good morning this is news 4 your sunday. >> hello, i'm pat lawson muse. it's a celebration of history using the power of film, music and the arts and scholarship. the annual march on washington film festival is coming back to the nation's capital this month. starting july 13th, running through the 22nd there will be ten full days of celebration of the heros and the activism of the civil rights era. joining us is the executive director of the march on washington film festival and host and producer at whmr radio. she's one of

year. >> welcome both of you. how did it start, who start it and why? >> it was started by robert and he has a company called the raven group and he went to the 50th anniversary of the march on washington and decided with a couple of friends to do some films to commemorate the occasion so they did a couple of days of films. it was well received. they did a second year. the second year they did a couple of days in d.c., in atlanta and new york and that went well and after that he called me and we worked together in the past and he said this is actually something would you like to come and help me run it and here we are now. we decided to make it a destination event. ten days now and over 20 activities. >> they're all at different venues spread around the city. some of these place miss of your participants have never been.

museum of american history doing one at the african american history museum. the national museum of women and the arts. public welfare foundation so we move around town. >> that adds to the excitement doesn't it? >> it does. >> jackie, you have been a participant in previous years. what it's like taking part in this festival? you have deep roots in this community. you have been a producer on the radio for many years. many are familiar with your voice and your work and you have an interest in history. what's it like to participate. >> it's been a wonderful experience working with the march on washington film festival as a moderator. last year they gave me an excellent opportunity to host a panel with the freedom singers. the singers who really were the inspiration musically behind the civil rights movement and

show case work that i did, documentary work on the history of black radio and that's interesting for a film festival. i was able to participate on the screening of the documentary on may vis staples and then afterwards we had a panel looking at music and the civil rights movement and it included radio so we had the originator and founder of stacks records to talk about his music and the music of that era and how it pushed the civil rights movement. this year i have another rare opportunity to host the panel on the ed sullivan show and it's impact on the civil rights movement. growing up i had a wonderful memory, i have a wonderful memory of every sunday night at 8:00 watching the ed sullivan show. we

>> and the joy of seeing diana ross and the supremes, sammy davis jr., diane carol and what that meant to me as a young african american growing up and it had an impact on young americans of all colors growing up. seeing talented, beautiful african american performers and educators and intellectuals on the ed sullivan show and another thing is its a documentary in progress. the documentary is not finished yesterday. susan kay is the daughter of diane carol and she is the granddaughter of ed sullivan. they collaborated to do

documentary on and also in the panel. >> she gave us models examples, she was an inspiration and also personally participated in the original march on washington so we're going to talk about the impact of the ed sullivan show on the civil rights movement. we're going to talk about the images of african americans today and what impact that might be having. images in the media and such and the fact that during the time of the ed sullivan show we all no, matter what color we were watch at 8:00 on sunday. that may never happen again. >> we also want to talk a little bit about ed sullivan's role as a civil rights

okay great. i like that. >> we'll be right back. stay with us.

fios is not cable. we're a 100% fiber optic network. and with the new fios gigabit connection... you get our fastest... internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone for $79.99 a month online for the first year. plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of your contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com

one wouldn't think about ed sullivan being a civil rights activist but just think about what he had to go through during that period of time bringing those african american acts on the stage. i'm sure he was threatened. there were companies that boycotted stations in the south that wouldn't run it because he was such an excellent producer with a very successful show and already had this established

that show was the longest running variety show on television so he had to be a very strong fan. >> talking about the motivation behind that really strong desire to help people. >> tell me about some of the other films. you have some really good ones that we'll be seeing this year. >> yes. we are. we are showing a new documentary on the life of winnie mandela and that's women in the movement and she, we think we know a lot about her but there was so much more involved in what she did, how she sacrificed. how she was misunderstood.

looking forward to seeing that film. we're showing one on the 1936 olympics called olympic pride american prejudice about the african american athletes that went to the berlin game. we know about jesse owens but we don't know that he was not alone so we want to learn more about those athletes. we're showing a film about ninth wonder so everybody that's into hip hop knows who i'm talking about. i had to learn about this one. but he's a d.j. and grammy winning producer that did a fellowship at harvard not long ago and in the course of this fellowship showed how hip hop music had their roots in music 15 or 20 years ago or 40 or 50 years ago and talking about that impact in society and where it came from and how it's part of the music now so his film and his work is taking hitch

