MLK/FBI

About the Film

Documentary | 1 HR 42 MIN

“INCENDIARY . . . a sinister soap opera of espionage . . .”
– Owen Gleiberman, Variety

 

“Engrossing, unsettling . . . as timely as an alarm clock.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times

 

“A troubling, beautifully assembled archival documentary . . . reminds us just how far the J. Edgar Hoover-led FBI was willing to go to shame a civil rights icon and discredit his great work, a work that has never ceased and never will.”
– Justin Chang, LA Times

 

“Eye-opening and jaw-dropping . . . could not have arrived at a more pertinent moment.”
– David Fear, Rolling Stone

MLK/FBI (2020)

DOCUMENTARY  |  1 HR 42 MIN

 

Available for streaming February 19-21 ONLY

 

FREE | Donations are welcome and will help offset the streaming fees absorbed by Aspen Film.

 

After this content becomes available February 19th at 8:00 am CST, you’ll have 48 hours to start watching. Once you begin, you’ll have 24 hours to finish watching.

 

MLK/FBI is the first film to uncover the extent of the FBI’s surveillance and harassment of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Based on newly discovered and declassified files, utilizing a trove of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and unsealed by the National Archives, as well as revelatory restored footage, the documentary explores the government’s history of targeting Black activists, and the contested meaning behind some of our most cherished ideals. Featuring interviews with key cultural figures including former FBI Director James Comey and directed by Emmy® Award-winner and Oscar®-nominee Sam Pollard, MLK/FBI tells this astonishing and tragic story with searing relevance to our current moment.

 

*A special Q&A is available after the film featuring Director Sam Pollard and Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Radhika Jones.

 

Official Selection:
2021 Documentary Oscar® Shortlist
Telluride Film Festival 2020
Toronto International Film Festival 2020
New York Film Festival 2020


Trailer


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