The Lorraine
Director(s): Sam Pollard
Film description: Renowned documentarian (and Baltimorean) Sam Pollard's latest feature tells the astonishing, inspiring story of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, site of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and its remarkable owners, Walter and Loree Bailey.
ERIC SAYS One of the serendipitous events while putting together the first New/Next Film Festival was learning that veteran film editor (Bamboozled, Style Wars) and director (Eyes on the Prize, MLK/FBI) Sam Pollard had relocated to Baltimore—and it’s been a joy having him be an important part of the festival each year, notably with Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, New/Next’s very first opening night film. With The Lorraine, he’s found another perfect topic for his talent in bringing American history alive.
The Lorraine motel in Memphis is best known as the site of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, and that aspect of the hotel’s history is thoroughly examined here. But as Pollard brilliantly illustrates, its story runs much deeper—serving as a Black-owned stop for Green Book travellers, a meeting place for Civil Rights leaders and Stax musicians, a public pool and socializing spot for the Black community, and much more. Throughout, Pollard’s rigorous documentary also offers a loving portrait of Walter and Loree Bailey, the couple who owned and operated the hotel, and a complex consideration of the site’s controversial conversion into a Civil Rights museum. Like every Sam Pollard film, this one contains multitudes—and after seeing it, you’ll walk away feeling moved and charged up, with so much to think and talk about.
