Film Screening: Go - Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC

Schedule

Thu Feb 02 2023 at 03:00 pm to 05:00 pm

Location

740 15th St NW- 3rd Floor | Washington, DC

Advertisement
The film interweaves scenes of protest as displaced communities take to the streets to rally around the city’s beloved Go-Go music.
About this Event

Please join the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s (NCRC) Just Economy Club, in partnership with The Bertelsmann Foundation, on February 2, 2023, from 3 to 5 pm ET for a film screening of the documentary: Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC.

For decades, Washington, DC has been a beacon for Black culture and community. Now, however, a wave of economic and cultural gentrification occurring at breakneck speed threatens to erase this history.

Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC, a documentary film by Samuel George of the Bertelsmann Foundation, dives into this rich and colorful tapestry and the forces behind the gentrification that stand to mute it. The film interweaves scenes of protest as displaced communities take to the streets to rally around the city’s beloved Go-Go music.

Featuring interviews with legends of Go-Go such as Big Tony of Trouble Funk, Sugar Bear, and Anwan “Big G” Clover, as well as business leaders such as Richard “Dickie” Shannon of Horace and Dickie’s and Virginia Ali of Ben’s Chili Bowl, the film offers an historical overview of the cultural and economic forces that made Washington, DC “Chocolate City”.

The film follows as protesters for racial justice took to the District’s streets in the summer of 2020, and as Go-Go music takes on another life as an agent for change. The documentary tracks this movement with vérité scenes of protests and marches that often-centered Go-Go bands, performing live on the back of flatbed trucks.

The film thus documents a poetic moment in which the long-term citizens of Washington, DC – the communities most impacted by rampant gentrification – rally around the unique music to retake the streets and make their voices heard.


As protest organizer Terrence Odom says in a poem that opens the film, “Just sit back and listen. This is a new resistance.”


"A Powerful New Documentary"

-Elliot Williams, NPR


GoGo City is an Official Selection of the American Documentary Film Festival, the NorthWest Documentary Film Festival, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, the Indianapolis Black Documentary Film Festival, and is the winner of the Spotlight Documentary Gold Award, and the Impact Documentary Award of Merit.


Fast Facts

Title: Go-Go City: Displacement & Protest in Washington, DC

Genre: Documentary

Published: 2021

Run time: 54 minutes

Directed by Samuel George

Edited by Jeff Cook

Executive Director Irene Braam

A Bertelsmann Foundation Documentary Film


Event Photos
Event Photos
Advertisement

Where is it happening?

740 15th St NW- 3rd Floor, 740 15th Street Northwest, Washington, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

Tickets

USD 0.00

NCRC

Host or Publisher NCRC

It's more fun with friends. Share with friends