Jamaa Fanaka was an American filmmaker. He is best known for his 1979 film, Penitentiary, and is one of the leading directors of the L.A. Rebellion film movement. The L.A. Rebellion film movement, sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles School of Black Filmmakers", or the UCLA Rebellion, refers to the new generation of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in the late-1960s to the late-1980s and have created a quality Black Cinema that provides an alternative to classical Hollywood cinema. Fanaka died on April 1, 2012.