The Lorraine: A Screening and Conversation with Sam Pollard

Acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard — one of cinema's most renowned chroniclers of the Black experience in America — joins March On! for a screening and conversation on his latest documentary, The Lorraine, which made its World Premiere at the 2026 Tribeca Festival.

The film tells the astonishing and long-overlooked story of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee — best known as the site of the assassination of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But the story of The Lorraine neither started nor ended there.

Through remarkable archival footage and interviews, Pollard shines a light on Walter and Loree Bailey, who purchased the property in 1945. Travelers guided by The Green Book and popular entertainers from the local Stax Records were among those who used the motel as a haven from the strictures of segregation and Jim Crow. The Lorraine finally gives this Black cultural landmark — and the family behind it — its due.

Pollard's work is widely celebrated, including a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award for By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, and an Academy Award nomination for 4 Little Girls.

Following the screening, he'll join Marjuan Canady, Associate Professor of Theatre and Film at Montgomery College, for a live conversation connecting The Lorraine's legacy to this year's festival theme, 250 Years of Democracy: The Unfinished Story — examining how Black-owned spaces shaped the fight for freedom, and what that history demands of us now.

The evening will open with welcoming remarks from Maryland State Delegate Jheanelle Wilkins.

In partnership with the Visual and Performing Arts Department and Community Arts Program of Montgomery College - Takoma Park / Silver Spring.