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A suspicious pattern emerges when Election Day nears in the United States. Leaders of the competing political parties begin a begging campaign, urging Black voters to head to the polls and cast their ballots for candidates often largely uninterested in their needs. These officials appeal to the morality of the historically disenfranchised masses, insisting that a nation that does not normally care about them can’t save itself without their votes. The disingenuous performance drains the sincerity from efforts to get out the vote, makes it too easy to take for granted the long, winding history of the Black suffrage movement and obfuscates existing barriers to real freedom.
Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, a powerful and intimate new documentary by Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI) and Geeta Gandbhir (I Am Evidence), is a timely reminder of the legacy of voting rights in the U.
A suspicious pattern emerges when Election Day nears in the United States. Leaders of the competing political parties begin a begging campaign, urging Black voters to head to the polls and cast their ballots for candidates often largely uninterested in their needs. These officials appeal to the morality of the historically disenfranchised masses, insisting that a nation that does not normally care about them can’t save itself without their votes. The disingenuous performance drains the sincerity from efforts to get out the vote, makes it too easy to take for granted the long, winding history of the Black suffrage movement and obfuscates existing barriers to real freedom.
Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power, a powerful and intimate new documentary by Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI) and Geeta Gandbhir (I Am Evidence), is a timely reminder of the legacy of voting rights in the U.
- 12/3/2022
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The documentary “Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power,” which charts efforts to organize disenfranchised Black voters in rural Alabama in 1965 in the wake of the Selma to Montgomery marches, bears tremendous resonance today.
Many fraught topics that have made headlines within the past two years — voter suppression, election fraud, police brutality, Black Lives Matter, gun control, to name a few — all seem like manifestations of issues more than a half-century old.
In 1965, Lowndes County, Alabama, was one of the poorest counties in the country. It had no registered Black voters despite an overall population that was 80 Black. Sharecropping had replaced slavery as a means to maintain the caste system, and cotton pickers had little hope of getting themselves out of debt. Registering to vote was unthinkable even after passage of the Voting Rights Act, as Blacks were routinely followed, intimidated, threatened or even killed if whites perceived them to be out of line.
Many fraught topics that have made headlines within the past two years — voter suppression, election fraud, police brutality, Black Lives Matter, gun control, to name a few — all seem like manifestations of issues more than a half-century old.
In 1965, Lowndes County, Alabama, was one of the poorest counties in the country. It had no registered Black voters despite an overall population that was 80 Black. Sharecropping had replaced slavery as a means to maintain the caste system, and cotton pickers had little hope of getting themselves out of debt. Registering to vote was unthinkable even after passage of the Voting Rights Act, as Blacks were routinely followed, intimidated, threatened or even killed if whites perceived them to be out of line.
- 6/19/2022
- by Martin Tsai
- The Wrap
Sports documentaries are, when they work, able to stir up something strong within you. The joy of victory and the agony of defeat are always cinematic, so when they can be depicted in a non-fiction format, focused on real competition, there’s strong potential on display. This weekend, a sports doc in Born to Play is seeking to draw some emotions out of you. Luckily, in finding such unique subject matter, the film more than succeeds. It’s hard to watch this flick and not be moved by what’s on display. The women within this doc are so compelling, and their drive to compete at the highest level is one we can all find enjoyment in. It’s a rock-solid effort that you can literally watch today. The movie is, of course, a documentary about a women’s tackle-football league. Specifically, it’s a season spent with the Boston Renegades,...
- 7/18/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
In the opening scene of documentary “Born to Play,” members of the Boston Renegades are seen, quietly at first, engaged in the pre-game ritual of putting on pads and uniforms. But pretty soon, a chorus of hands slapping locker doors and throaty cheers erupt as the all-women Division-i tackle football team gets hyped up to step onto the field.
Such is the unbridled, doing-it-for-the-love spirit director Viridiana Lieberman hoped to capture in her feature-length directorial debut, for which Variety has an exclusive clip (above) and debuts on ESPN on July 1. Lieberman followed the Renegades, a Women’s Football Alliance team, throughout their 2018 season as they tried to capture the Wfa national championship after falling short the season before.
The filmmaker and longtime women’s sports fan had completed a graduate degree in women’s studies where she examined cinematic representations of female athletes (her thesis turned into the book “Sports...
Such is the unbridled, doing-it-for-the-love spirit director Viridiana Lieberman hoped to capture in her feature-length directorial debut, for which Variety has an exclusive clip (above) and debuts on ESPN on July 1. Lieberman followed the Renegades, a Women’s Football Alliance team, throughout their 2018 season as they tried to capture the Wfa national championship after falling short the season before.
The filmmaker and longtime women’s sports fan had completed a graduate degree in women’s studies where she examined cinematic representations of female athletes (her thesis turned into the book “Sports...
- 6/30/2020
- by Audrey Cleo Yap
- Variety Film + TV
"Being on the field just makes me feel alive. I feel that's where I'm supposed to be." ESPN has unveiled the first trailer for a documentary film called Born to Play, which is initially premiering on TV airing on ESPN coming up this weekend. Directed by Viridiana Lieberman, the film is a love letter to the game, written by people who you never knew played. Until now. Born to Play highlights the badass athletes of the Boston Renegades women's tackle football team. "With heart, hustle, and hope, the Renegades are on the path to redemption after losing in their championship game the previous year. These unpaid athletes put their bodies on the line while maintaining full-time careers that support their lifelong dream." These women just love playing football and won't let anyone or anything get in the way of their game nights. Looks damn good. Here's the first official trailer...
- 6/30/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The collateral damage from the war on drugs hits a picturesque family in The Sentence.
Culture
Uncle Rudy Valdez can't afford to be depressed. His sister, Cindy Shank, has been in prison for as long as his nieces can remember. Cindy was sentenced to a mandatory fifteen years on drug charges because of President Reagan's war on drugs, and Rudy has been holding her family together. Sometimes he can barely hold it together himself, but he took the most heart-rending bits of family footage in HBO's feature-length documentary The Sentence. The results are equal parts harrowing, sad and affirming as he tracks the progress of her incarceration and appeals.
Valdez’s The Sentence is a purposeful tear-jerker, but it's no Terms of Endearment. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year on its own terms. Cindy was sentenced for crimes committed...
Culture
Uncle Rudy Valdez can't afford to be depressed. His sister, Cindy Shank, has been in prison for as long as his nieces can remember. Cindy was sentenced to a mandatory fifteen years on drug charges because of President Reagan's war on drugs, and Rudy has been holding her family together. Sometimes he can barely hold it together himself, but he took the most heart-rending bits of family footage in HBO's feature-length documentary The Sentence. The results are equal parts harrowing, sad and affirming as he tracks the progress of her incarceration and appeals.
Valdez’s The Sentence is a purposeful tear-jerker, but it's no Terms of Endearment. It won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year on its own terms. Cindy was sentenced for crimes committed...
- 10/12/2018
- Den of Geek
In 2017, Viridiana Lieberman had two documentaries premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival: I Am Evidence, a feature on police departments’ handling of sexual assault cases, and Love the Sinner, a short on the Orlando nightclub shooting of 2016. She begins 2018 having edited The Sentence, which premieres in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. The Sentence tells the story of director Rudy Valdez’s sister Cindy, a woman who received a draconian 15-year prison sentence for crimes committed by her deceased ex-boyfriend. Below, Lieberman speaks with Filmmaker about why editing “this film has become one of the most powerful experiences of my life.” Filmmaker: […]...
- 1/27/2018
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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