Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis recreates the stirring moment when the world met Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer; University of South Carolina filmmakers celebrate hidden histories of Black women’s achievements in and beyond the university.
Post-screening Q&A with “The Backbone” producer Lyric Swinton and “Fannie” director Christine Swanson
The Luminal Theater in partnership with Chromatic Black and the Carolina Film Network present
THE BACKBONE
preceded by FANNIE
The Luminal Theater’s annual fall spotlight on women-led activism continues with our partnered screening of two films focusing on Southern Black women’s fights for overdue equality and representation.
In THE BACKBONE, filmmakers and University of South Carolina alumni Hannah White, Kendric Lindsey and Lyric Swinton present their new feature-length documentary that highlights and celebrates the contributions of Black women to the University of South Carolina and their struggles to achieve excellence against racial inequities.
Made entirely during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the racial reckognings of 2020, the documentary uses historical footage, modern day incidences, and interviews to both bring into light and combat the intentional historical erasure of the achievements these women - doctors, lawyers, athletes, artists, beauty queens, healers, economists, and so much more - have made to the university, the South Carolina, and our nation. Some of the featured include: Dr. Henrie Monteith Treadwell (‘65), who in 1963 broke the campus segregation color barrier, Lady Gamecocks head coach & WNBA star player Dawn Staley, former student body president Lindsay Richardson (‘15), co-chair of Southeast Crescent Regional Commission Dr. Jennifer Clyburn Reed (‘91), and recently deceased track star/Miss USA pageant winner Cheslie Kryst (‘13), among many other student leaders, athletes, professionals, and notables.
With FANNIE, Fannie Lou Hamer, the Mississippi sharecropper-turned-American voting and women’s rights activist, community organizer, and leader in the civil rights movement, is dramatized by Academy Award nominated actress Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard, Ray, In Too Deep) and directed by Christine Swanson (. The short film depicts Hamer's powerful testimony during the 1964 Democratic National Convention, which began with three powerful words, “Is this America?”. Hamer’s testimony detailed the scare tactics and violence Black Americans faced in their quest to vote, led to an impassioned call for the inclusion of Black delegates into the Democratic Party, equal treatment to Black Americans, and a prophetic defense for the right to vote for every citizen regardless of race, creed, or color.
To call FANNIE a live action short film about a pivotal moment in civil rights history only scratches the surface. FANNIE is a utility tool to help develop more fertile ground for transformative policy shifts to occur.
Shown together for the first time, both FANNIE and THE BACKBONE provide a keen look into how everyday Black women have stepped up to create long-lasting changes, and legacies, for the American South and our entire country.