Film Forum

From acclaimed filmmaker Dawn Porter (TRAPPED, GIDEON’S ARMY), JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE chronicles the life and career of the legendary civil rights activist and Democratic Representative (since 1987) from Georgia. Using interviews and rare archival footage, the film covers John Robert Lewis’s 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 80 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.

Immediately following the feature, there will be a pre-recorded discussion between Representative 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.

On 7/9 all ticket-buyers are welcome to stream a live panel discussion presented by the Freedom Rides Museum of Montgomery, Alabama, featuring Freedom Riders Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Rip Patton in conversation with director Dawn Porter. In partnership with the Capri Theater. The live panel begins at 7:30pm EST / 4:30pm PST and will also be archived to watch afterward.

Presented with support from the Richard Brick, Geri Asher, and Sara Bershtel Fund for Social Justice Documentaries.

Presented with support from Film Forum’s Documentary Fund.
Leadership gifts received from: Hugo Barreca, Leon and Michaela Constantiner, Ostrovsky Family Fund.

USA     2020     96 MINS.     MAGNOLIA PICTURES

Reviews

“His mother always told him to avoid trouble, but John Lewis, now 80, never stopped pursuing it — in fact, the future Congressman and revered civil rights leader has made a life’s work of agitating for change through nearly every social and political avenue, often to his own endangerment. But Dawn Porter’s excellent doc GOOD TROUBLE is just that: a joyful, galvanizing portrait of a life radically and fully lived.”
– Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Recent interviews with John Lewis:
The Washington Post
New York Magazine