Always in Season

Directed by Jacqueline Olive

When 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014, his mother’s search for justice and reconciliation begins while the trauma of more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.

ALWAYS IN SEASON explores the lingering impact of more than a century of lynching African Americans and connects this form of historic racial terrorism to racial violence today. The film centers on the case of Lennon Lacy, an African American teen who was found hanging from a swing set in Bladenboro, North Carolina, on August 29, 2014. Despite inconsistencies in the case, local officials quickly ruled Lennon’s death a suicide, but his mother, Claudia, believes Lennon was lynched. Claudia moves from paralyzing grief to leading the fight for justice for her son. 

As the film unfolds, Lennon’s case, and the suspicions surrounding it, intersect with stories of other communities seeking justice and reconciliation. A few hundred miles away in Monroe, Georgia, a diverse group of reenactors, including the adult daughter of a former Ku Klux Klan leader, annually dramatize a 1946 quadruple lynching to ensure the victims are never forgotten and encourage the community to come forward with information that might bring the perpetrators to justice.  As the terrorism of the past bleeds into the present, the film asks: what will it take for Americans to begin building a national movement for racial justice and reconciliation?

Independent Lens on PBS.

2019 / 99 MINS

WINNER OF THE U.S. DOCUMENTARY SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR MORAL URGENCY AT SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL


About the
Team

Jaqueline Olive — Director, Producer
Jaqueline is an independent filmmaker and immersive media producer with fifteen years of experience in journalism and film. Her debut feature documentary, Always in Season, premiered in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was awarded the Special JuryPrize for Moral Urgency. Jackie also co-directed the award-winning hour-long film, Black to Our Roots, which broadcast on PBS in 2009. Jackie has received artist grants and industry funding from Sundance Institute, Independent Television Service, Ford Foundation, Firelight Media, and more. She was recently awarded the Emerging Filmmakers of Color Award from IDA and the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation.


Don Bernier — Editor
Don is an Emmy-nominated documentary film editor. Most recently, he edited CHARM CITY, which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Bernier also edited Participant Media’s AN INCONVENIENT SEQUEL: TRUTH TO POWER (Paramount Pictures), which opened the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and was shortlisted for a 2018 Academy Award. His editing credits also include AUDRIE & DAISY (Netflix ORIGINAL), which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival; THE GENIUS OF MARIAN (POV/PBS), which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival; the Peabody Award-winning EAMES: THE ARCHITECT AND THE PAINTER (American Masters/PBS); and THE BOTANY OF DESIRE (PBS), based on author Michael Pollan’s best-selling book. Bernier also works regularly as an editorial consultant, and is a Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab Fellow and an AMPAS Documentary Branch Member.


Patrick Sheehan — Cinematographer
Patrick is a documentary filmmaker based in Nashville, TN. Sheehan has written, directed, filmed, and produced multiple documentaries including HAITI IS ON FIRE and MAN IN THE GLASS: THE DALE BROWN STORY (2012), winner of the Award of Excellence at the Los Angeles Movie Awards and The Audience Choice for Best Documentary at the Sidewalk Film Festival. Most recently, Sheehan filmed and directed GIP (PBS), winner of the Best Music Film award at IndieMemphis and the Audience Choice award for Best Documentary at the Sidewalk FilmFestival in 2016. Sheehan was Director of Photography for AMERICAN MAN (ESPN Classic) directed by HBO’s REAL Sports’ Jon Frankel. The film won Best Feature Documentary at the 2012 Sidewalk Film Festival. Sheehan was co-cinematographer and audio on Trilogy Films' GIDEON’S ARMY (HBO), winner of the 2011 Tribeca Film Institute Promise Award and an official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Sheehan was also director of photography for REVIVAL: THE SAM BUSH STORY, which won Audience Choice at the Nashville Film Festival and Sidewalk Film Festival. 


S. Leo Chiang — Cinematographer
S. Leo Chiang is a documentarian based in Taipei & San Francisco. His Emmy-nominated film, “A Village Called Versailles,” picked up eight film festival awards and aired on PBS’ Independent Lens series. “Out Run,” his recently completed film, received support from ITVS, Sundance, and Tribeca. His other films include “Mr. Cao Goes to Washington” (Inspiration Award, Full Frame 2012) and “To You Sweetheart, Aloha” (PBS broadcast 2006). He is a consulting producer for CNEX, the Chinese documentary foundation, and an AMPAS Documentary Branch member.


Osei Essed — Composer
Osei is a multi-platform artist, performing and writing for screen and stage. His songs and voice appear in HBO's King in The Wilderness, the Netflix series Dirty Money (Confidence Man) and FarCry5.  Recent film composition credits include the award-winning films TOWER (2018 Emmy winner),  Jim: The James Foley Story (2016 Emmy Winner), and Finders Keepers. Essed performs with the Brooklyn-based bands The Woes and Big Hands Rhythm and Blues Band.


Co-Executive Producers
Leslie Berriman & Nion McEvoy
Katy Drake Bettner
Nancy Stephens & Rick Rosenthal
Barbara Dobkin
Jodie Evans

Producers
Jacqueline Olive
Jess Devaney

Co-Producers
Lisa Valencia-Svensson
Anya Rous

Associate Producers
Colleen Cassingham
Aph Ko

Co-Producer
Lisa Valencia-Svensson

Associate Producer
Colleen Cassingham
Paulette Marte

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