Civil Rights
WASHINGTON D.C.
After sold-out screenings across the country, the award-winning documentary Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round (2024) will open in Miami on February 12, 2026, at the O Cinema Theatre.
The latest film by filmmaker Ilana Trachtman (Praying with Lior, Mariachi High, Black in Latin America) focuses on a little-known but foundational moment in American history: the first time Black civil rights activists were joined by an organized white (and largely Jewish) community to protest segregation.
Together, they demonstrated against Washington, D.C.’s whites-only Glen Echo Amusement Park in 1960, provoking the first counter protests by the American Nazi Party. These actions also lured civil rights giants A. Phillip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Adam Clayton Powell to the picket line and led to a challenge of protester arrests in the U.S. Supreme Court.
A festival favorite and a rare sell-out success among mainstream, Black, and Jewish film festivals, Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round has received dozens of film festival awards nationwide. In addition to continuing its theatrical run, the film is also available in a one-hour feature version which can be used in classrooms, libraries, and learning programs to teach civil rights history.
- This 60-minute version can be paired with a brand-new, 100-page teacher’s guide, which provides educators with the tools to spark meaningful discussions about racial justice, and grassroots activism. (See full list of awards and other resources on the film’s official website at www.aintnoback.com.)
When five Howard University students sat on a segregated Maryland carousel in 1960, their arrests made headlines. And as the Jewish community near Glen Echo Amusement Park joined the protest, a history-making interracial demonstration was born.
The pickets attracted Nazis, Congressman, and a press avalanche. 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.
Other Theatrical Dates
PROVO, UT l | 2/1-2/8 | Time TBD | Brigham Young University
BOULDER, CO l | 2/4-2/7 | Dairy Arts Center
HOUSTON, TX l | 2/4 | 6:30 PM | Greater Houston Jewish Federation
BRONXVILLE, NY l | 2/2, 2/9, 2/19, 2/23 | 7 PM | The Picture House
GLEN ECHO, MD l | 2/7 | 11:30 AM | Glen Echo Park
KEY WEST, FL l | 2/8 | Time TBD | Tropic Cinema
NEW CASTLE, NY | 2/12 | 7pm | The Chappaqua Performing Arts Center
LOUISVILLE Jewish Film Festival l | 2/12 | 7pm | The Filson Historical Society
COLUMBUS, OH | 2/15 | 2pm | The Gateway Film Center
RESTON, VA | 2/18 | 7:30pm | The Leila Gordon Theatre
HONOLULU, HI | 2/20, 2/28 | 2pm, 7pm | Honolulu Museum of Art
LOS ANGELES, CA | 2/21-2/23 | The Laemmle in Santa Monica, Glendale, and Encino
CHERRY HILL, NJ | 3/23 | Katz JCC, an agency of the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey
About Director Ilana Trachtman: Emmy award-winning filmmaker with three decades of experience creating documentaries for PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, Lifetime, Discovery, A&E, and the Sundance Channel. Previous acclaimed work includes Praying with Lior, Mariachi High, and Black in Latin America with Henry Louis Gates.
About the Film: 90 minutes | Documentary | United States | 2024 | English
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