Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
Available screening types
Virtual
On-demand
In-person
Available until
Jan 01, 2030
Available in
United States of America, Canada
Brought to you by
Greenwich Entertainment
About the film
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.
Genre
Documentary
Runtime
1h 30m
Released
2022
Director
Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
Producer
Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous, Dema Paxton Fofang
Executive Producer
Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Fred Grinstein, Linzee Troubh
Crew
Henry Adebonojo, Viridiana Lieberman, Kathryn Bostic
What people are saying
‘Weaves together archival footage and contemporary interviews to chronicle how residents of an Alabama county secured their right to vote in the 1960s.‘
The Hollywood Reporter
‘Looks back at a 1960s voting-rights campaign in Alabama that gave rise to a national movement for Black power.‘
The New York Times
‘An invaluable addition to the story of how much work was required to access the ballot box, even after blood was spilled on a bridge in Selma and the ink was dry on the Voting Rights Act.‘
CBS News
‘Electrifies a too-long-hidden story about voting rights in the rural county right outside Montgomery, Alabama.‘
Documentary Magazine
‘Timely and relevant nowadays in the face of current attempts to disenfranchise Black voters.‘
Roger Ebert
‘Rare archival footage is intertwined among the film’s historical narrative with an all-too-rare grace.‘
Los Angeles Times
‘Gandbhir and Pollard are able to lay their hands on some startling footage, but paint an equally vivid picture around it as they interview those that are still standing today in Lowndes, no doubt because they stood up for themselves.‘
Moveable Feast
‘The information presented in “Lowndes County” is absolutely vital.‘
TheWrap