>> you kick it off with a huge concert. tell us about that. >> yes. >> well, she is going to be participating in the opening night of the march on washington film festival and it's going to be directed by reverend nolan william who is is an outstanding musical genius here in washington d.c. he has participated in the festival before huge churches and big choirs. and leon that's my

news 4 at 4:00 will be joining us for the opening. >> he will. he will be the master of ceremonies and also jamal simmons that's going to be our narrator so this is called let freedom sing and we'll talk about the inspiration, the social justice element of some of the music. >> and for those that don't, the name karen clark sheer is not familiar they may be familiar with the clark sisters. she is one of the very famous gospel legendary groups the clark sisters that did that big hit you brought the sunshine and karen can sing. i've heard karen do things with her voice i didn't think was humanly possible. she is a tremendous singer. >> she can sang. in a word. >> now is that the only concert during the ten days? >> that's the only concert however nolan is producing music at a couple of the other events we're having.

prejudice there's a song in the sound track he's going to reproduce with live voices at that event and then on our losing night which is the may mayor's event we're honoring the first and second wave of black mayors in the country and he's doing a whole sweep of music that evening so we're looking forward to his contribution. he's so excellent in the way he produces this music and the voices he brings together. it gives you chills when you think about it or listen to it. >> we're talking about the march on washington film festival coming up later this month. we'll continue our discussion right after this.

>> for many others it's an education. for those that don't know what they should know about the history, the culture, the contributions of the figures that you are highlighting and focussing on during the ten days. >> one of the things we discovered is that if you're under 40 all you know about the civil rights movement is i had a dream, rosa parks was too tired and didn't get up and maybe selma because of the film recently and then after that it's all nothing. it's all a blur. so we wanted to use this festival to bring those untold stories and to honor the people that are still alive that were icons in the movement. for example i mentioned the mayor's event we bringing richard and johnny ford that were mayors back in the day to talk about their era and what's happening now. we'll have the mayor of

bringing both eras together which is what we like to do. >> tell us about the competition that your sponsoring. i know you have daughters. >> yeah. >> i know that this is an area that would have been interest to you to have young people that are competing in film making and journalism. tell us about that. >> last year was the first year we did our student and emerging journalist competition and we received this year about 105 entries from all over the world. the theme we gave them this year was speaking truth to power. we put it online. people submit short films however they want to address that theme so we get everything from aging issues, immigration, gender rights, et cetera and we have a team of judges who after we narrow it down to 12 finalists pick four winners. one in narrative film and

the same for the emerging so part of what they receive are they get a cash award. their films have shown, the 12 finalists will be shown on saturday morning, the first saturday of the festival at landmark and they also sometimes receive in kind. we help promote their films at other venues. some of our spontaneous source may take the films and put them in other venues. that's the film makers but the journalists, this say new one, we're just starting that one this year and after they're selected that's their prize. they get mentored through the festival. they'll cover the festival and some of their finished pieces will then be published in online publicatio publications. several will contribute and then they're going to visit nbc 4 and the atlanta and undefeated and see how journalism works in all of this so we're very excited to have all of them par

you have daughters and when you talk about civil rights there's the over 40 crowd that knows more and then you've got young daughters like yours that are, you know, coming out of college and who learned but are not of that same generation. >> yes. one of the blessings we have in 2017 is the blessing of documentarys and visuals from the past. when we were growing up everybody in the history books were old. they were old people that did these things. documentarys give young people a chance to really see that during the civil rights movement those were young people risking their lives for what they believed in so they can make a personal connection to what happened in the past and think about what they're doing in the future. so i'm always excited for young people to participate in the march on washington film festival so that they can be motivated. >>

older people do you expect to attend? i know your audience and participants have grown over the years. >> it has. last year we had a little over 5,000. i know we're going to do more than that because some of our venues are much bigger and the wonderful thing is we see all generations coming and many different races attending as well. sometimes someone will bring their child and grandchild to come and that's very rewarding for tous see that. >> you got some of the biggest names again in entertainment, in music. >> yes. >> scholarship. >> education. >> coming from all over the country. >> yes. we just realized that in the ed sullivan piece, henry lewis gates is going to be joining us this year and he'll be talking about a new initiative to bring more diverse voices to the entertainment industry so as we talk about what ed did a few decades ago and how it works now will be part of that bridge that we're making. e'

ith us. restlessness... extreme anxiety...

