Film Screening: “Ain’t No Back to A Merry-Go-Round” | America’s First Organized Interracial Civil Rights Protest
Thursday, Feb 6, 2025
Please enjoy the conversation between Director Ilana Trachtman and Joan Countryman.
Emmy award-winning filmmaker Ilana Trachtman crafts documentaries that spark social change through intimate storytelling. Over 30 years, she’s directed for PBS, HBO, ABC-TV, Showtime, Discovery, Lifetime, and Sundance, earning critical acclaim including 6 Audience Awards and starred reviews in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Her work ranges from the spirituality of a boy with Down syndrome (Praying with Lior) to champion high school mariachi musicians (Mariachi High), and from investigating slavery’s legacy in Latin America (Black in Latin America,) to celebrating the pioneers of LGBTQ+ activism (The Pursuit). Ilana’s interest is in illuminating overlooked stories – from Gulf Coast shrimpers fighting pollution, to former gang members finding gratification through glass blowing. Ilana believes that true stories, carefully told, have unique power to inspire compassion, action, and community building. Recent works include HBO’s Stand Up and Shout and Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round, chronicling America’s first organized interracial civil rights protest. More at aintnoback.com.
Joan Countryman is a Quaker, an educator, and an activist. The first African American graduate of Germantown Friends School, she remembers Brown v. Board of Education as the start of her life fighing for civil rights. Ms Countryman earned a bachelor’s degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1962, a master’s degree in urban studies from Yale University in 1966, and as a Fulbright Scholar, studied social administration at the London School of Economics in 1966-67. In the 1960s, with her first husband, Peter Countryman, she led the Northern Student Movement, an American civil rights organization inspired by the sit-ins and freedom rides led by students in the south to fight for justice in communities in the north. From 1970 to 1993, she served as a teacher and administrator at Germantown Friends. In 1993, she accepted appointment as Head of Lincoln School in Providence, RI, the only all-girls Quaker school in North America. In 2006, Ms. Countryman was appointed Founding Head of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa.
6:30pm ET Cash Bar | 7:30 pm ET Screening
Live at the Weitzman
SOLD OUT GA $20 | $15 Members
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Join us for the Philadelphia premiere of Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round, an award-winning documentary by Emmy Award-winning director Ilana Trachtman. Quickly becoming a lightning rod for heartfelt dialogue between the Black and Jewish communities, this powerful film has been embraced with enthusiasm across diverse audiences and is inspiring new conversations about civil rights and allyship.
The film recounts a watershed moment in American history: the first time Black civil rights activists were joined by an organized white community – predominantly Jewish – to protest segregation. Together, they protested segregation at Washington, D.C.’s Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1960, challenging racism in a historic demonstration that drew national attention and paved the way for future collaborations in the fight for equality.
Recent Press: The Philadelphia Citizen
Winner of Best Documentary Feature at the DC Black Film Festival and a sell-out success at the DC JCC, the film is a must-see for anyone passionate about social justice, civic engagement, or exploring the enduring power of interfaith and interracial alliances. Featuring rare footage, immersive storytelling, and narration by Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Dominique Thorne, and others, Ain’t No Back to the Merry-Go-Round captures the spirit of a movement that continues to resonate today.
Watch the Trailer
More About the Film
When five Black college students sat on a segregated Maryland carousel in 1960, their arrests made headlines. When the Jewish community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the protest, a history-making interracial demonstration was born. The cause, and the collaboration, provoked counterprotests by the American Nazi party and brought Congressmen and national leaders to the picket line. Picketing together led to partying together, union organizers mentored student activists, and ten 1961 Freedom Riders emerged, including Stokely Carmichael. With never-before-seen footage and immersive storytelling by Emmy-award-winning director Ilana Trachtman, four living protesters rescue this untold story, revealing the price, and the power, of heeding the impulse to activism. Featuring the voices of Jeffrey Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Bob Balaban, Lee Grant, Peter Gallagher, Dominique Thorne, Alysia Reiner, and Tracie Thoms.
Awards:
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Best Documentary, DC Black Film Festival
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Audience Award for Best Documentary, Boston Jewish Film Festival
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Women in Film Award, St. Louis International Film Festival
Directed by Ilana Trachtman
Documentary Feature
USA | 2024 | 89 min
English
Live at The Weitzman
101 South Independence Mall East (Corner of 5th & Market)
Philadelphia, PA 19106
