LOVING, The Story of Mildred and Richard Loving!
“The Crime of Being Married.” Read the headline that accompanied photos of Richard Loving, a Southern construction worker, and his African-American wife Mildred in the pages of Life magazine. Audiences goers will sit down to watch Jeff Nichols’ “Loving,” which goes nearly the entire first half of the movie before explaining that mixed-race marriages were illegal in the then-segregated Virginia of 1958, and then you’ll be surprised to learn what the crime in question was, interracial marriage, this story will shake you to your core.
Loving is a historical drama film directed and written by Jeff Nichols. It stars Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as Richard and Mildred Loving, the plaintiffs in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia, which invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.The film is to be released on November 4, 2016 by Focus Features. The film follows the courtship and marriage of Mildred Jeter, a black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man. They are arrested and sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958, because their interracial marriage violates the state's anti-miscegenation laws. Exiled to Washington DC, they sue the state of Virginia in a series of proceedings leading to the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Loving v. Virginia, which holds that laws prohibiting interracial marriage are unconstitutional.
I was lucky enough to be invited to the Premiere of Loving and the Press Junket the following weekend. The premiere was held at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Samuel Goldwyn Theater is a world-class theater custom-designed to present films at maximum technical accuracy with state-of-the-art projection equipment and sound system. The theater’s 1,010 seats also have been specially designed and placed to create a movie-viewing environment that is ideal in terms of acoustical quality, and comfort. This also happens to be the theater where the Oscars are held. Walking into the theater the stage is flanked with life size gold Oscars. I was riveted, to know that the greatest of the great have stood where I've stood, was moving. Now here’s the kicker, I never thought the movie was going to depict the Lovings life story accurately, I was wrong. The movie was breathtaking, at one point I really thought they (actors) were the actual people, I forgot they were acting. The cast had beautifully come together and depicted the Lovings story. Their performance was by far exquisite, the bond, respect and love they had for one another was evident. This is why the story of the Lovings was so beautifully portrayed.
We are extremely lucky that the Lovings took the leap of faith and trusted that they could make a difference. This was an era of unrest and turmoil, the Civil Rights movement had just begun and the backlash was tremendous. There love, “wasn’t hurting anyone", as Mildred so eloquently stated, love is love and it’s not our place to tell anyone whom to love. Because of this brave couple that held steadfast for the love they had for one another, interracial relationships are legal. Our world today is at an unrest, racial tensions are at an all level high, this movie will make you stop and think, do we really want to step back in time or move forward in our era? I hope when you see this movie you walk away feeling the love that this beautiful couple shared, hold steadfast that the world can be a great place when you want to make a positive difference, most of all, be grateful that the road has been paved and it is up to us to preserve peace, love and unity.
LOVING will be released in select theaters, reserve your tickets on Fandango for November 4th, you don't want to miss this. xo
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