Past Film/Video | Documentaries

John Lewis: Good Trouble

(Dawn Porter, 2020)

Q&A with John Lewis and Oprah Winfrey follows
Live panel discussion with the director | July 9

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Rep. John Lewis stands in front of a projection of a historic black-and-white photo

Screen this timely documentary chronicling the extraordinary life of civil-rights crusader and longtime US Congressman John Lewis, and enjoy a prerecorded discussion between Lewis and Oprah Winfrey after the film.

Using present-day interviews and rare archival footage, John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles Lewis’s 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform, and immigration. Through extensive discussion with Lewis, now 80, director Dawn Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family, and a fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957 that led him on a historic journey that spans Freedom Rides in 1961 to the Black Lives Matter movement today. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinema verité film also includes encounters with political leaders, congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his Lewis’s life. (96 mins., digital video) 
Closed Captioning available

Immediately following the feature, there will be a prerecorded discussion between Representative Lewis and Oprah Winfrey, filmed last month and being made available exclusively for virtual cinema and in-theater engagements of the film. This is a wide-ranging, informal, 16-minute conversation that’s a perfect follow-up to the documentary and could not be more relevant.

On July 9 all ticket-buyers are invited to stream a live panel discussion presented by the Freedom Rides Museum of Montgomery, Alabama, featuring Freedom Riders Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Rip Patton in conversation with director Dawn Porter. Presented in partnership with the Capri Theater, the live panel begins at 7:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM PST and will also be archived to watch afterward.

More about the film

"You cannot stop the call of history. You may use troopers, you may use firehoses and water, but it cannot be stopped."
Rep. John Lewis
A black-and-white historical photo of Black protesters being confronted by police

Image courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

Holding hands with fellow legislators, John Lewis walks on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate Bloody Sunday (1965) in Selma, Alabama

Images courtesy Magnolia Pictures

John Lewis is applauded at the podium

Images courtesy Magnolia Pictures

John Lewis sits among an audience

Images courtesy Magnolia Pictures

MADE POSSIBLE BY
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
American Electric Power Foundation
The Columbus Foundation
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Nationwide Foundation

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
Huntington Bank
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams
Kaufman Development
Cardinal Health Foundation

 

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Past Film/Video

John Lewis: Good Trouble