Documentary Film TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’ is Kicking it all off!
Story Donna Kovaleski
Global Lounge will launch this year’s World Village Festival with a soul-stirring and ever timely documentary film at Boise’s JUMP on June 7. An Avalon Films and Freedom Road Production, TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’ is about the search for two forgotten blues singers, set in Mississippi during the height of the civil rights movement.
In June of 1964 hundreds of college students, eager to join the civil rights movement, traveled to Mississippi, starting what would be known as Freedom Summer.
That same month, two groups of young men – made up of musicians, college students, and record collectors – also traveled to Mississippi. Though neither group was aware of the other, each had come on the same errand: to find an old blues singer and coax him out of retirement. Thirty years before, Son House and Skip James had recorded some of the most memorable music of their era, but now they seemed lost to time.
Finding them would not be easy. There were few clues to their whereabouts. It was not even known for certain if they were still alive. And Mississippi, that summer, was a tense and violent place. With hundreds on their way to teach in freedom schools and work on voter registration, the Ku Klux Klan and police force of many towns vowed that Freedom Summer would not succeed. Churches were bombed, shotguns blasted into cars and homes.
It was easy to mistake the young men looking for Son House and Skip James as activists. Finally, on June 21, 1964, these two campaigns collided in memorable and tragic fashion.
TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’ not only pays tribute to a pioneering generation of musicians. The movie cuts to the heart of our present moment, offering a crucial vantage from which to view the evolving dynamics of race in America.
In telling this remarkable story for the first time, TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’ revisits an important moment when America’s cultural and political institutions were dramatically transformed. The movie is sparklingly relevant today, in an era of renewed attention on police brutality and voting rights.
Global Lounge invites you to join us for this fantastic film as we work together to continue building the world that we believe is within our reach.
Then follow it up with the World Village Fest taking place June 8-10 in downtown Boise’s Capitol Park for three days of cultural celebration! This free family-friendly event showcases the artistic talents and vibrant traditions of the people of Idaho who have come from all corners of the globe and now call Idaho home. This Arts and Humanities event will be host to several multi-national performing groups representing Idaho’s variety of cultures. This dance, music, storytelling, poetry, film, and food event will showcase our community’s expanding blend of cultural arts and literature, and will invite every resident to connect with their neighbors through a rich celebration of the many traditions and arts around us. World Village, a lively interactive event, will bridge communities, raise awareness and enhance cultural sensitivity while promoting diversity.