‘LOVING’ to Receive 2016 Rabinowitz Award for Social Justice

In advance of tonight’s US Premiere of the critically acclaimed marriage equality drama LOVING, we are thrilled to announce the film will be honored with the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice by the 2016 Hamptons International Film Festival.

loving-650

The annual award is presented to a film that exemplifies the values of peace, equality, global justice and civil liberties, and is named after iconic civil rights lawyer Victor Rabinowitz and his wife Joanne, an author, filmmaker and journalist. Their son Marc Rabinowitz will appear at the festival in East Hampton to present LOVING with the award in memory of his late parents. Writer/director Jeff Nichols and producer Nancy Buirski will also attend the premiere tonight.

Commented Rabinowitz: “As this award is given in honor of my parents, who were themselves an interracial couple, it is most appropriate and gratifying to honor this film, as well as the memories of Richard and Mildred Loving. Their story should never be forgotten.”

From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, LOVING celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (portrayed by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown.

Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry—and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.

Mr. Nichols said, “It’s an honor for our film to receive the Social Justice Award at the Hamptons Film Festival, but I’m especially proud that Richard and Mildred Loving’s contribution to an ongoing struggle for peace, equality, and civil liberties is recognized and celebrated.”

LOVING, a Focus Features release, opens in select cities on November 4 and expands across the country later that month.