ANNUAL MARCH ON WASHINGTON FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES LINE-UP FOR FIRST-EVER ALL-VIRTUAL FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE 

Film Festival Traces Civil Rights Legacy, Explores the Power Behind “Who Tells The Story?”

 Festival Speakers to Include Rashad Robinson, Ben Crump, Raquel Willis, and More

Today, the March on Washington Film Festival (MOWFF), an annual civil rights and social change legacy project, announced the line-up of films, workshops, discussions, and performances that will headline this year’s week-long event from Sunday, September 20 to Sunday, September 27. For the first time ever, the Film Festival will be an all-virtual experience, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the content and speaker line-up will remain just as engaging and even more accessible to a diverse array of audiences. 

“The theme of this year’s festival, ‘Who Tells The Story?’ is not only a question; it’s a call to action,” said March on Washington Film Festival artistic director Isisara Bey. “Since its founding, the Film Festival has been a powerful forum for African-ancestored artists, activists, educators, and students to tell and retell the stories of the civil rights movement in their own words. Now in our eighth year, as the nation demands change, it is more important than ever that we lift up these first-person accounts and reclaim the narrative of the American civil rights movement. With this year’s programming, we are encouraging participants to be heard and be counted.”

Films that will be screened this year include: 

  • You Asked for the Facts (Dir. Mary Blessey)

  • The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords (Dir. Stanley Nelson, Jr.)

  • The Czar of Black Hollywood (Dir. Bayer Mack)

  • Body and Soul (Dir. Oscar Micheaux)

  • Brother Outsider (Dir. Bennett Singer)

  • The Sit In (Dir. Yoruba Richen) 

The Film Festival will also be filled with thought-provoking panel discussions and performances as MOWFF attempts to capture some of the true heroes and the untold stories of our nation’s civil rights movement — then and now. Some of today’s preeminent filmmakers, activists, and thought leaders, such as The Atlantic staff writer David Frum, civil rights attorney Ben Crump; The Root editor-in-chief Danielle Belton; Color Of Change President Rashad Robinson; and transgender activist and Director of Communications at the Ms. Foundation Raquel Willis will join the speaker line-up. 

As protesters across the nation rally for racial justice, this year’s lineup draws clear and important comparisons between today’s activism and the rich civil rights legacy of the past. The full festival lineup is available here.

The Film Festival will include other programmatic elements, including a live restaging of the historic debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley and a dramatic reading of Ida B. Wells’ written works. In addition, MOWFF will hold virtual workshops for students through its Reel Empowerment Lab and announce the winner of the 2020 MOWFF Student & Emerging Film Competition, which received 100 submissions from around the globe. The late Congressman John Lewis will also receive the March on Washington Lifetime Legacy Award at this year’s gala, which will be renamed in his honor.

“Now, at a time of national reckoning following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others, these stories are more relevant than ever,” said March on Washington Film Festival founder Robert Raben. “And as a new generation of activists demands freedom, equality, and racial justice, showcasing these important stories helps to align today’s advocates with their civil rights legacy. We are thrilled to present this year’s line-up as we continue to lift up the untold stories and unsung heroes of the civil rights movement and connect these lessons from the past with the urgency of the present.”

The March on Washington Film Festival was founded in 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington of 1963. Usually held in Washington, D.C., this national gathering brings together thousands of attendees. In years past, leading filmmakers, scholars, journalists, celebrities and influencers have joined the festival, including actors Diahann Carroll and Louis Gossett, Jr.; Oscar-nominated filmmaker RaMell Ross; veteran journalists Dan Rather, Michele Norris, and Eugene Robinson; MacArthur Fellow Ta’Nehisi Coates; former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; and Civil Rights icons Joyce Ladner and Clarence Jones.

To learn more or purchase passes for this year’s Film Festival, interested parties should visit https://www.marchonwashingtonfilmfestival.org/2020-film-festival. Discounted passes for students and educators are available.

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