In celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, Bent Lens Cinema is proud to present this outstanding film on the life of Bayard Rustin. Mr. Rustin could rightfully be called one of the forefathers of the very concept of empowerment, having engineered the 1963 March on Washington, the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s most famous, "I Have a Dream" speech. Most all other liberation movements that have followed, including those among People of Color, the Feminist movement, Gay Liberation, and Post-Colonial movements, have drawn inspiration from that singular achievement. Rustin was largely responsible for the practical application of MLK's non-violence strategy, an approach which achieved revolutionary and profoundly impactful results. Though Rustin was widely known to be gay in the Black community, even rumored to be MLK's lover, he inhabited a semi-closeted space for many of his activist years because of outing threats which attempted to undermine his credibility. As a result, Rustin worked behind the scenes for much of his career in order to avoid controversy for the Civil Rights movement.

The GLBT movement has borrowed heavily from Rustin's example, staging four successful D.C. Marches in his style, while sometimes forgetting their source. Like his contemporaries, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, also profiled in this festival, Bayard Rustin never confined himself to single-issue politics, and after more "radical" and often less-impactful upstarts began to seize the political stage during the Black Power late 60s, Rustin moved gracefully to other projects, maintaining his well-seasoned and time-tested approach to organizing. This film does justice in painting the complexity and the many facets of an underrecognized and true American hero who was literally Martin Luther King, Jr.'s right hand man.

 

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