Civil Rights Doc ‘Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power’ Trailer
by Alex Billington
November 3, 2022
Source: YouTube
“We wanted a movement that would survive the loss of our lives.” Greenwich Entertainment has revealed an official trailer for an acclaimed documentary film called Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, made by two award-winning filmmakers: Sam Pollard and Geeta Gandbhir. This initially premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, and it also played at the BlackStar and St. Louis Film Festivals. The film tells the story of the courageous campaign of citizens and activists who faced violence and oppression in the struggle for the right to vote. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, but this was only the start. Lowndes County, Alabama was a rural, impoverished county with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a county that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This isn’t a story of hope but of action, about how the SNCC non-violently fought for their rights and for Black Power. This looks like such an incredible & empowering story to tell! Lost in time, but not forgotten. Glad the doc exists.
Trailer for Gandbhir & Pollard’s doc Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, from YouTube:
The passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 represented not the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement, but the beginning of a new, crucial chapter. Nowhere was this next battle better epitomized than in Lowndes County, Alabama, a rural, impoverished county with a vicious history of racist terrorism. In a county that was 80 percent Black but had zero Black voters, laws were just paper without power. This isn’t a story of hope but of action. Through first person accounts and searing archival footage, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power tells the story of the local movement and young Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizers who fought not just for voting rights, but for Black Power in Lowndes County. Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power is co-directed by highly acclaimed doc filmmakers Geeta Gandbhir (Puppies Behind Bars, A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, I Am Evidence, Hungry to Learn) & Sam Pollard (Two Trains Runnin’, The Talk: Race in America, ACORN and the Firestorm, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me, Maynard, Mr. Soul!, MLK/FBI, and Citizen Ashe). Inspired by the writing of Vann R. Newkirk II. It’s produced by Jessica Devaney, and Dema Paxton Fofang. Greenwich Ent. will debut the doc in select US theaters + on VOD starting December 2nd, 2022 this fall.
