Stanley Nelson was one of ten directors participating in the inaugural year of Film Forward, an initiative of the Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Arts. The project presented five American and five foreign films, both narrative and documentary, to audiences in the United States and abroad. Moviegoers were given the opportunity to connect with the filmmakers themselves through post-film talkbacks, roundtables, and workshops in places ranging from China to the Ghetto Film School in the Bronx.

Stanley Nelson's film, "Freedom Riders,"was an inspired choice for the program. It's a documentary about the extraordinarily brave men and women, black and white, who risked their lives by riding on interstate buses together in 1961. From May through November, in a journey that began in Washington DC and ended in New Orleans, over 400 black and white Americans tested the law of the land and defied entrenched Jim Crow segregation.  As they made their journey, their bus was burned, they were set upon by out of control gangs, they were beaten, jailed, yet the trip continued as more and more people came forward to take their place.

Stanley Nelson based his documentary on Raymond Arsenault's book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Nelson himself is an award-winning filmmaker and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellowship. In Freedom Riders, he wove together archival news footage with testimony from the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who covered the journey over those long months. The film which was part of the acclaimed PBS series, "The American Experience" was completed in 2010 in time for the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides in 2011. It went on to win acclaim at the many film festivals, including Sundance, where it was chosen for Film Forward.

Stanley Nelson was one of ten directors participating in the inaugural year of Film Forward, an initiative of the Sundance Institute and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Endowment for the Arts. The project presented five American and five foreign films, both narrative and documentary, to audiences in the United States and abroad. Moviegoers were given the opportunity to connect with the filmmakers themselves through post-film talkbacks, roundtables, and workshops in places ranging from China to the Ghetto Film School in the Bronx.

Stanley Nelson's film, "Freedom Riders,"was an inspired choice for the program. It's a documentary about the extraordinarily brave men and women, black and white, who risked their lives by riding on interstate buses together in 1961. From May through November, in a journey that began in Washington DC and ended in New Orleans, over 400 black and white Americans tested the law of the land and defied entrenched Jim Crow segregation.  As they made their journey, their bus was burned, they were set upon by out of control gangs, they were beaten, jailed, yet the trip continued as more and more people came forward to take their place.

Stanley Nelson based his documentary on Raymond Arsenault's book Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. Nelson himself is an award-winning filmmaker and recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellowship. In Freedom Riders, he wove together archival news footage with testimony from the Riders themselves, state and federal government officials, and journalists who covered the journey over those long months. The film which was part of the acclaimed PBS series, "The American Experience" was completed in 2010 in time for the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides in 2011. It went on to win acclaim at the many film festivals, including Sundance, where it was chosen for Film Forward.