Two Trains Runnin'

Mississippi was a dangerous place to be in the summer of 1964. Hundreds of college students traveled south in support of Freedom Summer to face down the Ku Klux Klan and a violent police force. With those events as a backdrop, two separate groups of young men—neither aware of the other—also headed to Mississippi with an altogether different mission. They wanted to track down two forgotten, mystifyingly missing blues singers and bring them out of retirement. In this searing documentary, Sam Pollard explores both the explosive events that unfolded in Mississippi that summer and the captivating hunt for the legendary musicians, two campaigns that eventually collided in tragic fashion. Narrated by Common, and featuring new music by Buddy Guy, Lucinda Williams, and a slew of acclaimed blues performers, “Two Trains Runnin’” is a must-see film about hot-button issues— police brutality, racism, civil rights, and the legacy of black music—that are as urgent today as they were in 1964. In Person: Director Sam Pollard (Sat); Producer Benjamin Hedin; Editor Dava Whisenant