King in the Wilderness

2018

Director: Peter W. Kunhardt

The Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) is proud to present the HBO Documentary Film, KING IN THE WILDERNESS at the SNF Parkway, featuring a post-screening discussion between Taylor Branch and DeRay Mckesson. Through personal stories from his closest friends and advisors, this film follows Martin Luther King, Jr., during the last years of his life: from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to his assassination in 1968.

 

 

Following the screening, MdFF will welcome executive producer and Pulitzer Prize-winning author TAYLOR BRANCH along with civil rights activist DERAY MCKESSON who will lead a discussion on King’s continuing legacy of activism.

 

 

The event follows the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and is a unique opportunity to view the work in the context of a general audience, ahead of its HBO debut on April 2.

 

 

Directed by Peter Kunhardt (HBO’s Emmy®-winning “Jim: The James Foley Story”) KING IN THE WILDERNESS chronicles the final chapters of Dr. King’s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. While the Black Power movement saw his nonviolence as weakness, and President Lyndon B. Johnson saw his anti-Vietnam War speeches as irresponsible, Dr. King’s unyielding belief in peaceful protest became a testing point for a nation on the brink of chaos.

 

 

Through intimate conversations with those who knew him well, including many fellow members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), KING IN THE WILDERNESS reveals stirring new perspectives on Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination in 1968. The documentary also features archival footage of King’s most rousing speeches, behind-the-scenes video of his private moments, intimate archival photographs and phone conversations recorded by President Johnson, who was both ally and adversary in King’s fight for civil rights.

 

 

The compelling documentary screens at the SNF Parkway on THURSDAY, MARCH 29TH at 7PM.

 

 

General admission tickets are $25 and are available for purchase at the Parkway box office or at mdfilmfest.com.

 

 

A limited number of $5 community discount tickets will be available the night of the event on a first come, first served basis.