Sammy Davis, Jr. Documentary Highlights His Fight Against Bigotry

Falmouth Jewish Congregation's Jewish Film Festival feature for Tuesday, July 24 is "Sammy Davis, Jr.: I Gotta Be Me," the first major film documentary to examine Davis’ vast talent and his journey for identity through the shifting tides of civil rights and racial progress during 20th-century America. Features at film festivals across the country, it has garnered the Audience Award at the Nashville Film Festival, Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Denver Jewish Film Festival, and Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival. In the interview reproduced below, the film’s executive producer Michael Kantor explains what he would like audiences to take away from this film: “Sammy Davis, Jr. used his talent to fight bigotry, racism and anti-Semitism. He didn’t always win, but he gave it his all. Hopefully audiences will come away from the film marveling at his talent, and wondering why, to paraphrase Sammy’s friend Martin Luther King, Jr., the arc of the moral universe takes so long to bend toward justice.” Yes, this is a film that captures and condenses the man’s amazing talent, but it also speaks to the enduring fight against bigotry in this country.

Sammy Davis, Jr. had the kind of career that was indisputably legendary, so vast and multi-faceted that it was dizzying in its scope and scale. And yet, his life was complex, complicated and contradictory. Davis strove to achieve the American Dream in a time of racial prejudice and shifting political territory. He was the veteran of increasingly outdated show business traditions trying to stay relevant; he frequently found himself bracketed by the bigotry of white America and the distaste of black America; he was the most public black figure to embrace Judaism, thereby yoking his identity to another persecuted minority.

Featuring new interviews with such luminaries as Billy Crystal, Norman Lear, Jerry Lewis, Whoopi Goldberg and Kim Novak, with never-before-seen photographs from Davis’ vast personal collection and excerpts from his electric performances in television, film and concert, Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me explores the life and art of a uniquely gifted entertainer whose trajectory blazed across the major flashpoints of American society from the Depression through the 1980s.

Tuesday, July 24 at 2:00 and 7:30 P.M. at the Blanche & Joel D. Seifer Community Center, Falmouth Jewish Congregation. Ample parking. Accessible and welcoming to all.

Individual tickets on sale at the door, 30 minutes prior to screening: $10 / $15 non-FJC members

Links to articles and reviews:

https://www.menemshafilms.com/sammy-davis-jr

Watch a trailer and click on the “Press Kit” for an interview with director Sam Pollard, or scroll down to read the interview.

Review in The Hollywood Reporter:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/sammy-davis-jr-i-ve-gotta-be-me-1037415

Sammy Davis, Jr. Website (photos, bio, and more)

http://www.sammydavis-jr.com/