Directed by Dawn Porter
USA | 2020 | 96 mins |
Source: Magnolia Pictures
Using interviews and rare archival footage, John Lewis: Good Trouble chronicles Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action on civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health-care reform and immigration. Using present-day interviews with Lewis, now 79 years old, Porter explores his childhood experiences, his inspiring family and his fateful meeting with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957. In addition to her interviews with Lewis and his family, Porter’s primarily cinéma verité film also includes interviews with political leaders, Congressional colleagues, and other people who figure prominently in his life.
Join us for a special online screening of the new documentary JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE plus live stream Q&A with Director Dawn Porter this Friday, July 10th at 8pm EST! 10% of proceeds will be donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Buy a ticket at JoinMovieNight.com and choose VTIFF to receive a portion of the proceeds
Also: immediately following the feature, there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Congressman 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.
How To Watch the film and Q&A – instructions HERE
“A project such as “John Lewis: Good Trouble” easily can fall into the trap of simply admiring a subject who was already widely agreed to be admirable. Porter avoids that: Shuttling back and forth through time, the director weaves a picture of civil rights, voter rights, as an ongoing fight, not something won and secured by the blood, sweat and tears of the past. Porter effectively gets it across that admiring John Lewis is pointless if no one follows his call.” ~ Alabama Life and Culture
“A movie that could scarcely be any timelier.” ~ The Wrap