminate Black Memphis movie history whereas by means of the November 22, 1987 Los Angeles Time’s problem keeps in mind “Films Going into Production: The Contemporary Gladiator The short article mentions Anthony “Amp” Elmore stars, directs, and produces a funny drama about his own climb to the peaks of the Kickboxing World.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-11-22-ca-23640-story.html” target=”_blank”>Click on this link to check out the recorded L.A. Times story whereas the City of Memphis robbed Anthony “Amp” Elmore, The Black Memphis Community of Orange Mound and Black America of its turning point in World Film history.

While the 1988 Black Memphis produced movie is not just “The 1st Kickboxing Film in World film History” The Contemporary Gladiator is likewise the 1st Industrial Trade offer in between and African Government and an African/American service.

Please keep in mind if the city of Memphis remove Black Memphis Film history that is world movie history Memphis has no location for a Black movie manufacturer like George W. Tillman Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King stated “Silence is betrayal” whereas no Black leader in Memphis will speak-up or speak up versus this historic oppression of the erasure of Black history in Memphis, whereas Memphis the most majority Black inhabited city in America has a cotton museum and no Black Memphis history Museum. Anthony “Amp” Elmore from the African/American neighborhood of Orange Mound in Memphis produced in 1988 the movie “The Contemporary Gladiator” which is s the world 1st Kickboxing movie in World Film history. The Contemporary Gladiator is a “Heritage Asset.” Which is higher than basic Black History.

A heritage property is an irreplaceable physical, cultural, or creative development that holds quantifiable, long-lasting historic significance efficient in creating continuous cultural sovereignty, legal standing, and financial equity for future generations. While “simple Black history” is often lowered to passive storytelling– celebratory months, class trivia, or symbolic plaques that commemorate previous survival without giving power– a heritage property works as practical, institutional capital.

A movie like the 1988 independent 35mm production of * The Contemporary Gladiator * is not simply a regional turning point; as the world’s very first kickboxing movie and martial arts biopic, it is a primary-source cultural landmark that shows self-financed Black cinematic ownership, anchors Memphis in international movie history, and develops a concrete tradition that community gatekeepers can not water down into simple perfunctory folklore.

Black Memphis Filmmaker George W. Tillman, who died on September 12 at age 71 after years of physical and monetary difficulty. George Tillman invested years running his electronic camera throughout church basements, recreation center, and grassroots areas to protect Black Memphis history that mainstream organizations in Memphis actively disregarded.

George W. Tillman’s landmark documentaries consist of The Lucky Eleven: The True Blue Lawmen of 1948 (saving the narrative histories of Memphis’ very first Black policeman who were required to wear the basement of a funeral home), The Birth of Soul Music (narrating the historical Club Paradise tradition along with civil liberties icon Bobby Rush), and Two Million Women Marched.

Regardless of Tillman actively supporting and campaigning for Memphis Mayor Paul Young’s election, city and county management have actually kept overall administrative silence concerning the absence of equity and institutional assistance for Black independent movie theater– even as the Memphis & & Shelby County Film and Television Commission, directed by Linn Sitler, takes in almost half a million dollars in yearly taxpayer financing mostly funding outside, white-led business productions.

The Living Witness of Anthony “Amp” Elmore; “George Tillman did not fail; the City of Memphis failed George Tillman,” states Anthony “Amp” Elmore, who made history in 1988 by composing, directing, producing, scoring, and starring in The Contemporary Gladiator– the very first independent 35mm theatrical function movie produced in Memphis Film history.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore notes: “I did not read about George’s suffering in a textbook—I lived it with him.” I viewed a clean-living, devoted Black developer exhaust his health, his financial resources, and his spirit attempting to maintain our spiritual stories while our city’s almost half-million-dollar tax-funded Memphis Shelby County movie commission provided him absolutely nothing more than perfunctory table scraps and a token screening slot.

Anthony “Amp” Elmore discusses that George W. Tillman was a soft spoken male whose deep genuineness was to teach and maintained Black history. Anthony “Amp” Elmore describes that George W. Tillman had no concept that Memphis runs by means of “The Plantation System” whereas throughout the 1978 Memphis Police and Fire Strike the Wall Street Journal called Memphis; “A Backwards City with a Plantation Mentality.”

Anthony “Amp” Elmore remembers strongly how George Tillman hired whom he called “Miss Linn.” Linn Sitler is the Memphis Shelby County Film Commissioner whose position and power in Memphis is a throwback to the old Southern Plantation period whereas a “White Woman” has outright power of the story and movie history in Memphis.

