Film Screening: Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round

Los Angeles Premiere!

When five Black college students sat on a segregated Maryland carousel in 1960, their arrests made headlines. When the Jewish community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the protest, a history-making interracial demonstration was born. The cause, and the collaboration, provoked counterprotests by the American Nazi party, and brought Congressmen and national leaders to the picket line.  Picketing together led to partying together, union organizers mentored student activists, and ten 1961 Freedom Riders emerged, including Stokely Carmichael. With never-before seen footage, and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, four living protesters rescue this untold story, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse to activism. Featuring the voices of Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner,  and Tracie Thoms.

A conversation will take place after the screening with:

Ilana Trachtman,  Director and Producer

• Ilana Trachtman has made Emmy award-winning nonfiction programs for twenty-five years. For PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, Lifetime, Discovery, A&E, and the Sundance Channel she has explored worlds: the legacy of slavery in Latin America, activism among Gulf coast shrimpers, glassblowing with at-risk youth. Prime-time directing credits include independent feature Mariachi High; Black in Latin America hosted by Henry Louis Gates; and Texas Ranch House. Ilana was a supervising producer on PBS’ History Detectives, the Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet and began her career on PBS’ Reading Rainbow. Ilana’s independent film Praying with Lior screened theatrically in over 60 cities, receiving six Audience Awards for Best Documentary, the International Disability Film Festival Grand Prixe, and was a critic’s pick of the New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Washington Post. For WHYY, Ilana directed The Pursuit: 50 Years in the Fight for LGBT Rights, winner of the Mid-Atlantic Emmy for Best Documentary.

Pastor William D. Smart, President and CEO of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Southern California

• Pastor Smart is also Co-Pastor of the Christ Liberation Ministries in Los Angeles, where he serves with his wife.   He recently served as Director of External Training and Outreach at the Los Angeles Alliance for A New Economy a nationally recognized nonprofit organization, where he served for 9 plus years.

Moderated by Joumana Silyan-Saba, Director of Policy and Discrimination Enforcement for the City of Los Angeles

• Joumana is an accomplished public leader, with a career in public service spanning 18 years of experience in non-profit, city government and academia. With a sense of optimism, Joumana is committed to diplomacy, inclusion and bringing about social change to expand equity and inclusion.  Through her extensive work in intergroup relations, religious pluralism, and social integration she has fostered long-standing relationships with leaders in community based organizations, academia, public agencies and the private sector. In her role at LA Civil Rights, Joumana is instituting the discrimination enforcement operation aimed at implementing the LA Civil Rights Law.  She previously led efforts in Mayor Garcetti’s Office for Public Safety, and served as a Senior Policy Analyst for the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission where she led city-wide multi-faith engagements and advocated to advance various social justice policies.

RSVP HERE