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Film tells the story of how the famous Montgomery Bus Boycott was planned in three days, thanks to Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat

SILVER SPRING, MD – October 6, 2017 – TV One today announced that production is underway in Atlanta, Georgia for the new film, Behind the Movement, starring Meta Golding (“The Hunger Games”), Isaiah Washington (“The 100”), Loretta Devine (“Waiting to Exhale”), and Roger Guenveur Smith (“American Gangster”). The film is slated to premiere in time for Black History Month 2018. Behind the Movement is a unique and fast-paced retelling of how Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat launched the history-making Montgomery Bus Boycott. The film will reveal the untold story of how a group of everyday people decided this incident was the right time to take a stand for their civil rights and demand equal treatment.

Behind the Movement cast announced today:

  • Meta Golding as Rosa Parks
  • Roger Guenveur Smith as Raymond Parks
  • Loretta Devine as JoAnn Robinson
  • Isaiah Washington as E.D. Nixon
  • Shaun Clay as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rosa’s day as a seamstress at the Montgomery Fair Department Store, in Alabama in 1955, starts as any other, but her journey home was interrupted when the evening bus driver tells the black passengers in the first row of the “Negro Section” to make room for white passengers who were without seats. Though this was common practice, that evening, Mrs. Parks decides not to comply. Knowing her rights and being fed up with the treatment of black citizens, she accepts the consequences of refusing to obey an order and is arrested. That night, Mr. E.D. Nixon, president of the local chapter of the NAACP, of which Rosa is the secretary, calls his friend Mr. Clifford Durr, a local white attorney. Once safely at home, E.D. tells Rosa that she is the perfect “test case” for a Bus Boycott, an idea that had been in discussion since the bus segregation rules were continuously being abused and more and more blacks were being removed or threatened if they didn’t give up their seats to white riders.

Afraid for her safety, Rosa’s mother and her husband, try to talk her out of leading the boycott, but Rosa tells them that taking this stance is too important. By midnight, plans are put in motion to launch a boycott that, ultimately, would last more than a year and give rise to what is known today at the Civil Rights Movement.

Behind the Movement written by Katrina M. O’Gilvie and directed by Aric Avelino. The film is produced for TV One by Eric Tomosunas, Keith Neal, James Seppelfrick and Darien Baldwin for Swirl Films. For TV One, Karen Peterkin is Director of Scripted Original Programming and shares Executive in charge of production duties with Tia A. Smith, Sr. Director of Original Programming & Production. Donyell McCullough is Senior Director of Talent & Casting; Robyn Greene-Arrington is VP of Original Programming, and D’Angela Proctor is Head of Original Programming and Production.

TV One viewers can also join the conversation by connecting via social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@tvonetv) using the hash tags #BEHINDTHEMOVEMENT and #REPRESENT.

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ABOUT SWIRL FILMS:

Swirl Films is America’s “number one urban film production company,” a full-service Film & TV production company with more than 60 original productions in the past six years, focusing on urban content and programming, independent features and multi-camera productions. Swirl Films is a major content provider for TV One which includes original productions: Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story (2016), which was TV One’s first ever biopic, starring another stellar cast: Lisa Raye McCoy, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Darius McCrary, Indirah Khan and Teyonah Parris as Miki Howard. The film broke record ratings, undeniably becoming the top original film in the network’s history drawing in 2 million views, resulting in the network’s highest ratings week ever. Quickly surpassing those numbers is TV One’s #1 Original Premiere of All Time, When Love Kills (2017), starring Lance Gross, NiatiaKirkland, and Tami Roman, directed by actress Tasha Smith. Swirl Films previous production credits for TV One also includes Born Again Virgin, starring Danielle Nicolet, Meagan Holder and Eva Marcille; Here We Go Again, starring LeToya Luckett, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Kyndall Ferguson; Russ Parr’s award-winning The Undershepherd, Hear No Evil, and 35 & Ticking (Kevin Hart).

ABOUT TV ONE:

Launched in January 2004, TV One serves 59 million households, offering a broad range of real-life and entertainment-focused original programming, classic series, movies and music designed to entertain and inform a diverse audience of adult black viewers. The network represents the best in black culture and entertainment with fan favorite shows Unsung, Rickey Smiley For Real, Fatal Attraction, The Manns and The NAACP Image Awards.In addition, TV One is the cable home of blockbuster drama Empire, and NewsOne Now, the only live daily news program dedicated to black viewers. In December 2008, the company launched TV OneHigh Def, which now serves 14 million households. TV One is solely owned by Urban One, Inc., formerly known as Radio One, Inc. [NASDAQ: UONE and UONEK, http://www.urban1.com ], the largest African-American owned multi-media company primarily targeting Black and urban audiences.

TV One Media Contact:

Alonda Thomas, AThomas@tvone.tv or 301-755-2826