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Special screening of “ Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” with Q&A
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Special Screening in Honor of Black History Month of “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round” with Q&A!
Join us for a special screening of the thought provoking film, “Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round”! Be sure to stay after the film for an exclusive in-person Q&A with director Ilana Trachtman and Erin Gruwell, founder of Freedom Writers (and subject of the movie as portrayed by Hilary Swank).Co-prrsented by Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and Black Jewish Entertainment Alliance.
About the Film: Five Howard students sat down on the gilded horses of “whites-only” carousel the summer of 1960. When the white community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the Black students en masse and set up picket lines, an unprecedented collaboration was born. The pickets attracted Nazis, Congressman, and a press avalanche. Picketing together led to partying together and union organizers mentored student activists, ultimately producing ten 1961 Freedom Riders, including Stokely Carmichael, and a Supreme Court case.
With never-before seen footage, and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award winning director Ilana Trachtman, (“Praying With Lior“) four living protesters rescue this untold story, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse to activism. AIN’T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND includes voiceover by noted actors Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner, and Tracie Thoms.
Directed by Ilana Trachtman
89 mins/USA/Documentary/2025
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The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) builds community awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people through a cinematic experience.
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