pacing... a constant urge to move. if someone you know is suffering from schizophrenia they may also be struggling with akathisia: a common side effect of some schizophrenia medications. learn more at myakathisia.com.

what are the other highlights this year. >> this year we're doing our first courage award. now a little back story a couple of years ago we did a piece on vivian malone and james hood who integrated the university of alabama when george wallace stood in the schoolhouse door. so we showed a film that was done at that time. one of the first reality films. the director had a camera crew follow the two of them. one on robert kennedy and one on george wallace, around 24 hours or 48 hur

were to come. the national guard was involved. the attorney general and in that panel was dan rather that covered the events and then did a 60 minutes piece ten years later. there was peggy wallace that was george wallace's daughter that is now a civil rights activist. there was sharon malone that's vivian malone's youngest sister that's the wife of eric holder. we had the attorney then on the film and the attorney general that day in the audience, who was a journalist and also integrated the university of mississippi, or georgia. so it was very powerful. so we named this award after vivian and we're giving it to a young boy showing a lot of courage in what he is writing so we're really excited about that. >> black intellectual. >> yes. >> jackie. tell us about some of the folks who are coming tor

and help you again. it's called ed sullivan in black and white. >> diane carol will join our panel. also the very talented and please forgive me for blanking out on mrs. reese's first name, responsible for the excellent exhibition on pop culture, modern culture at the museum, the smithsonian national museum of african american history and culture. margo, she is a film maker and is also the granddaughter of ed sullivan and the daughter of diane carol. it's going to be a very interesting conversation. >> now tell us about tickets because we need tickets. >> yes you do. you need tickets. at the website. march on washington film festival.org. so whether the event is

there's charge you need a reservation so please some of them are already sold out. you want to get on there quick. >> you have done this with volunteers. >> yes. >> this year we issued a call through our list and we have many volunteers that will be working in different aspects of the festival in support of our work. >> i know it's going to be a fantastic ten days. >> it will be. >> educational entertaining and informative and ten days of awareness raising here in the washington area. >> it's always a great feeling as the days go on. it just builds in momentum. it's delightful. >> all right. it's so good to see both of you. thank you for being here this morning. >> thank you for all that you do. >> thank you. thanks so much. that's the march on washington film festival july 13th through the 22nd. you'll find the list and schedule of events on our website nbc washington.com search community.

news 4 today is next. z2ejdz z16fz y2ejdy y16fy fios is not cable. we're a 100% fiber optic network. and with the new fios gigabit connection... you get our fastest internet ever. with download speeds up to 940 megs - 20 times faster than most people have. switch to fios gigabit connection with tv and phone

plus hbo for one year and multi-room dvr service for two years, all with a two-year agreement. and switching has never been easier. get out of you contract with up to a $500 credit to help cover your early termination fee. go to fiosgigabit.com

♪ we buy any car ♪ any make, any model, any age, any price ♪ ♪ from 50 bucks to 100 grand ♪ we buy any car ♪ any, any, any, any at webuyanycar.com, the gimmicks stop with our ads. trading in our selling your car is hassle-free with just three easy steps. one, get your free online valuation. two, drive to your local car buying centre. and three, walk out with your check in as little as 30 minutes. so don't wait. get your free online valuation now. ♪ find out how much your car's worth ♪ ♪ at webuyanycar.com

now on "news4 today," a mother and daughter dead in a bizarre murder suicide. what the police are uncovering and the new concerns from neighbors. health care pushed back. why a deal will not come this week and the new medical concerns surrounding a senior member of congress. storm team 4 is tracking a big jump in the heat and humidity in the week ahead. good morning, everyone. i am molette green in for adam this morning. >> and i am angie goff.