After several years of biopic talks, Rosa Parks is finally getting her own film. Yoruba Richen (“The Green Book: Guide to Freedom”) and Johanna Hamilton (“1971”) are directing “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks,” “which is thought to be the first ever feature doc about Parks,” Deadline reports. The documentary is expected to premiere on streaming platform Peacock next year.
A civil rights activist and symbol of the Montgomery bus boycott, Parks famously refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus on December 1, 1955. Her mistreatment and subsequent arrest and trial helped spark the boycott, a campaign protesting Montgomery, Alabama’s policy of racial segregation on public transit. Parks lost her job and received death threats after her arrest, but she continued to participate in the civil rights movement and other social justice causes. She traveled to support the Selma-to-Montgomery Marches, worked with the Black power movement, organized for political prisoners, served on the Board of Advocates of Planned Parenthood, and more. Parks received the NAACP’s Spingarn Medal, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award, and Presidential Medal of Freedom. She died in 2005 at the age of 92.
Based on Jeanne Theoharis’ bestseller of the same name, “The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks” tells “the unexpected story of Parks and her life beyond the historic bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama,” the source teases. “The documentary reveals the intent behind her activism, her radical politics, and the true extent of her courage. It features a wealth of video footage, exclusive audio of Parks, and a wide range of interview subjects including activists, celebrities, and Rosa Parks’ own family.”
Now in the works at Soledad O’Brien’s SO’B Productions, the doc is exec produced by Richen, Hamilton, and O’Brien. Jo Honig is also among the EPs and Christalyn Hampton is producing.
“It’s rare to get beneath the surface of a celebrated American icon and find something even more impressive behind it,” Richen and Hamilton said of the doc. “It is a story that elevates the work of the women who were the heartbeat of the civil rights struggle and has far greater lessons on how we might work for social justice today.”
Parks was previously the subject of the Oscar-nominated short doc “Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks.” Angela Bassett portrayed her in the TV movie “The Rosa Parks Story.”
“How It Feels to Be Free,” “The New York Times Presents: The Killing of Breonna Taylor,” and “The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts the Tonight Show” are among Richen’s directing credits. Along with Geeta Gandbhir, Nadia Hallgren, and Samantha Knowles, she helmed the upcoming HBO docuseries “Black and Missing.” Following two activists raising awareness about the racial gap in resources allotted to missing persons cases, the show premieres on HBO/HBO Max November 23.
Hamilton’s directing credits include the short docs “The Trial” and “Discreet Airlift” and episodes of “Bad Boy Billionaires: India” and “Wrong Man.” She has also worked on docuseries “Women, War & Peace” and the Michelle Obama doc “Becoming.”
