More than 2,000 people enter COC “ORIGIN” movie ticket giveaway
By Color Of Change staff
One hundred lucky Color Of Change members won free tickets in early February to see the new film “ORIGIN,” written and directed by Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay.
Separately, another eight COC squad members in Los Angeles had the opportunity to hear actress Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, who played the film’s title character, discuss the film’s major themes during a special panel discussion with producers and justice advocates in Beverly Hills.
“ORIGIN” chronicles many of the triumphs and tragedies in the life of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson as she investigates the global phenomenon, past and present, of tools used to divide people, showing the interconnectedness of caste systems and inequality. The movie powerfully explores the issues of racial and economic justice — areas in which COC and its members have been engaged since our founding in 2005 — as Wilkerson crafts her New York Times bestselling book, “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
More than 2,000 COC members signed up to win tickets to the film, which opened in theaters nationwide in late January. Ticket winners were notified by email in early to mid-February.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, production company NEON, United Talent Agency, the Anti-Defamation League and the Reimagine Coalition hosted “ORIGIN: Clips and Conversation,” a panel discussion about the film’s themes on Jan. 16, as commemorations of the holiday commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrapped up across the nation.
The panel featured Ellis-Taylor, who was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her starring role as Wilkerson in “ORIGIN.” She was joined on the panel by Kyle Bowser, producer and senior vice president of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau; filmmaker Radha Mehta, a 2023 RespectAbility Entertainment Lab Fellow; Jeffrey Abrams, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Los Angeles; and Diana Luna, executive director of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers.
Clips, or trailers, from “ORIGIN” were shown and panelists discussed the various themes, including systemic constraints designed to oppress people of color and efforts to transcend caste classifications. Ellis-Taylor’s remarks struck a chord with the audience and COC squad members as she spoke from the heart about honoring Wilkerson’s story and its truth.
“Our history is kept outside of our classrooms,” Ellis-Taylor said, noting that her own education lacked a breadth and depth of Black stories and history that she now understands was intentional by those in power.
“I think what we feel is our frustrations … that the truth of who we are in this country has never been told,” she said. “And we have to have — need — cinematic interventions to let us know who we are, it’s incredibly frustrating.”
“ORIGIN” is still playing in theaters nationwide. Check here to find where it’s showing near you.