The Center for Documentary Studies and the Southern Documentary Fund are pleased to present a free screening of Always in Season.

Always In Season is a documentary project that explores the impact more than a century of lynching African Americans has had on the United States. As the first documentary feature to spotlight recent grassroots efforts for justice and reconciliation, the film introduces viewers to four communities grappling with the dark legacy of racial terrorism–how best to acknowledge the murders, repair the damage, and heal–all amidst a heated national discourse about the value of black lives.

Telling intimate stories of lynching victims, perpetrators, and spectators, including interviews with their descendents, the project encourages viewers to consider where their own family’s past intersects with this difficult chapter in American history. In Monroe, Georgia, a multiracial group of amateur actors reenact a 1946 lynching on the very spot where the violence became a public spectacle, forcing modern-day residents to confront the painful consequences of one particularly brutal incident. In Bladenboro, NC, Claudia Lacy grieves as she seeks justice for her 17-year-old son Lennon, who was found hanging from a swing set in August, 2014. She, and others, suspect that he was lynched. These stories and others stress that the lessons of lynching are crucial to understanding and collectively tackling issues of racial violence and inequity that continue to play out in our communities today.

Jackie Olive creates documentary projects that tell the stories of people, places and cultures underrepresented in mainstream media. She coordinated the production of the Emmy award-winning PBS broadcast documentary series, Independent Lens, and the internationally-themed documentary series, Global Voices. Bringing experience in the journalism field since 2002, Jacqueline co-created the hour-long documentary film Black to Our Roots, which recently broadcast on PBS World.

About Fresh Docs

Fresh Docs is SDF’s free, work-in-progress screening series. These screenings give SDF filmmakers an opportunity to show their work fresh from the edit suite, and receive constructive feedback on story, structure, and characters from a diverse audience. As a result, not only do our artists make better films, but SDF grows documentary audiences by engaging them meaningfully in the creative process. 

                  SDF would like to thank our Fresh Doc Sponsors: