''Traveling While Black'' is a Canadian-American coproduced virtual reality documentary film project, directed by

Roger Ross Williams Roger Ross Williams (born September 16, 1962) is an American director, producer and writer and the first African American director to win an Academy Award (Oscar), with his short film '' Music by Prudence''; this film won the Academy Award for B ...

and released in 2019.Dream McClinton
"Traveling While Black: behind the eye-opening VR documentary on racism in America"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', September 3, 2019. An examination of

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

in the United States, the film is an immersive experience which places the viewer inside the context of

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

travellers seeking safety and security with the help of the ''

Negro Motorist Green Book ''The Negro Motorist Green Book'' (also, ''The Negro Travelers' Green Book'', or ''Green-Book'') was a Guide book, guidebook for African Americans, African American Road trip, roadtrippers. It was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African Americ ...

''; Williams has contrasted it with the 2018 film '' Green Book'', labelling it as "a totally different story because 'Traveling While Black''is a story of life or death, and danger, and community, and all of those things. But it’s our story. It’s for us to tell. It’s not for anyone else." The film is based on a 2010 play called ''The Green Book''. The film premiered in the New Frontier program at the

2019 Sundance Film Festival The 2019 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 24 to February 3, 2019. The first lineup of competition films was announced on November 28, 2018. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * '' Before You Know It'' by Hannah Pearl Utt * '' ...

, before being released later in the year on

Oculus VR Reality Labs, formerly Oculus VR, is a business and research unit of Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook Inc.) that produces virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) hardware and software, including virtual reality headsets such as the Qu ...

platforms. In 2020, the film was selected for inclusion in the online We Are One: A Global Film Festival. The film was shot in Ben's Chili Bowl, a famous restaurant in Washington, D.C., founded in 1958.

Awards

The film received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

nomination for Outstanding Interactive Program at the

71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards The 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards honored the best in artistic and technical achievement in American prime time television programming from June 1, 2018, until May 31, 2019, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Th ...

in 2019, and won the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for Best Immersive Experience at the

8th Canadian Screen Awards The 8th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 25–28 May 2020 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2019. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2020."CSAs ’20: “We Will Stand Up” wins Best Feature Length doc"
''

RealScreen Brunico Communications is a Canadian magazine publishing company."Desktop tabloid publishing firm sports 2 publications and a profit". ''The Globe and Mail'', October 9, 1989. The company specializes primarily in online trade magazines serving medi ...

'', May 26, 2020.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 10254868 2019 films American short documentary films Canadian short documentary films Documentary films about racism in the United States African-American films Black Canadian films Canadian Screen Award winning digital content Oculus VR American virtual reality films Canadian virtual reality films 2010s Canadian films 2010s American films 2019 short documentary films Films directed by Roger Ross Williams