Documentary AIN'T NO BACK TO A MERRY-GO-ROUND to Receive World Premiere in May

Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ilana Trachtman's (Praying with Lior, Black in Latin America, The Pursuit) groundbreaking documentary feature film Ain't No Back to a Merry-Go-Round will make its World Premiere at the Maryland Film Festival on May 5th at 5:15pm. 

Ten years in the making, this insightful and powerful documentary unearths the pivotal 1960 Glen Echo Amusement Park protests - likely the first organized interracial civil rights demonstration in U.S. history. 

On June 30, 1960, five black Howard University students emboldened by the Greensboro sit-ins, took a stand by sitting on the segregated gilded horses of a Maryland carousel. This act of defiance at Glen Echo Amusement Park, a whites-only recreation spot, made waves in metropolitan Washington. The protest not only involved Black students but also garnered support from residents of the neighboring white community of Bannockburn, made up of largely Jewish labor organizers and civil servants, uniting a diverse group against segregation. 

Despite facing extreme heat and violent opposition from the American Nazi Party, the students and suburbanites picketed together for ten weeks, forming unexpected alliances. The collaboration between union bosses and student leaders, along with the radicalization of young individuals, laid the foundation for future Civil Rights Movement leaders. This untold story of resilience and unity is vividly brought to life in this poignant documentary. 

The film takes an immersive approach, using no narrators or experts, and features never-before-seen archival footage along with interviews featuring the voices of Jeffrey Wright as the Black press and Mandy Patinkin as the mainstream press. All the storytelling comes directly from the people who were there - including Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Letters to the editor and other published materials are voiced by Bob Balaban, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Tracie Thoms, and Lee Grant.