TRAVELING WHILE BLACK
ABOUT
Academy Award winner Roger Ross Williams’ finely observed and crafted visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a famed DC restaurant, transforms a central community locale into a symbolic safe space. African American visitors, some of whom lived through segregation, sit and share a moment of honest discussion, reflecting on their experiences of restricted movement and race relations in the U.S. These stories strengthen bonds among communities by bringing hidden histories into our modern collective consciousness.
Roger Ross Williams is an award-winning director, producer, writer and the first African-American director to win an Academy Award ® with his short film Music By Prudence. Williams’ award winning work pushes the boundaries of culture and film. His documentaries include: Life, Animated, which won the Sundance Film Festival Directing Award, won three Emmys in 2018, and was nominated for an Academy Award®; God Loves Uganda, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award®; Emmy-nominated and Webby-winning VR experience Traveling While Black; and The Apollo which won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Documentary. Williams is currently set to direct and produce Ibram X. Kendis Stamped From The Beginning as well as it’s YA counterpart Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. His production company One Story Up is currently in production on numerous projects, including The 1619 Project with Lionsgate, NYT, & Disney. Williams is currently in pre-production on his first narrative feature, Cassandro.
CREDITS
Ayesha Nadarajah