King in the Wilderness

This documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the last few years of his life, from the vital role he played in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to his assassination in 1968. While King’s leadership during the bus boycotts, the sit-ins and the historic Selma to Montgomery marches is now legendary, much of what happened afterward – during the last three years of his life – is rarely discussed. It’s a time when Dr. King said his dream “turned into a nightmare" as he addressed the three evils of racism, poverty and war.  He took his nonviolent protests from the South to the urban North, sharply criticized the Vietnam war and launched a Poor Peoples campaign – bringing much criticism down on him by supporters and staff alike who thought he should restrict himself to racism in the South.

Drawing on conversations with those who knew Dr. King well, including many fellow members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), King in the Wilderness reveals stirring new perspectives on Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination. The documentary also features archival footage, behind-the-scenes video of Dr. King’s private moments, intimate archival photographs and phone conversations recorded by President Johnson, who was both adversary and occasional ally in King’s fight for civil rights.

The documentary debuted at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is directed by Peter Kunhardt (HBO’s Emmy-winning Jim: The James Foley Story).