Please join us for a showing of Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round, part of the Maine Jewish Film Festival! OceanView is helping to kick-off this year’s Maine Jewish Film Festival with their first film.

When: Tuesday, February 11th at 2:00 p.m.

Where: OceanView’s Lunt Auditorium (74 Lunt Road, Falmouth, ME 04105)

About the film: For almost 60 years, Glen Echo Amusement Park was the wholesome, beloved playground of white metropolitan Washington. Every summer, tens of thousands enjoyed its Crystal Pool, wooden rollercoaster, Spanish Ballroom, and Tunnel of Love, but the Black children living nearby could only gawk from the road.

In June of 1960, three shocking, unprecedented events happened at “idyllic” Glen Echo Amusement Park: Howard University students arrived at the park and sat down on the carousel, white, middle-aged neighbors, largely Jewish, joined the protests, and the American Nazi Party showed up.

Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round offers a rare intimate lens on one protest in the early Civil Rights Movement. Telling the story of one amusement park, one group of individuals, and one moment in time, the laser focus allows for deep understanding of the non-famous individuals whose efforts, sacrifices, and personal awakenings ignited sparks that flew out across the Civil Rights Movement for years to come.

“It is heart-breaking, infuriating, and inspiring. ‘Most of the people who make history are invisible,’ we are told. Thankfully, documentaries like these make them not just visible but unforgettable.” –RogerEbert.com

Best Documentary, DC Black Film Festival 2024
Audience Award, Boston Film Festival 2024
The total run time for this movie is 1 hour 29 minutes.

For more information about the 2025 Maine Jewish Film Festival, please visit MJFF.org.