Sun, Jan 19
|AMC The Grove 14
Film Screening: Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round
Trailblazing Black students, bold Jewish suburbanites, and a carousel: this film shares the untold story of the first organized inter-racial civil rights protest in America. Presented in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in partnership with Jewish Story Partners.
Time & Location
Jan 19, 2025, 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
AMC The Grove 14, 189 The Grove Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA
About
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 Director and Producer Ilana Trachtman.
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.
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