Dialogue: Post-screening conversation with director, Ben Proudfoot.
Sunday, May 3, 4:15 p.m. | Rivetingly told by 95-year-old Clarence B. Jones—Martin Luther King Jr.’s trusted lawyer and speechwriter—THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL portrays the personal costs and surprising truths of the Civil Rights Movement. Personally recruited by Dr. King in the early 1960s, the headstrong attorney and Juilliard-trained clarinetist was forced to choose between the security of his successful life or a path of purpose that would forever alter history.
Mixing captivating animation and first-person testimony, the film recounts Jones’ journey from the halls of Juilliard to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as he reflects on what led him to advise Dr. King and help craft the first seven paragraphs of the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Winner of this year's Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize and co-directed by NBA Champion Stephen Curry and two-time Academy Award winner Ben Proudfoot, THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL is a stirring, humorous, and compelling portrait of a living legend and unsung icon of the struggle for racial justice. Producers: Ben Proudfoot, Erick Peyton, Stephen Curry.
Doc10, now in its eleventh year, is Chicago’s only all-documentary film festival that has firmly set its place in Chicago’s cultural scene. Each year the festival screens the 10 best documentaries culled from Sundance, Berlin, Venice, and other top-tier festivals across the world, giving Chicago audiences the first—and often only—opportunity to see these extraordinary films on the big screen. Synopses provided by Doc10. Post-screening conversations will follow all showtimes. Visit doc10.org for tickets and more information.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu