Free Film Friday

Join us on Facebook every Friday at 7 pm as we live stream an award-winning short film from the 2020 Ocean City Film Festival!

Showing this week: “Strange Fruit: Taking a Stand Through Song” by Sam Seliger. Winner of best Youth short. The history of the iconic song “Strange Fruit” and how its incredible power, stemming from the horror of its lynching theme, Billie Holiday’s tremendous rendering and its haunting melody, helped eradicate the practice of lynchin in America. Over 40,000 African-Americans were lynched from the late 19th century through World War II, yet lynching remained a taboo subject for White America. The song was a catalyst for the Civil Rights movement, and ignited a culture of protest in the music industry, inspiring artists such as Nina Simone. Both the song’s author, Abel Meeropol, and its singer Billie Holiday, cared so deeply about the heinous impact of lynching, that they were willing to promote the song at great personal and professional risk, both ultimately suffering as a result. 15 minutes. Columbia MD.