Click on this link to the March 23, 2025 Anthony “Amp” Elmore video Titled: Ms. Ann White Woman Shaped Memphis Culture History and Art

What George Tillman did not comprehend about Memphis and it plantation system he disappeared than a “House Boy” to Linn Sitler and the Memphis system would never ever acknowledge an equivalent location for African/American filmmakers in Memphis. Linn Sitler and the Memphis Shelby County Film Commission just supports White Films and White Filmmakers.

Click on this link to check out a National News Release released April 25, 2025 entitled: Black on Black Racism Hallmark of Memphis Black Leaders; Memphis Discriminates Against “Black Memphis History,” Black Films & & Black Filmmakers, Historic Filmmaker Elmore robbed of Film History

In the earlier video “Tyler Perry” spoke reality to power when he described how he constructed his own table since the facility would not take out a chair,” Elmore continued. “George Tillman battled to construct that table right here in Orange Mound. He brought to his tomb the heavy weight of an administration that consumes our votes, trades off our music, and starves our chroniclers.”

Where the community movie facility Memphis Shelby County Film Commission dealt with George W. Tillman Jr. as a second-class petitioner, the African Cultural Embassy acknowledges him by his real rank: a main Posthumous Cultural Ambassador and Orange Mound Cultural Diplomat.

An ambassador brings qualifications, and Tillman’s master documentary possessions– most especially “The Lucky Eleven: The True Blue Lawmen of 1948” and “The Birth of Soul Music”– function as his diplomatic badges of honor. On October 24, 2026, throughout the United Nations Day and Tom Mboya Legacy District ceremony at 1035 Semmes Street in Orange Mound, the African Cultural Embassy will officially contribute to the tradition of George W. Tillman a “Diplomatic Commission of Cultural Sovereignty”guaranteeing his voice takes a trip to the worldwide phase as a long-lasting heritage property.

Funeral & & Community Call to Action George W. Tillman Jr.’s life and sustaining contributions will be officially celebrated at a public funeral:

Date: Saturday, October 3, 2026: Time: 11:00 AM CDT: Location: First Baptist Church– Lauderdale, 682 S. Lauderdale St., Memphis, TN 38126

About United States
“If Lions were historians, hunters would no longer be heroes.” This effective African saying encapsulates the objective of the Orange Mound News Network (OMNN). Established by Anthony Amp Elmore, OMNN intends to recover and improve the story of Orange Mound through the power of filmmaking, education, and material development. Our objective is to challenge the unfavorable stereotypes and prejudiced representations that have actually long pestered our neighborhood, producing a favorable area for household, Black culture, history, and education.

Our Journey and Mission

Orange Mound, developed as the very first neighborhood in America constructed for Blacks by Blacks, has an abundant history typically eclipsed by unfavorable stereotypes. Mainstream media and social predispositions have actually painted Orange Mound as a “ghetto,” adding to a 30% decrease in home worths while surrounding neighborhoods have actually succeeded. The Orange Mound News Network was developed to counter this story and highlight the real spirit and durability of our neighborhood.

Anthony Amp Elmore

a five-time world karate kickboxing champ, filmmaker, and neighborhood activist, has actually been a beacon of modification in Orange Mound. With over 5 years of social work, Elmore has actually committed his life to uplifting Orange Mound. From ending up being a house owner at 19, developing organizations, to establishing the Proud Black Buddhist World Association, Elmore’s contributions
have actually been enormous.

Linking Communities Through Culture and History

Elmore’s journey in cultural diplomacy started when he was welcomed to Kisumu, Kenya, by Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o to participate in FESTAC, the biggest African and Black Art celebration worldwide. It was here that Elmore’s vision for a much deeper connection in between Africans and African Americans settled. Throughout his check out, he engaged with trainees at ARYA Primary School, carried out a tune about
Kenya’s starting dad Tom Mboya, and proposed a pen friend program that developed into a robust academic and cultural exchange.

Our journey in African Cultural Diplomacy started in 1990

when the Orange Mound Memphis-produced film “The Contemporary Gladiator” premiered in Kenya. This marked a considerable turning point in Elmore’s objective to cultivate cultural exchange and understanding. The movie’s best in Kenya not just showcased Elmore’s work however likewise strengthened his function as a cultural diplomat.

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